Dressage
Florida based Australian equestrian, Moea Futcher, chosen to ride in NADTC young horse clinic March 12-16 with German FEI Dressage judge, Christopher Hess
By Lisa K Schmidt
Apr 16, 2008, 13:45

Moea Futcher, Central Florida based Australian FEI rider and young horse specialist, rode in the sixth annual North American Dressage Trainers Club clinic at Treasure Coast Farm on March 12, 2008 taught by German FEI judge and current Director of the Instruction and Personal Members Department at the German Equestrian Federation, Christophe Hess. Moea is the first and only Australian to be asked by organizer, top US trainer, Michael Poulin, to ride for the distinguished clinician.

“It was an honor and a privilege to have been selected by Mr Poulin and ride with some of the top US riders on the winter dressage circuit” Moea said. “I received excellent feedback on my young horse which I can use in my daily training.”


Futcher rode her own five year old Hannoverian mare, First Class, by Furst Heinrich, a horse she has only had since last year.

About the mare, Hess commented “This horse is a very good horse for the international judges to see, she is a very interesting horse, well put together and a good hind end and very uphill. The Calypso II on the mother's side is very good, the jumper bloodline on the mother side is what many top riders in Germany look for, it gives a dressage horse more power and more uphill/forward movement coming from behind. Rather than the dressage blood on both sides which makes the horses not quite so powerful in the hind end; this is the quality we expect to see in Germany " From a judge’s perspective, Mr Hess continued "I will give her an 8 for trot and 8 for walk, and a 7 for canter, she needs to build more strength in the canter, this will come"

According to Moea, she plans to start showing the talented mare in the summer for the first time and looks forward to feedback from other top judges throughout the show season. “I also have another mare to show this year, but at the FEI levels, Lady Rubina, by Lady Killer. I look forward to applying the amount of knowledge I have received from Mr Hess to all my horses.”


In Australia, Futcher won several young rider awards and was on the Australian Young Talent Squad with her self trained horse, Adloo Claudius. In 2002 Moea and her husband moved to Umatilla, Florida and established a horse rehabilitation and training center, Fair Dinkum Farm. For more information on Moea Futcher, her website is www.firstclassequestrian.com.


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