2014 Region 2 Championships and US Dressage Nationals

ALR Dressage enjoyed a very successful outing at both the Region 2 USDF Regional Championships and then the U.S. Dressage Finals, both shows held in Lexington, KY at the Kentucky Horse Park. Ally's student Jennifer Van de Loo qualified for Regionals with highly competitive scores throughout the year on her 15 yr old Oldenburg gelding, Lanzelot 99 in both Prix St. George and her very first year of Intermediate 1. Her assistant trainer, Nicole Ardito-Ng, also qualified on her own Royal Step, a 5 yr Oldenburg gelding that she imported herself from Germany a year ago. Despite more than adverse weather conditions, and 24 hours of rain, she persevered to lay down a beautiful Training level test in the huge open class with a score of 68%! Jenny ended up placing third in her PSG class and 4th in her Int 1 class, also both large, highly competitive classes. "Sometimes it's tempting to choose a Regional Championships that's not as highly competitive to "up" your chances of making the finals. I try to resist that so we can get an honest result going into Nationals. Region 2 championships was one of the largest in the country with over 1600 rides and an extremely high quality level of competitors. This is the reason I think we ended up so successful going to the Finals!" Though Nicole stayed home to hold down the fort, Jenny qualified with her great wild card scores and proved that she more than deserved to be there by placing 7th in the Int 1 class and then put in the test of her life to claim the Reserve Champion Prix St. George adult amateur in the Nation! Ally couldn't be prouder of the continual progress and success of ALL of her students. "One of the most rewarding things about teaching is watching my students not only progress up the levels and enjoy competitive success but become more effective, confident and secure in their own abilities."