ESD Championships What a Day!

THE FIRST ESD SERIES CHAMPIONS

Earlier this year OADG set out to give our ESD riders something the circuit had never offered: a proper day to cap off their show season. We were thrilled to partner with Bridget and Jeff McKessock of Westar Farms to build it, and on Saturday 12 September it happened.

OADG member Mika Baldwin rode in the Polish Your Dressage Junior Rider clinic earlier in the summer and came away from it with a goal: to be at the championships in September. On Saturday she was, and she won the ESD Walk Trot Junior Championship. Twenty eight ESD riders came to Summerset. Eighteen titles went to fourteen of them. The Ontario Dressage Silver Championships, Eastern Division, were contested on the same grounds the same weekend and a separate post is forthcoming.

It was a fantastic day for our competitors, our officials and our volunteers, and what stays with me is not the results sheet. It is how many people came out for a first year. Riders of every age who had spent a season chasing a point or two on a single movement. Mothers and daughters competing on the same weekend. Friends packed around the in gate, waiting on a test result. And the parent or friend with the towel waiting at the warm up ring for one last shine before the bell rings.

• 

• 

• 

WHAT THE ESD SERIES IS

The Equestrian Skills Development series, ESD for short, is a recognized show series under Ontario Equestrian. ESD shows use Equestrian Canada qualified judges and follow EC judging protocols, so the number at the bottom of the sheet means the same thing it means anywhere else in the sport.

That matters because of who rides it. The rider who is comfortable at schooling shows and wants to step up. The rider in a development season, for themselves or for a young horse, who wants that season to feel substantive and structured rather than approximate. ESD gives both of them real competition without asking them to commit to a full recognized calendar first.

What the series did not have until this year was an ending. A season of good rides at scattered venues finished the way it started, with a score sheet and a drive home. The ESD Series Championship gives that season a final day.

Riders qualified by earning two scores at ESD shows on the local circuit over the course of the season. Each division offered Champion and Reserve Champion titles in Junior, Adult Amateur and Open, awarded where the entries supported them.

ESD INTRO GREEN HORSE

Amateur Champion Brittany Lamb Envy Me 136.313

Amateur Reserve Champion Greg Winklemaier Marcus 135.563

Open Champion Nanci Lines Titania 129.625

ESD INTRO GREEN RIDER

Amateur Champion Scotia Montgomery Abra Cadabra 134.376

Junior Champion Mika Baldwin Classic Riff 122.188

Junior Reserve Champion Ronyn Brown Eckos of a Lady 120.001

ESD TRAINING LEVEL

Amateur Champion Caitlin Kealey Penny Lane 134.697

Amateur Reserve Champion Amy Culligan Royale's King of Hearts 127.628

Junior Champion Anna Manasseri Royale's Fancy Pants 133.897

Junior Reserve Champion Eva Di Gioacchino Alaska 131.179

ESD FIRST LEVEL

Champion Danielle Bainton Cajun Kiss 128.346

ESD WALK TROT EQUITATION

Champion Scotia Montgomery Abra Cadabra

Reserve Champion Katie Balloch Harlow Jean

ESD WALK TROT CANTER EQUITATION

Amateur Champion Caitlin Kealey Penny Lane Amateur

Reserve Champion Danielle Bainton Cajun Kiss

Junior Champion Anna Manasseri Royale's Fancy Pants

Junior Reserve Champion Allison Fox Luxury Edition

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

BEHIND THE RIBBONS Every rider had a cheering section. A friend at the rail with a phone up, filming the whole test. People holding their breath through a canter depart. Somebody quietly explaining to a friend what was supposed to happen next and why it mattered. You could always tell when a personal victory had happened, because somebody said "yes" under their breath. None of that appears on a score sheet, and it is most of what a show day actually is.

When the last class finished, about fifty people stayed for the barbecue, which Ontario Dressage cosponsored with us. Jeff McKessock ran the grill. Caroline Peck, who is president of Ontario Dressage, did the corn. Kathey Rowsome put the salads together. None of them were paid, and every one of them had already been there all day.

Westar Farms hosted the whole weekend and hosted it beautifully. The footing was excellent, the fall weather was as good as September gets, and the show simply ran.

THANK YOU

Bridget and Jeff McKessock and the Westar Farms team ran the day well enough that most competitors never had to think about it, which is the highest compliment you can pay a show organizer. Thank you to the officials, who judged a long card in a long day.

• 

• 

Westar Farms, the OADG and Ontario Dressage cosponsored the barbecue.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

WHAT COMES NEXT

The season is not quite over. The year-end awards banquet is on Saturday 21 November at the Marconi Centre, and that is where the season actually ends and where these names go onto the trophies. Registration opens shortly. Watch the events page for the tickets going live. We will post the link on our social channels the moment it does.

The 2027 ESD series dates will be announced in early 2027. 2027 OADG memberships open on 1 January. We will post the link then.

Photographs by David Pettersson, an OADG volunteer, who shot the whole day for us.

Riders and their families are welcome to use any photograph they appear in, at no charge and with no permission needed. For full resolution files, email OttawaAreaDressageGroup@gmail.com.