Geñay Vaughn knew from the moment she met Gino eight years ago that he was special. The striking black Dutch Warmblood gelding was originally meant for her mother, Michele Vaughn, but after Geñay sat on him when he arrived at their Starr Vaughn Equestrian in Elk Grove, California, mother and daughter both agreed he had what it took to make it to the top of the sport, so Geñay took over his training.

The pair climbed the levels, making their international Grand Prix debut in 2023, and they recently wrapped up a stellar FEI World Cup Dressage Final run with a win in the CDI-W Grand Prix for the freestyle (70.73%) and the Grand Prix freestyle (74.37%) at the HITS Del Mar Dressage Opener in Del Mar, California, held Feb. 14-16.

With wins in CDI-W classes in Thermal, California, in November (72.61%) and January (75.15%) as well, they secured their ticket to the FEI Dressage World Cup Final, which will be held April 2-6 in Basel, Switzerland. She qualified alongside East Coast-based Adrienne Lyle and Kevin Kohmann in the final standings for the North American League. 

“He’s just developed more and more,” Geñay said. “I feel like every season we go out, he gets more comfortable and more relaxed. He’s so talented, and with a horse that talented, it’s just endless. I feel like he’s using his hotness and his talent in a really good way and getting more comfortable with the Grand Prix every season, and that’s so exciting.

“I’m ecstatic,” she said of qualifying for her first World Cup Final. “Honestly, it means the world to me. It’s something that I’ve always worked for, and it just shows that you know you can do it. Just keep working; never give up, and at some point, the daily commitment to improvement will pay dividends when the time comes. I think that’s the biggest thing, is just believing in yourself and surrounding yourself with people who believe in you too.”

The pair started trending in the 70s last fall, something Geñay said isn’t due to any one change but keeping their routine in the training the same. She also opted to stay in California this season instead of traveling to Wellington, Florida, for the Adequan Global Dressage Festival so she could support West Coast shows and allow the 14-year-old gelding (Bretton Woods—Lugienna, Haarlem), bred in the Netherlands by M.F.M. Heynert-Hermans, to have more consistent turnout and a bigger stall at her farm.

“I think this year, the only thing that changed was just sticking with my mom [as my trainer] the whole way through, and that worked,” she said, adding that Kathleen Raine helped coach her at competitions since Michele helps as groom and support crew alongside Geñay’s non-horsey boyfriend, expert treat-giver Matt Wiesenfarth.

Del Mar was a new show for Geñay, 30, and she was thrilled with the outcome. “Honestly, that was the best he’s ever felt, so I was super happy,” she said. “He just had that amazing fire under him, and he showed his true quality, especially in his piaffe and passage. He gets good scores and everything, but wow, it just felt exactly how it feels at home, transferred into the ring, and he was so good.”

‘True To My Background’

Their freestyle music features Black artists, including Luther Vandross and Barry White. Geñay felt it was important to include music from Black artists in her freestyle.

“I’m one of the few African American riders in the sport of dressage that I know of, and I wanted to stay true to my background and bring a little bit of culture into dressage and keep it fun but also keep it universal and something that I think the judges like,” she said. “My intro is ‘The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air,’ which was a TV show that I grew up on, and it’s fun, and he reminds me of Gino. My trot tour is Barry White, and I think it just goes really well with him. And then my passage and piaffe is also Barry White. I chose Luther Vandross for the walk. He’s one of my dad’s favorite artists. And then the canter is Earth, Wind & Fire.”

Watch their winning freestyle, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.tv:

Asked if she feels a responsibility to be a role model to riders of color in equestrian sport, Geñay said she’s happy to lead by example. 

“I think I always try to just carry myself in a way that’s true to myself and that’s also relatable and realistic in a way,” she said. “I hope that it’s nice for young girls seeing a woman of color competing on an international stage and saying, ‘Hey, I can do that,’ because I know growing up, there wasn’t anybody that I could look up to. There was no person that looked like me. I think just, the more the better for any type of representation in this sport. You want to make it inclusive and something that everyone thinks they’re capable of doing.”

‘A Mama’s Boy’

Geñay and her mother run a large breeding and training operation at Starr Vaughn with 35 personal and client horses and just a few barn staff to help with stalls. Geñay shares a close bond with Gino and does all of his care at home and at shows, from braiding and bathing to tacking and clipping.

“He’s a total lover boy, a mama’s boy. He loves having me around,” she said. “He’s unlike any horse I’ve had. He’s quirky; he likes things a certain way. I take him from the stall to the walker to the paddock—that’s me seven days a week with him. I feel like that’s helped build our partnership a lot, just being together every day and knowing him since he was 6.”

She finds that deep familiarity affects every piece of their performance both in training and in the show ring. 

“I started out doing Pony Club, and it’s just a lot of horsemanship,” she said. “My mom has always been horsemanship first, so it’s just natural to me, and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of his everyday routine, and I think that’s a beautiful thing of our sport: Yes, he’s my teammate, but he’s also like my best friend and family first, and then it’s such a blessing that we get to compete together as well.”

Bringing Up Babies

Geñay has several youngsters coming up behind Gino, some of which are by her former Under-25 Grand Prix horse, the Hanoverian Donarweiss GGF (De Niro—SPS Highlight, Hohenstein).

“Now we have a bunch of his offspring, and it’s so fun because I get to see them with their new owners, and I have some that I’m keeping for myself and developing a bit,” she said. “My mom and I work hand-in-hand where I get on, but she’ll help me with the longeing and the desensitizing before and is always with me for the first few rides, We’re just a team in that aspect. And that’s kind of how our business is run, is through breeding, training, sales and all of that.”

She takes some to young horse classes but sometimes just sticks to lower-level classes to get their confidence—whatever they’re comfortable with.

“Our end goal is always the Grand Prix, so it’s whatever path is best for the horse to Grand Prix for us,” she said. “It’s really important for me to have longevity. I want horses to have a long Grand Prix career, or a long career in the sport, and be happy.

“I get to see them be born, and then I put the halter on for the first time, and I teach them how to walk and crosstie and longe—like every single step I’m a part of with my mom,” she continued. “It’s so fun when you finally get to take them to shows, and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I remember when we couldn’t even turn.’ There are so many things that are so funny and you’re so grateful for, and I think that keeps you really humble and gives you so much respect for the sport. And you enjoy the upper levels so much more too because you remember what it’s like being at training level.”

Ready For Basel

Geñay’s looking forward to time training in Germany with Wolfram Wittig this month as she prepares to represent the U.S. for the first time as a senior rider in Switzerland. She’s going to try to enjoy every step of the process, no matter the outcome.

“I’m really lucky that I have such a good support team with my mom, Kathleen, my family—they’re always rooting for me and telling me, ‘You can do it,’ ” she said. 

“Fail? You learn from your failures,” she added. “You know, it’s not the end. You keep going. All the great people fail, and at some point you learn enough, and it just clicks. And I feel like that’s what happened. It’s just each test, he feels better and better, and I feel more secure and more confident and better. And it’s like, OK, why can’t we do this? What makes us different from everybody else who’s out there?”

Her goal is to have fun with Gino and make everyone proud. 

“Tomorrow is not promised for me, for anybody, and so I don’t want to put too much pressure on because, I mean, what a blessing and what an exciting opportunity to go out there and perform on the World Cup stage and just try my best and have fun doing it,” she said. “I feel like when you have fun, that’s when your best rides come.”