Time spent out of the show ring observing different disciplines gives him a new outlook on dressage competition.

Four years ago it looked like Pierre St. Jacques and Lucky Tiger were on the fast track to represent the United States in international competition. But horses don’t know about schedules, and when life intervened, St. Jacques decided to stay home and re-evaluate his program.

Now the pair has made a triumphant return to the show ring, as proved by their double Grand Prix wins at the Canaan Ranch CDI, held May 15-17 in Wayne, Ill.

“Tiger” broke into the big leagues in his first year of showing the small tour in 2003. St. Jacques rode him on the gold medal-winning team at the Pan American Games that year, and they finished as the highest-placed U.S. pair.

Two years later St. Jacques placed fifth in the U.S. Grand Prix Championships when the Danish Warmblood gelding (Lucky Light—Teike) was only 10. But then they practically disappeared from the show scene.

“I got divorced and basically took two years off,” said St. Jacques. “Tiger was good, but he was always on the edge. He was so electric in the piaffe and passage. I had stuff I needed to figure out myself. I needed a break. I don’t know if it was because there was turmoil in my life, or if he was just at that stage.”

As St. Jacques worked on getting his life back together, he continued riding Tiger but didn’t show him. When he started dating his current girlfriend, Canadian Olympic eventer Samantha Taylor, he put his energy into helping her.

“Samantha was getting ready for the Olympics, and I was helping her with her dressage. It was more important to help her,” he said.

Instead of attending dressage shows, St. Jacques took Tiger to horse trials to spectate.

“It took the pressure off Tiger. We went to the CICs at Wit’s End (Ont.) and The Fork (N.C.). Tiger went wherever I went,” he said. “It made him chill out and relax. A horse show was just another horse show. I’d hang out at the in-gate during the show jumping phase. It made him not get so wound up when he would get to a horse show.”

St. Jacques said that now Tiger relaxes when he arrives on the showgrounds.

“I have a horse that’s really happy doing his job at Grand Prix now,” he said. “He’s back to feeling the way he did when he was just starting Prix St. Georges. He loves to show. He’s not so electric in the piaffe and passage, much more reliable and much more settled.”

As St. Jacques once again grew confident in his mount, he decided it was time to get back in the ring.

“My plan was to try to do a bunch of local shows and recognized shows early in the season and then do CDIs later,” he explained. “I really want to do [Dressage At Devon (Pa.)]. “That’s my goal for this year. If I could qualify for [the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Grand Prix Championship (N.J.)], fine, but if I don’t, I don’t.”

Those earlier shows went well, and St. Jacques found himself making the 23-hour drive from Ocala, Fla., up to the Lamplight Equestrian Center for a show that nearly ended up under water.

“It was pouring rain. He didn’t care. I knew not to go big—I went very conservatively,” said St. Jacques. “I couldn’t go in any of the extended work. I didn’t want to. But I was happy with him, especially in the piaffe and passage. I was happy with his whole demeanor, because he was happy in the arena.”

St. Jacques won the Grand Prix for the Special (64.72%) and the Special (65.37%). He’s headed to the Raleigh CDI (N.C.) next, where they will show the freestyle to finish up their qualifications for the national championship.

“He’s matured a whole lot now. He’s not so scared of his power anymore,” said St. Jacques. “There was the unfortunate timing of my personal life, but in some ways it might be a blessing because it made me chill out and go back and have fun with my riding instead of always trying to qualify for something. I learned a lot from eventers. You never really know who is going to win. It’s the great equalizer. You can have the best horse, but there are so many places where things can go wrong. If a horse has a bad weekend, it doesn’t mean he’s finished.”

St. Jacques, 44, trains many eventers now as he works to build his business in Ocala.

“I’m new to the area, and it’s hard,” he said. “I’m glad I won prize money at Lamplight. It paid for my entries and my gas! I wish I could find somebody to help me. I think he has a shot at the World Equestrian Games. But I just have to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m not riding to be on a team anymore. I just ride to do the best I can. Hopefully, if it works out, it works out. But if it doesn’t, I still love riding my horse.”

A Worthwhile Trip

St. Jacques wasn’t the only rider who made a long haul to ride in the Canaan Ranch CDI. Courtney King-Dye took two days to drive 17 hours from her New Milford, Conn., home with P.R.E. Grandioso (Adelante—Grandiosa).

When she arrived, she worried that her long trip would have been for nothing as the rain poured, but fortunately the footing held up.

“The show management did a really good job getting the footing the best that it could be. It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t dangerous. We had to be careful and ride conservative rides,” she said.

That plan didn’t stop Grandioso from winning the Prix St. Georges (69.38%) and Intermediaire I (70.00%) classes, though.

