She and the elegant Angelo add another hunter accolade to their résumé.

Katie Dinan hadn’t been having a good week at HITS-On-The-Hudson VI.

She’d started the week competing in the USEF Junior Hunter Championships-East. “It was terrible!” Dinan said. “We had a rail in each class. Angelo isn’t really the type of horse that has rails—he never does that. It was upsetting, because he was great otherwise.”

So as the $10,000 The Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby got underway on July 30 at the Saugerties, N.Y., venue, Dinan was determined to redeem herself. And with a beautiful, flowing handy trip, she and Angelo took over the top spot to claim their first derby win.

Dinan, 15, had ridden her way into second place in the first round, with scores of 88 and 86. But professional rider Patricia Griffith led the way after a gorgeous round on Travino that scored a 92 and an 87.

“I was happy with my first-round scores, but with Patricia on top, I didn’t expect to win. She does so well in the derbies—I’m always reading about her in the Chronicle!” Dinan said.

Course designer Rian Beals set a handy round that featured multiple inside turns—most notably from a combination to the trot jump. Dinan chose to keep it conservative in the handy round and flowed around the outside turns, including to the trot jump, but jumped all of the four-foot options.

“I felt some pressure—I just wanted to have a good round,” she said. “Handiness isn’t really Angelo’s forté, because he takes so long in the air over the fences. He’s not that quick to turn—he likes some space in front of the jumps. I knew I had to be good enough even without making all the inside turns that everyone else was doing. I got pretty low handy scores, but I guess we made up for it with our trip.”

Angelo and Dinan earned a 90 with 2 bonus points and an 89 with 0 bonus points for their handy trip. Griffith made it clear she was going for it on the elegant chestnut Travino, who was also the first year green hunter champion that week. But the plan didn’t work; Travino pulled a rail at the coop jump. Their scores of 45 and 45 dropped them to 12th.

Dinan and Angelo (Lasangos—Pretty Woman) have collected their fair share of blue ribbons. They took the small junior hunter, 15 and under, tricolors at the Pennsylvania National, Washington International (D.C.) and Capital Challenge (Md.) last fall. This year, they took home the grand junior hunter championship from Devon (Pa.). For a little variety, Dinan showed Angelo at 4′ at Lake Placid (N.Y.) this summer and topped the second year green/regular working division.

Dinan, who trains with Steve Weiss, has had the ride on the 10-year-old Angelo for almost two years.

“When he jumps, you really feel him take a second in the air and use his neck and back. He doesn’t jump me loose, even though he makes such a big effort. He’s very fluid. He’s a lot of fun to ride,” she said.

Dinan had only competed in two other derbies, but this year she’s making it a priority to qualify for the 2010 finals.

“I’d never won a hunter derby before. It definitely was a goal of mine—not to win, but just to be in the top three,” she said. “I do a lot of the hunters, and I love riding the hunters, so it’s fun to be able to really pick up a gallop and go around a different kind of course. The jumps are a little spookier, and I think that helps Angelo jump better.”

Pioneer Finds His Way

Matthew Metell has one goal this year—to win the USEF Platinum Performance Show Jumping Talent Search Finals-East (N.J.). He just needs a horse.

But it’s looking like Pioneer might fit the bill. The former 1.30-meter jumper found his way from owner Ali Nilforushan’s California string to Andre Dignelli’s barn three weeks before the HITS derby, and Metell took on the task of converting the big bay to an equitation horse.

Showing in the hunter derby at Saugerties was just another chapter in Pioneer’s education, so when Metell and the lanky gelding ended up second, it was a pleasant surprise.

“He jumps really well, but I wasn’t expecting him to be quite as relaxed and rideable as he was. He ended up being really good,” Metell said.

Pioneer and Metell stood in third after Round 1 and turned in a polished and elegant handy round, which included the inside turn to the trot jump. With scores of 85 plus 5 bonus points and 84 plus 5 bonus points, they looked like they belonged in the hunter ring.

Metell, 19, has been a working student at Dignelli’s Heritage Farm in Katonah, N.Y., since the spring of 2008.

“It’s the best move I’ve made for my riding so far,” he said.

Metell had previously trained with Kathy Fletcher at Grazing Fields Farm and Teddy Demetriou.

“I’ve made a lot of positive steps forward in my riding, and I attribute that to the number of horses I get to ride and the number of lessons I get. Since there are about 100 horses in the barn, it’s a lot! I usually ride six or seven horses on a normal day and then just help out with whatever needs to get done,” said Metell.

Since he doesn’t have a horse of his own, Metell rides whatever Heritage Farm horses are available. He showed Pioneer in the USEF Talent Search classes at a few local one-day horse shows before heading to Saugerties. He hopes that Pioneer, an 8-year-old warmblood, might be the mount for his bid for the USEF Talent Search Finals win.

Last year, Metell finished his junior career with second place in the USEF Talent Search Finals and at the USEF/Pessoa Medal Finals (Pa.). He also won the Monarch International North American Junior Equitation Championship at the Capital Challenge and the New England Horsemen’s Council Hunt Seat Medal Finals (Mass.).

Metell, Cape Cod, Mass., will balance his fall showing schedule with his sophomore year at Sacred Heart University (Conn.), where he’s a business major.