BLM Championships Tidbits

•    Barbara Strawson, of Dickerson, Md., took the wins in the Intermediaire I (69.60%) and Intermediaire I freestyle (71.00%). She earned those titles with the 13-year-old Hanoverian Degas, sired by Dederick.
         Strawson currently has the ride on the horse because his owner Marianne Campano, who had raised him since he was a yearling, is stationed with her husband in South Korea until next spring.  

•    Heather Mason and the 11-year-old Respekt won the championships for Grand Prix (65.10%), Grand Prix freestyle (67.62%) and Intermediaire II (66.71%).
         Respekt, by Inspekteur, is no stranger to ribbons at the BLM Championships. Since his arrival from the Netherlands as a 3-year-old, he has collected a number of titles from training level and now to Grand Prix.
         Mason, of Lebanon, N.J., also earned championships with the 6-year-old Dutch gelding Warsteiner (by Riverman) in a section of third level, senior rider, and third level freestyle. Mason also took a section of training level, senior rider, with Roark.

•    Col. Bengt Ljungquist coached the U.S. dressage team to a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games and 1975 Pan American Games. He was dedicated to promoting dressage in the United States and developed a training program for judges that continues today. He died in 1979 and was inducted into the U.S. Dressage Federation Hall of Fame in 1998.