By Nancy Degutis

When Lindsay Koffler had the individual Young Riders’ Silver Medal in her hand two years ago, the Kentucky native decided she would opt out of the under-21 ranks in favor of qualifying for the USEF national Intermediaire I dressage title this year.

That was a lofty goal for a then-teenage girl. Her dressage partner, a Hanoverian gelding named Alfredo (Aikzent I – Witoscha), was 14 then and “I realized it was time to move,” recalls the Lexington woman, now 21. She had been to the 2002 and 2003 North American Young Riders championships but felt there were greater heights to scale.

She made her decision and had two years to prepare to face some of the best dozen dressage riders in the country at the USEF National Dressage Championships in New Jersey. And do it with a horse she calls “difficult and hot” at times. Her Alfredo (Akzent 1- Witoscha) is leery of the unfamiliar, such as the electric scoreboard at the June 16-18 finals at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation’s headquarters in Gladstone.