WakeUp’s A Winner In First Markel USEF Developing Horse Grand Prix Championship Test

Wayne, Ill.—Aug. 21

Earlier this year, Emily Miles rode WakeUp one morning and then she put him away in his stall. When she took him out later that day he didn't even want to walk - the first time he'd ever taken lame steps. The stallion had rolled in a stall with concrete sides in Germany, where Miles was training, hit his hoof on the wall, and fractured his coffin bone, though it took several more months to get that official diagnosis.

“Four months ago I didn’t even know where he was going to be,” she said.

PUBLISHED

August 21, 2015
11:22 am

WORDS BY

Lisa Slade and Jasmine Wallace

Wayne, Ill.—Aug. 21

Earlier this year, Emily Miles rode WakeUp one morning and then she put him away in his stall. When she took him out later that day he didn’t even want to walk – the first time he’d ever taken lame steps. The stallion had rolled in a stall with concrete sides in Germany, where Miles was training, hit his hoof on the wall, and fractured his coffin bone, though it took several more months to get that official diagnosis.

“Four months ago I didn’t even know where he was going to be,” she said.

Today WakeUp made his comeback complete by winning the first test for the Markel USEF Developing Horse Grand Prix Championship, the Intermediaire II, on a 72.14 percent.

“It was great! I’m just so thankful to have him and to be here,” said Miles, who trains out her family’s farm in LaCygne, Kan. “Once we figured out what was wrong, it was amazing. They said, ‘Don’t go gallop on concrete but otherwise you should be fine.’ I’m super surprised how well he came back. I remember the first time I rode the ones again, I was like ‘He hasn’t forgotten them!’ The strength was tough to build again. You don’t realize that you spend seven years, from 3 until 10, getting them strong to do the Grand Prix.”

But after his successful rehabilitation, Miles said WakeUp felt as strong as ever in today’s test. After the first few weeks following his injury, she was able to get on him and walk every day. And, she adds, she only fell off of him one time during those winter walks.

“Today he felt solid, he felt strong, he felt right on, and I was super, super pleased with him,” she said. “Only one time in the piaffe he felt a little tired. Last year in the extended canter I was like, ‘Is he there for me? Is he going to come back?’ Today I felt like I had the pedal to the metal, and we could really go, and I didn’t feel like there was going to be tension bringing him back.”

Last year WakeUp was second in this Grand Prix division, and he’s had a long and successful experience in this U.S. young horse program. He won the 6-year-old title and then was reserve one year and champion the next in the USEF Developing Prix St. Georges. This is the graduation year for the 10-year-old American Warmblood (Wagnis—Maiden Montreal, Macho), who’s already contested a CDI at the Grand Prix level as well.

(Lisa Wilcox and Gallant Reflection HU)

Lisa Wilcox and Gallant Reflection HU came out on top in the FEI 6-Year-Old Preliminary test as the only pair to score above an 8. Wilcox has ridden Gallant Reflection HU for the last year, but this is only his second show outside of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (Fla.).

“He’s very reactive to atmosphere—sounds more than people—so I found it very challenging here Wednesday,” said Wilcox. “Today I had a fully concentrated horse, and I thought he did a fabulous job. I’m thrilled with what he gave me today!”

Wilcox plans to bring the 6-year-old to CDIs in Saugerties (N.Y.) and Devon (Pa.) and then start the Developing Prix St. Georges tests in January. “He’s proving to me that he is the awesome horse I think he is, and when he does get into that show arena, it’s nice to see how well he can concentrate despite. I know he has internal anxieties, two things he was responding to on Wednesday—but he trusted, he went in, and he did his job. That’s an athlete; that’s a good athlete.”

(Kerrigan Gluch and Vaquero HGF)

Kerrigan Gluch rode Hampton Green Farm’s Vaquero HGF to first (69.29%) in the FEI Young Rider Team test—the first test that’ll decide the championship for that division. She’s been riding the stallion since last September. He was born at the Hampton Green in Michigan but then trained in Spain by Daniel Martin Dockx.

“He was trained beautifuly by Daniel, very correctly,” she said. “It’d always been a goal of mine to be competitive here, and just within the last few months he’s gained a lot of strength in everything he’s done.”

(Chase Hickok and Sagacious HF)

Chase Hickok and Sagacious HF earned victory in the first test for the U.S. Dressage Festival Of Champions Young Rider Grand Prix on a score of 67.18 percent. Sagacious whinnied during one canter pirouette, which Hickok said was an unusual behavior she’s hoping to curb by Sunday’s second test.

“You have to earn his trust and his love, and he’s just the best,” she said. “I adore him to pieces, and I think that’s part of what you seen in the arena. I hope he likes me half as much as I like him.”