Miki Yang (Los Altos Hills, Calif) took a second win in the young rider division with Grey C Carrus, a 2014 Oldenburg gelding owned by Four Winds Farm, scoring a 73.382% in the FEI Young Rider Individual Test and winning the overall national championship for the division. Kat Fuqua and her own Dreamgirl, a 2008 Dutch Warmblood mare, finished in second place for the class and reserve champion for the division. Mary Claire Piller and Emily Brollier’s Caterina, a 2011 Hanoverian mare, rounded out the top three in the overall final standings.

Photo – Miki Yang and Grey C Carrus. (©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian)

Class Results

Final Results:

1. Miki Yang and Grey C Carrus
2. Kat Fuqua and Dreamgirl
3. Mary Claire Piller and Caterina

From the Mixed Zone:

What were some of the highlights of your test today?

Miki Yang: I was really happy with my horse, “Grey C.” He’s only 9, so each show I do, I want it to be a confidence builder for both of us. I was really happy with the power that I felt we had in the trot. I felt like we were able to showcase that pretty well. The walk was more relaxed today. We had a little bit of tension, but today I felt like he could stretch. The canter work, I was quite happy with, especially the pirouettes. They’re all the way down at X instead of closer to the quarterline, so being able to prepare that and get an honest feeling for those was a good feeling. I’m just overall very happy with it.

Kat Fuqua: I was also really happy with my test and my horse today. She was really on my side, just giving it her all. I think the highlight of the test would definitely be the canter pirouettes. They weren’t perfect, but they were a really big improvement from the team test. And, of course, the tempi changes are always our favorite.

Mary Claire Piller: I was really pleased with my mare. She’s always right with me, every time. We had some uncharacteristic mistakes in this test and the last test, which add up in the end, but I was super happy overall.

For those of you who were at NAYC earlier this month, how do you keep your horse fresh for these two big events back-to-back?

MCP: I took her home and turned her out for like two days and left her alone. She came back and was ready to work after that.

KF: Dreamgirl got a really big break because I had to start school, so she was laid over at NAYC and then came here. She was just grazing for hours every day and getting her energy back up for the shows. She came out fresh and ready to go.

What’s next for your horse?

MY: Next up, we’re hoping to see if we can do some small tour competition, stepping it up to the I-1. We’ll do our homework over the fall and winter and start playing around with some U25 things, introducing him to piaffe and passage and seeing how he takes to that.

What was the highlight of this week for you?

MY: I think the whole week, even though the weather was all over the place, was just magnificent. Being able to see all these different classes from the baby horses to the Grand Prix has just been very educational. And being able to meet a lot of new riders, talk to new people, and see familiar and new faces. And most of all, just having some quality time with my horse. It was really just me and him this whole week. We’re just spending a lot of time together each day, so I think our bond got a lot stronger.

KF: I think my highlight this week was I got to see my cousins because they live in Chicago, and they got to come watch me today. I don’t get to see them a lot, so it was really cool. This is the first time that they ever got to see me compete, so it was really exciting.

MCP: This horse show is almost inspirational in everything that happens here. You watch the Grand Prix and you get excited to go home and train. And again, getting to meet new people and reunite with people you don’t get to see all the time because everyone from all over the country comes to this horse show.

Full Schedule and Results

2023 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions On-Demand Replay

US Equestrian subscribers and members can watch the on-demand replay of the 2023 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions on USEF Network powered by ClipMyHorse.TV. Not a member? Join now.