Jones Sweeps Dressage Championships
Equestrian bible “The Chronicle of the Horse” featured Seed CEO and Founder Susan Jones after she and her horse Reliance took top honors in the United States Dressage Federation Region 2 Championships in late September.
The ride in the First Level Adult Amateur class capped a winning season for Jones who returned to showing this year after a nearly decade-long hiatus, during which she founded Seed Strategy.
Dressage, sometimes referred to as “horse ballet,” is the art of training a horse in precision movement that flows from the animal’s natural gait.
In addition to topping one of the largest championship classes in the country, Reliance, an 8-year-old Oldenburg, won the First Level and Second Level Adult Amateur Majestic Farms Championship, while Jones won Reserve Champion in the Majestic Farms Third Level Adult Amateur championship with her other horse, Connaisseur [sic] (a.k.a. Cavu).
Jones also netted the final scores for the season to win her USDF bronze medal at the show. The article revealed that Jones rides every morning before heading into the office, rising around 4:30 to school both of her horses under the instruction of veteran trainer Nancy Baker.
“We worked really hard this year,” Jones told “The Chronicle.” “Our whole focus is on learning and getting better, not really winning.”
National Grand Champion
Jones also went on to win two national dressage championship awards and the National Grand Champion of the lower levels at the Performance Horse Registry’s 2011 Silver Stirrup Awards, making her the No. 1 amateur rider in the country. The awards include:
• Grand Champion Lower Level Dressage
• Champion Adult Amateur First Level
• Champion Adult Amateur Second Level
“It was a great honor to win the awards,” she said. “Now it’s back to growing my partnership with Reliance. As we walk to the arena every morning I can’t help but think I have the honor to ride such a special horse.”