“I was really happy with the scores. Grandioso has come a long way. At the beginning of the season he was barely ready for Intermediaire I,” said King-Dye. “It was nice to have solid, clean tests and get really good scores from fantastic judges. The feedback was really encouraging.”

King-Dye, 31, started riding Hampton Green Farm’s 10-year-old stallion in March of 2008. She spent much of last year building up a relationship with him, so they could come out strong in 2009.

“I feel like with Grandioso, and also his brother, it’s such a personal thing,” said King-Dye. “When Kim [Van Kampen Boyer, owner of Hampton Green Farm] asked me to try him the first time, on the second day he got behind my leg in the trot and was being a little lazy.

“I gave him a little kick, and he turned around and tried to bite me. He never broke stride in the trot,” she said laughing. “It’s so personal. I really enjoy that kind of a relationship. It’s not like I’m the master, and he’s the beast. It’s got to be a partnership, 100 percent. That feisty, opinionated personality of his shows through in the ring.”

Although King-Dye was pleased with her tests, she said there’s room for improvement.

“In the Prix St. Georges, the canter work was good, but I wasn’t totally satisfied with the trot work. I was being a bit too careful. He was totally fine, but I wasn’t giving him enough support,” she said. “In the Intermediaire I, I thought the trot work was lovely, and I was really happy with the way I rode it, especially since it’s the more technical test, but he was a little bit more constricted in the pirouettes and the twos in the canter work, not totally trusting the footing.”

King-Dye drove to Illinois to ensure Grandioso would be qualified for the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Intermediaire I championship coming up in June in Gladstone, N.J. She got an added bonus when Grandioso’s owner was able to attend.

“It was really fun for me to go there because I’d never been to Lamplight,” she said. “Grandioso’s owner Kim is from Michigan, so that’s one of her usual shows. It was really fun that she and her husband could be there and be part of that. They invest so much in supporting the sport and supporting the breed in the sport, so it was really nice that they could be there for that and see the judges comments firsthand.”

All In The Family

King-Dye has been a regular at the dressage national championships for the past several years, but for Reese Koffler-Stanfield, qualifying for Gladstone was a long-held dream.

“That has been my personal goal since my sister Lindsay rode there when she was 21. I groomed for her, and I really wanted to ride at Gladstone. I’m so looking forward to it,” she said.

The Koffler family has always enjoyed showing together, and they took it one step further by sharing a horse when they acquired Goubergh’s Kasper from Suzanne Dansby-Bollman. Younger sister Lindsay Koffler-Cassidy rode the 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Facet—Annet) last year to a regional championship and her U.S. Dressage Federation gold medal. Then she turned the ride over to Koffler-Stanfield, 29, to pursue her Grand Prix goals.

“I had secretly been spoiling him the whole time that Lindsay rode him. I would sneak in there and give him carrots so he loved me!” admitted Koffler-Stanfield.

She further cemented their relationship by taking “Goober” to Florida for the winter to work with Kathy Connelly and Jessica Ransehousen.

“When we’re home in Kentucky, I run a business, and I’m married and have a family. In Florida I was able to just focus on him, so it was perfect timing for our relationship. It really solidified it for us,” said Koffler-Stanfield. “He’s just such a pleasure to ride. I’ve ridden some difficult horses, and having him, I can really appreciate how well trained he is and how sensitive he is.”

The pair scored over 70 percent at the WEF Dressage Classic CDI (Fla.) in March, but it took winning both of her Grand Prix classes at the Canaan Ranch CDI to really boost Koffler-Stanfield’s confidence. She won the Grand Prix for the freestyle on 64.80 percent and then took home the freestyle (70.35%).

“It was a beautiful night for the freestyle, and it was a great test. Being able to redo a 70 percent for me was awesome. It showed everybody that Florida wasn’t a fluke,” she said. “He was spot on in the freestyle. He got excited but in a really good way. He likes the party and being in front of a big crowd.”

Goober performs to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” “Love And Marriage” and music from the Muppets.

“Because he has a funny sense of humor, we picked tongue-in-cheek humor as our theme,” said Koffler-Stanfield. “Marlene Whitaker helped me do the freestyle. I love the choreography. It’s really fun and challenging. We tried to make sure we could do everything well. With the music and the whole theme, it’s really come together nicely.”

While competing in the Grand Prix championship is her big competitive goal for 2009, Koffler-Stanfield has a lot on her plate besides horse shows. She and her husband are building a farm 10 minutes away from the Kentucky Horse Park in Georgetown.

“We’re doing a 10-stall barn and a covered arena,” she said. “My husband isn’t a horse person, but he’s rapidly becoming one. I hope it will be a nice dressage center close to the Horse Park. I really try to make dressage fun for everyone.”