Traverse City, Mich. – Sept. 13 , 2021 – QBS Equestrian’s talented group of young horses earned top results during the 2021 USHJA Young Jumper Championships at the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament. M. Michael Meller of MMM Horseman and Dennis Sisco have worked to bring together a group of top young athletes paired with up-and-coming horses to support the sport of show jumping as both the riders and horses develop through the ranks, and the 2021 USHJA Young Jumper Championships brought together the culmination of that initiative. On Sunday, Australia’s Matt Williams piloted Doonaveeragh Balou (Wild Balou Bill X Doonaveeragh Seabrae) to the overall reserved championship in the 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship, while Catherine Tyree and Cantalupe V/D Holtenhoeve (Canaletto Z X Polarsterne Van de Richter) rounded out the top three.
“I think it was a great field of horses this year,” noted Williams. “It was a really strong week, and there were a lot of horses that jumped clear. You had to really be competitive from day one in order to make it into the final. The course designer today did a great job and got four in the jump-off, and in the end, it was the right four to have in the jump-off to make the class really exciting.”
Williams continued, “It is very easy having horses with Michael and Dennis. They are great people to work with and they thoroughly enjoy having young horses at the show and supplying us with horses that will bring us up in the sport and bring up their business. We are all very thankful to Michael and Dennis for including us. Without people like them in the sport, it is very hard to do what we are doing.”
Both Williams and Tyree were double clear during the 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Final on Sunday. “Melon has come quite a ways in a short amount of time,” said Tyree. “He has been amazing in the 6-Year-Old division. This is a great stepping stone for the young horses here in the states. He is very brave, with good technique and huge stride, so it is more about keeping him focused. He is such a competitor when he goes in the ring, and he has grown a lot. I can not thank Michael and Dennis enough for giving me the opportunity to ride such a talented young horse.”
Sisco commented, “The incentive for us is to be a force in developing the future of the equestrian sport. It is so hard in the US, given the expense, to bring along these youngsters. Certainly, we want to do well, and certainly, we want to see these horses go on to do big things in the ring, but what is most important is that we want to give back and help develop the next generation of horses and their riders.”
Also finishing in the top ten during the 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship was Ali Wolff with MMM Horseman’s Farenheiht du Ponthual (Lux Z X IO De La Grange). In the 5-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship, Williams was double clear with MMM Horseman’s Fire Fly (Arezzo VDL X First Price G) for place sixth, and MMM Horseman’s Daily Planet (Diacontinus X Queen’s Evidence) was double clear with Kamille Marcussen, putting them in seventh place.
“I think owning young horses is the future of the sport, and I believe that this year we have put a small group of very talented riders that also have the right ethics and training and everything else that goes along with really caring for the horse and honoring the horse first,” said Meller. “By doing this, we have a secure base to continue buying young horses.”
Tyree concluded, “Dennis and Michael are so easy to work with and have complete faith and trust in our programs, and it is really nice knowing that at the end of the day, they trust our decisions and instincts for the horses. We have a great team around us, myself, Matt, Ali, Kamille and Heather Caristo – we all have horses with them, and it is great that we can all cheer each other on. It is a super supportive, unique, and nice little family.”
The goal of QBS Equestrian is to create a world-class team of horse and rider combinations to produce some of the world’s top young show jumping mounts. For more information, please visit www.QBSEquestrian.com.
