We are celebrating the honorable Holsteiner as our April Breed of the Month on YourDressage!
Did you know that dressage riders who choose a Holsteiner as their dressage mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the Holsteiner Verband-North American Breeding District is a participating organization?
Here, a Young Rider from Region 7 shares how she met the Holsteiner who rebuilt her confidence, and how they helped each other heal. While he rehabilitated his body, she rehabilitated her mind, and together, they created a partnership to last.
By Emma Thalgott
My name is Emma Thalgott, and my horse’s name is Pumpkin or “Amaretto.” He is a 13-year-old Holsteiner by Sandro Boy who made his way from Germany to the US. I am a 20-year-old hunter and dressage rider, now primarily focused on dressage. We are from Las Vegas, and I currently ride for Wake Forest University (WFU) in North Carolina.
Pumpkin was originally imported to be a hunter, and he did a fabulous job with me until he suffered suspensory injury. He is quite literally the best horse I have ever sat on and is an absolute gentleman with people of all experience levels, kids, and even animals. He and I have had to face many challenges, but he always seems to go with the flow and inspires me to stay positive. He loves to socialize and is known at my current barn as the “greeter.”
I initially met Pumpkin when I was 14 years old and looking to move up in the hunters from the 2’6” division. I was a nervous rider, which I did not want to admit to myself at the time, although it was very obvious. I had tried about 17 horses at that point, and many of them had made me nervous. The one horse I did love, a flea-bitten grey gelding named Marshmallow, did not pass his veterinary inspection. This originally broke my heart, but it was absolutely for the best. I ended up going to Temecula with my hunter trainer at the time and tried many horses, but I will never forget Pumpkin coming out at Nick Hanness’s property, who imported and sold him to me.
Nick brought him out and said, “This is Toto.” I remember thinking that was a terrible name and that I would have to change that (Toto came from Pumpkin’s show name, Amaretto). I started calling him Pumpkin since the name fit his orange color and sweet personality. I also tried a horse named Twizzler at that barn. I remember telling Pumpkin he was sweet, but I think I would prefer Twizzler because he reminded me of the horse I was leasing at the time. Boy, was I wrong. Twizzler was too much horse for me and terrified me. It was too ironic that I said that to Pumpkin when the universe knew he was my horse.
Later that day, I tried a different horse named Elvis. Elvis was very sweet, but he and I did not mesh well over fences. He would stop a few feet from the jump if he was not confident, so when I saw the flyer to an oxer, I assumed he would stop. In fact, he did not, which left me flying over the jump, landing flat on my back. I knew something was wrong immediately since my left hip was throbbing. I laid there and checked my body to see if I was paralyzed. I remember my 14-year-old self thinking that I could get an X-ray or a horse, so I put my shirt collar in my mouth, bit down, and stood up. I got back on Elvis to show I was okay, even though I could not close my left hand nor hold myself straight in the saddle.
Limping back to the hotel room was excruciating, but I was so ready to find a horse. The next day, it was something like 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and I felt woozy and still could not really close my left hand. When I posted, I twisted sideways. I climbed up on Pumpkin, knowing he was a freshly imported 7-year-old jumping 1.30 meters – I was not sure I could handle this type of horse.
I mostly used my right hand to steer and could barely get around. Pumpkin stayed slow and steady. Finally, we 3-legged over an oxer because of my lack of riding. I closed my eyes and waited for Pumpkin to buck me off, but he never did. He brushed it off and kept cantering in rhythm. That was when I knew he was going to be my partner, and his attitude has proved integral to our partnership over the last few years. It turns out I had cracked my pelvis, broken my finger at the joint, and also tweaked my wrist. I did not find this out until much later, so I kept riding, and everything healed wrong – I was a very stubborn teenager. It took me until I was 19 years old to finally rebalance my hip and body. Pumpkin stayed very patient with me, even when I would jump fences with my head tilted to straighten out my shoulders from my now crooked hips.
When I said goodbye to Pumpkin in Temecula, he seemed disinterested in me, and I chalked it up to him not being affectionate. But when Pumpkin arrived in Vegas, he stepped out into his run and walked up to me. In my mind, he recognized me as a familiar face. I remember staring at him, not believing he was real or mine. My 8-year-old self, looking at the nice hunters with braided tails, would have been amazed. Since that day, he has been very much at my side. He always comes when called, loves to cuddle and lean his body weight on me, and likes to watch me wherever I am on the property. His following behavior has made liberty work a more intuitive process for us.
I believe that the best thing about this sport is the connection with the horse, and I think our connection was what got us through so many uphill climbs. There are many in this sport who do not have a connection with their horse. They may think they do, but it is not until you work with your horse on the ground, tack him up, and know his body language that you really know him.
