The
Centerline
Arizona Dressage Association
www.azdressage.org
Vol. 21, Issue 6
June 2021
Florission's Journey to the USEF Developing Horse Program by Ann Damiano
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ack in 2016, I decided I was ready to purchase a new horse to add to my herd. Someday, this new horse would be for me to ride but I feel its important to provide strong foundation of training first. I like to buy horses on the younger side since 1) I have a trainer, Cyndi Jackson, who is an expert in bringing young horses up through the levels and 2) I can buy afford to buy more raw talent when the horse is younger. So in November, 2016, Cyndi and I headed to Germany to look for this new prospect. We worked with a local agent, Brigitte Peterson, who arranged the trip and had scouted a full agenda of horses that met our criteria. The long and short of the story is that when both Cyndi and I first laid eyes on Florisson, by Floriscount – Johnson, it was love at first sight. And after both of us rode him, that feeling was confirmed. He was 3 ½ years old, 6-weeks under saddle, recently gelded and was a dreamboat. All the other horses we looked at were compared to him and fell short. Of course he was outside the original budget so I had to come home and soul search to decide whether or not to buy him but of course I did. For one thing he was my favorite color, black! 6 yr-old champion at Adaquan Festival CDI e brought him home at the end of December 2016 and the journey began. We landed on a barn name of Jack, which was a play off of “Blackjack” and “Jackpot,” which is what we felt we had found. From the beginning he was sweet, kind, trainable and extremely talented. During
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