The youngest of the young horse divisions completed their first of two USEF Four-Year-Old tests today, with 16 entries taking their turn in front of the judges. Willy Arts (Handford, Calif.) and Linda Nickerson’s 2019 Danish Warmblood stallion, Serupgaards Cézanne, earned the day’s highest score of 88.800%.

Photo – Willy Arts and Serupgaards Cézanne. (©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian)

Class Results

Current Overall Standings:

1. Willy Arts and Serupgaards Cézanne
2. Madeleine Bendfeldt (GER) and Zapatero
3. Lindsey Holleger and MW One More Dream

From the Mixed Zone:

What is Serupgaards Cézanne’s background and breeding?

Willy Arts: He’s Danish, by Torveslettens Sylvester and his mother is by [Blue Hors] Romanov. He’s a 4-year-old stallion that came to us as a 3-year-old. We started developing him and it’s been a steady pace.

How did you feel about your ride today?

WA: I was very happy. He was consistent, which was a really good gauge of his rideability. He had a nice, positive attitude in the ring, and he’s self-motivated. I think he’s a complete horse. Next year he’ll be a 5-year-old, but for this year, that’s all you can expect from a 4-year-old, and he definitely shows the mechanism and the technique and the ability in his body to be a very good FEI horse.

What makes a horse like him stand out from other 4-year-olds?

WA: I think it’s because of the way he shows ease of movement, and he’s very self-motivated. Everything looks relaxed. It’s natural talent. You can see he goes from a beautiful extended trot into a stretching circle, and he just carries himself and he’s relaxed. So everything is natural. I think that is the most important thing in a 4-year-old. It’s not so much how many tricks they can do, but that they can show the natural ability, and then next year, you have a little bit more, introducing full collection and if you do that correctly, then you have a horse that’s ready to move on to the 6-year-olds and FEI.

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