Our first series of uphill climbing was competing in the hunters at the Desert International Horse Park. After weeks of learning how to not leave out strides in the 2’6” on a very athletic 7-year-old, we began placing in our classes. After a night of rain, we were going into a work-off for a medal round. The footing was wet, and Pumpkin slipped while pushing off the ground to a fence. He crashed through it, and I flipped over his head. I landed hard again, but he did not leave me. The reins did not leave my hand. Every fall I have had, he has never left my side. He always looks down at me with wide eyes but never runs. He ended up hurting his sacroiliac joint, and I developed a physiological response to jumping on the left lead after coming out of the crash. I would lose my vision and “blackout” in front of jumps. Then, I was told I should not be jumping anymore.
I went to a sports psychologist and started over. 8-year-old Pumpkin took my 15-year-old self back through poles, then small jumps, and helped me work out my PTSD. I had taught him to run out of fences, and beat myself up for it hugely. I felt that I was ruining him. However, once I was confident, he was too, and we did not have the issue again.
My interest in dressage started from watching the FEI at the South Point Arena and Equestrian Center in Las Vegas when I was 10. I loved the beautiful movements but never thought I would follow suit. When I was 16, I wanted to improve my jumping, so I started trying to take dressage lessons with my hunter trainer. It made both Pumpkin and I sore, and even that was not “real dressage”; looking back, it was “hunter-fied dressage.” But, it did teach me that I did not have the right fitness. We did a couple of competitions at Training Level, but neither of us knew anything about collection or proper carriage from the hind end. But I had fun learning geometry outside of my jumping lessons. I started to read about it and study it on my own time.
In jumping, I had finally regained my confidence. Truthfully, I had a trainer who was the opposite of encouraging, and I credit Pumpkin for keeping me in the sport. I even had friends at the barn tell me that if it were that hard for them, they would quit. Pumpkin was my partner, and I could always depend on him for my confidence. We finally got up to confidently showing in the 3’0” and did our first national derby with a beautifully handy round. We came back from Temecula feeling on top of the world and continued our learning by coursing 3’3” with some 3’6” sprinkled in. We also attended the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) National Championships in Las Vegas and earned many ribbons.
Unfortunately, in June of the summer before my senior year of high school, there was a terrible monsoon, and Pumpkin kicked the metal bars of his run, sending a piece of his bone into his tendon. I remember worrying about him that night because of how bad the wind was, but thinking there was nothing I could do. After a week in the veterinary hospital, we brought him back slowly until he was able to return to jumping. However, it was too soon, and he came up very lame on his front right. I realized that if I wanted to keep riding while he recovered, I would need to find something else to ride.
I was friends with an amateur dressage rider and USDF Gold Medalist whose daughter rode at my barn. She invited me to ride her horse and take dressage lessons. It was extremely challenging, and left me feeling sore and unsure that I knew how to ride at all. However, I have a very analytical brain, and I became addicted quickly. Through her, I met a different trainer and a horse named Kairos, whom I started riding.
After a couple of terrible veterinarians and a bone scan that told us he was a “trainwreck.” Pumpkin went to rehab in California, one of the hardest but best decisions I have ever made. My previous trainer told me that one month would be all he needed. He spent most of my senior year of high school walking, and I continued riding Kai. Both of us needed to heal. Kairos was owned by an older woman who was looking for an experienced rider to keep him in a program with a trainer. He was 9, but very green. With my new dressage trainer, I learned the ropes of dressage and fell hopelessly in love with it.
Kairos was an absolute challenge. He was very sensitive, and prone to bucking and spooking. This was very different from Pumpkin, who had few qualms with anything and kept me safe multiple times in dangerous settings, including when a loose horse came over to us while I was riding and tried to bite my thigh. I learned to feel the horse underneath me hugely due to Pumpkin’s lameness and Kairos’s spookiness. I was able to take Kairos to my first USEF-licensed/USDF-recognized dressage show. We showed First Level, taking home some good scores and qualifying us for the California Dressage Society (CDS) Young Rider Championships.
After learning a lot about dressage from Kairos, I started to ride client horses for my trainer and began to work up to Third Level schooling at home. This was a huge challenge because I had to essentially re-learn all of my muscle memory from being a hunter. This meant no more “puppy paws,” closed hip angle, and leaning forward. I took my fitness much more seriously to correct this issue. Hearing “crooked hip” and “you were a hunter” from the judge at Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) dressage shows in the Dressage Seat Equitation was one of the most frustrating things.
