sport horse snippet
11-Year-Old Sets New Dressage Record By Amber Heintzberger
A
t the record-setting age of eleven, Emma Claire Stephens of Waxahachie, Texas achieved what takes decades for
many dressage riders: she earned her USDF sil- ver medal, for scoring four scores of 60 percent or higher, two at Fourth Level and two at Prix St. Georges. She earned her winning score at Great Southwest Equestrian Center in January 2016. And that’s not all: now 12 years old, she’s well on her way to earning her gold medal and currently is training at Grand Prix level. Even more remarkable? She’s only been riding for four years and she started out in a different dis- cipline, riding Western. Emma Claire’s mother Jennifer says her
daughter first rode a horse at her grandparents’ neighbor’s house and immediately asked for lessons. She started out at a Western barn and showed a few times in open shows, but she really wanted to jump. The family—none of whom had any horse experience—purchased a Thoroughbred mare that had been showing in the 1.40-meter jumpers. “I didn’t know any better!” laughs her mother. It was, in the end, a fortuitous turn of events that the
Emma Claire with her giant partner, Persona Grata, who helped her earn her USDF silver medal at the age of eleven.
Warmblood gelding who had already helped another young rider, Kassidy Peacock, earn her Gold Medal. “He’s huge! He wears like an 86” blanket,” says Jennifer.
mare developed a bone spur in her shoulder and couldn’t jump anymore, so Emma Claire started focusing on dres- sage at the suggestion of her trainer. “Her first show was at the Dallas Dressage Club with this $1,500 horse trailer. We had no clue what we were doing! We didn’t even know how to get the horse off the trailer ourselves! We are fortunate that the horse commu- nity is so kind and helpful,” Jennifer recalls. Emma Claire competed at Training Level and even
did a freestyle to Disney music. She didn’t want to jump anymore, and because the bone spur made lateral move- ments – and thus First Level—impossible for the mare, her family started looking for another horse. They started with a schoolmaster called Tango she rode
at Training and First levels but then he broke his knee. He had surgery and is pasture sound, but it was time for a new competition horse. That’s when they found Persona Grata (Cocktail x Candy
by Procureur), bred by H. Vissep in Holland and imported by Valerie Swygert in 2007. “Moose” is a 19-year-old Dutch
92 January/February 2017
“He’d been really sick and almost died, and we found him standing in a field in San Antonio. We’d been looking for a pony and we ended up with a 17-hand horse, but it was the best move: he’s taught her so much. He just had tie- back surgery because he started roaring, but she’s hoping he will recover well and she will be able to do Grand Prix with him this year.” “Earning my silver medal was definitely a big accom-
plishment,” Emma Claire says. “One of my goals was to get my silver medal and be the youngest. I was third youngest in history to get my bronze, and I have a few years to get my gold, but I’ve already got two of my scores. I’m pre- pared for Grand Prix and I hope we can move up next year. We’ll see what the future holds.” Emma Claire’s dream is to become a professional rider,
trainer and an equine vet. At the USDF Convention in December, when she received her medal, she also met a few of her equestrian idols, including running into Stef- fen Peters in an elevator. “I also went to the Robert Dover Horsemastership clinic and we bought this hat when we audited a show in Kentucky. We met George Williams and
Photos by Jennifer Stephens
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