Heather Mason saved it until the afternoon of the final day of the competition to etch her name at the top of the leaderboard, a place very familiar to her over the past few years at Finals. Her 72.842% on the seven-year-old gelding Manuskript SCF clinched the Fourth Level Freestyle Open, despite some technical music issues.

Photo – Heather Mason piloted the high-achieving Jazz gelding Manuskript SCF to 72.842% and the top spot in the Fourth Level Freestyle Open Championship. (Sue Stickle Photography)

“It was incredibly challenging to count changes when the music was doing strange things, but he was good about it,” said Mason, who had a host of students competing at Finals. “He has a lot of character and a mind of his own — he’s by Jazz which says it all — but he likes to show off.”

Mason reports that “Skript,” who is the horse of the year at fourth level and Prix St. Georges, bangs his door all day long for hay, and gets it. Although cheeky, he has progressed quickly up the levels and this was his last-ever fourth level test as he will contest small tour in the new year.

Taking Her Time

“He knows everything in the grand prix apart from the ones, and I’ve done up to five ones with him, but we stopped for show season. I know he will do the grand prix, but I won’t do it with him until he’s nine or 10; there’s no point in pushing it even though he does learn so fast.”

Sunday’s classes conclude competition at the 2024 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®. Catch up with all the action via the USDF Facebook page, the US Dressage Finals website, and USEF Network. Full results can be found on www.horseshowoffice.com. The dates for the 2025 US Dressage Finals will be announced shortly.