Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel Preps for Dressage at Devon with Personal Best Score at CDI Saugerties

Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel. Photo by Terri Miller

Saugerties, NY – Junior dressage rider Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel showed she’s ready for Dressage at Devon by notching a personal best score in the Junior Freestyle at the Centerline Events at HITS Saugerties CDI, Aug. 14-17 in Saugerties, NY. She got back in the show ring with Ungaro for the first time since her sixth place finish among the top junior riders in the country at June’s U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions presented by The Dutta Corp.

Conroy-Zugel achieved an impressive score of 68.5 percent in the Junior Freestyle. She was right on the mark with all of the transitions in the music, demonstrating accuracy and precision. 

“It was all about getting comfortable with the freestyle in competition, and it went really well,” Conroy-Zugel said. “Ungaro loves freestyles – he gets more pumped up and more forward, and he is so much fun to ride in them.”

The freestyle, titled “The Swinging Little Freestyle,” features tunes from the Broadway musical “42nd Street.” It was designed for Conroy-Zugel by Miracle Music Freestyles. The music has plenty of variations and changes that suit Ungaro well, bringing out the natural expression in his gaits.

Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel. Photo by Terri Miller

Ungaro thrives on a light show schedule and enjoys plenty of variety in his training, including hill work alongside ring work to help him stay fresh. The Centerline Events at HITS Saugerties CDI served as the perfect tune-up heading into Dressage at Devon, the highlight of the fall competition calendar in the U.S. This will be Conroy-Zugel’s first year competing at the prestigious show.

Conroy-Zugel’s strong results at Saugerties show that she is on track as she trains up to Dressage at Devon with the guidance of her coach, Ashley Perkins, as well as her mother, Sonia Zugel. 

“All of the goals we’d been working on – getting him more forward and more round – were accomplished at Saugerties,” Zugel said.

To read more about Zugel, Conroy-Zugel and Ramanessin, log onto their newly designed website, www.ramanessin.com.