I have wanted to ride for WFU since I was 14 and looking at schools. I was committed to riding at Wake Forest for the Intercollegiate Horse Show Associate (IHSA) in limit fences and flats, but was now aiming to also compete in Lower Training dressage. I did not have an extensive dressage show record, but I learned all I could in order to compete. Riding different horses at every practice and every show in college was so challenging, as I was used to riding one horse. Even riding client horses did not have me as prepared as I thought. My coach, Michelle Hargreaves, out of Hidden K Stables, propelled my dressage career even further at Wake Forest. She taught me so much about equine and rider biomechanics, which, as a Health and Exercise Science Major, made huge sense to me. She was able to help me work on my strength and confidence by always knowing what horse to push me with.
My freshman year at Wake Forest was a learning curve for sure. But, I found community, and I can say that my teammates became my family. Long shows caring for our horses are always filled with laughter and good spirits. I am known as the girl from whom everyone borrows a stock tie and a bun cover. I placed well in my first year and was proud of myself. My biggest lessons were using my core for movements and that less is more (I should never nag the horse).
I finally got Pumpkin back from rehab the summer after my freshman year of college. I was now at a new barn with new trainers. We slowly brought him back into work, and from the get-go, I immediately started working on his hind end strength, straightness, and balance. Not only did we start coursing again, but the hunter horse I had never seen on the bit was starting to look like a dressage horse. I fully committed and bought him a dressage saddle. We started to work on strength and master leg yields. Our biggest struggles were collection and lateral movement. He was building up his strength, so he did not really like to use his hind end. But feeling him eventually offer beautiful leg yields made me feel like I had when I was 10-years-old and watching the FEI horses for the first time.
Then, the next challenge we had to overcome was keeping his canter together. At 16.3 hands, he has a huge stride. He likes to be long and strung out. He also knows his lead changes from being a hunter for so long. He would just offer them in our one loops at the canter. The counter-canter was also a struggle. I have found that a little at a time has worked the best. Now that we are stronger and balanced, we have fewer swaps. I have even gotten him to do a back-to-front instead of a front-to-back hunter lead change.
In October of 2023, I took him to his first USDF-recognized dressage show. It was his first horse show in nearly two years, and he was a total gentleman. While we did have a couple of unintended lead changes, which earned us a “no tempis” comment on our scoresheet, he had beautiful lateral work, trot work, and lengthens in First Level Tests 2 and 3. We even took home a blue ribbon. I do not have a dressage trainer at my current barn, so most of the work was from my training, with some guidance from my hunter trainers. I use my dressage trainer at the shows since she is further from where I board. Our biggest accomplishments are going down centerline and jumping again for the first time in years. I left Pumpkin to go back to school and found that I had so much confidence again. I went into our next IDA show a week later, taking first in the Dressage Seat Equitation, now at Upper Training, and second in my test by a narrow margin.
When I went home for winter break, I focused on more lateral work and started working on the half-pass. It was tricky at first, but he started giving me big, beautiful steps of nice lateral work. He once again pushed me to a higher fitness level, allowing me to take multiple wins, including a high point and personal best at Averett University. I took reserve champion in Region 1 in the Upper Training Test for IDA, and I know I will spend my time at the Intercollegiate Dressage National Championships thanking Pumpkin. His willingness to perform two completely different jobs at the same time still blows me away. In the same week, we would jump a hunter course, work on our half passes and counter canter, and then ride bridleless. We are now working on earning my USDF Bronze Medal together, and he is the ultimate partner. Although almost three out of the five and a half years I have had him have been spent doing rehab work, I would do it over again in a heartbeat.
This horse has made my patience and confidence so much greater. I also deal with a chronic disease that affects my nerves and makes things very difficult. There are days I do not have
good of balance or strength, and Pumpkin always takes it in stride. He reminds me that I am capable regardless of what the day brings to me, and that patience is always the answer. My journey with horses has taught me that life is very unpredictable and sometimes can feel very unfair. However, it is ultimately up to me to continue, and I have learned that passion can overcome most obstacles. I am an EMT in Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) school, working my way toward medical school. My presence in this sport has taught me I am capable of anything, and has pushed me to pursue my academic passions. I also learned that I cannot show up for Pumpkin if I do not show up for myself, which hugely changed my perspective on lifestyle habits for the better.
The most special thing about this horse is his heart. My old trainer told me you can not teach a good mind to a horse. I agree with this. Pumpkin meets me at my level, no matter where I am. He also teaches kids, and now my mother, how to ride. However, nothing comes for free with him either. He is capable of producing amazing work; you just have to ask the correct way. This is why I think he is so good at being both a leadline horse and a national competitor.
I know Pumpkin is special, but I have met many amazing Holsteiners. They are incredible athletes who can excel in dressage or jumping and are very intelligent horses. Their temperament is also fabulous. I know that if I were to get another horse eventually, I would want a Holsteiner again. Pumpkin has made me a fan of the breed forever.
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