CGF Ruella, aka ‘Katie’ is our first attempt of producing a dressage pony. Following the template set by the foundational German Riding pony, we analyzed, then carefully selected a stallion (Ridley – Rotspon x Walt Disney) to enhance and bring out the best in our mare MKK Worth the Wait, aka Tess. Katie embodies just that! From her balanced conformation to her athletic, elegant gaits and her personable, willing temperament, Katie is everything we had hoped for and more!
After providing us two beautiful fillies (CGF My Orla and CGF R-Owyn), we enrolled Katie in under saddle training. She continued to exceed all expectations from us and her trainers! The training team was delighted with working her and found her to be an ideal student. So much so that with less than 90 days under saddle, she made her show debut and was foot perfect. We plan to continue to develop her under saddle and possibly show her again in 2022.
At 3 years of age, Katie was presented to the RPSI (now Westfalen) for approval in the mare book. She was quite a showoff and not only behaved well off-farm, but she scored well, too. Her overall score was 7.1, with mainly 7’s, an 8 for her trot and a 7.5 for her overall impression and development. Otto’s comments were: “Good size and frame, solid in bone, good saddle position, good reach in walk, uphill trot with reach in front and the hind end catching up nicely, good looking mare who qualifies for the mare book.”
In her 4th year, Katie began the process of being backed. We take our time with the young ones, making sure to provide a strong foundation before moving onto the advanced work. In addition, we took Katie to her first in-hand dressage show. She placed 2nd in the class with an overall score of 68.5% and comments on her straight legs, good loin, freedom of shoulder and balanced and elasticity in trot. This is only the beginning for Katie as we continue to carefully develop her.
In 2019, she gave birth to CGF My Orla, a lovely palomino filly by the imported German Riding pony stallion Milky Way. We are over the moon at this great combination and what Katie produced. In 2020, she had a lovely filly by the International Dressage pony champion Rembrandt DDH. CGF R-owyn is his first American bred and born foal, and we are beyond excited for her future and will repeat this match in the future!