2004 MDA Scholarship Program Information

MDA awards eight training scholarships in 2004 to riders on Morgans

Nancy Mangum on Canequin's Local Hero	Dee Loveless on Meadowmere Courelation
Phyllis Laderman on Alibi Only Playtime	Emily Knight's mount, Fortune's Maestro
Devon Shoemake on Spring Hollow Night Magic	Janet Finley on Chester County
David MacMillan on West Mt. Winston	CeAnn Shipley on Mythic's Alladin

Eight dressage riders competing on Morgans are benefitting this year through $500 training scholarships awarded through the Morgan Dressage Association. The riders are the second group to receive scholarships from the proceeds from the association’s annual stallion service sales. Applicants were asked to respond to questions that outlined their background with both Morgans and dressage, the challenges they face training for dressage and how they would use their scholarship funds. Five independent dressage riders scored nearly 40 applications and the eight riders earning the highest scores were awarded a scholarship. Scholarship winners are using the funds for a variety of training experiences – including clinics, lessons, symposiums and educational materials.

The award winners are competing their Morgans around the United States in Training through the FEI levels and include two juniors, two professionals and four adult amateurs.
The winners are:

Nancy Mangum, an adult amateur rider from Essex, Vermont. Nancy has competed Canequin’s Local Hero through 2nd level. Nancy began riding at age 4 and purchased her first Morgan in 1978. She began riding dressage in 1982 when she was forced to give up jumping. The pair have won United States Dressage Federation, United States Equestrian Federation and Morgan Dressage Association year-end awards and high-score awards at numerous USDF-recognized competitions.
Dee Loveless of Columbia, Conn., is a professional and“R” USEF dressage judge. She has ridden for more than 25 years, competing in hunter, eventing and dressage. She and her husband, Rick, purchased their first Morgan in 2001 as Rick’s mount, and the couple attended two Morgan shows that summer. In her application Dee said she enjoyed the experience so much and was so impressed by the breed and people she met that she sold her fourth-level Hanoverian and bought her current dressage mount, Meadowmere Courelation, as a green-broke 3 year-old. Since then she has contributed articles to Morgan and all-breed publications touting the advantages of Morgans in the sport. Dee and her gelding have won year-end awards through USDF, USEF and MDA through first level and have won championships in several USDF-recognized competitions.
Phyllis Laderman is an adult amateur rider from Escondido, Calif., who has competed her Morgan, Alibi Only Playtime, through third level. Phyllis has owned Morgans since 1974, and since 1978 has ridden more than 100 dressage tests - all on Morgans. Phyllis and her current partner have won a number of USEF high-score championships, including the 1999 First Level Freestyle Champion at the Morgan World Championship.
Junior/Young Rider Emily Knight of Hanover, New Hampshire, said in her application that she “fell in love with Morgans as a little girl because I thought they were the most beautiful breed in my favorite horse book.” She began riding Morgans when she was 6 and has competed successfully in many disciplines from the local to the national level, earning her AMHAY Bulrush, Woodbury and Sherman badges and participating in numerous Youth of the Year competitions. Now a student at Dartmouth College, she and current mount, Fortunes Maestro, have competed through fourth level, earning the scores necessary for Emily’s USDF Silver Medal.
Thirteen year-old Devon Shoemake rode her first Morgan when she was 3, and has been competing in dressage on Morgans for the past three years. She has shown successfully in open and breed-show competitions in dressage, hunter and combined training and in 2003 earned her C-1 Pony Club rating with her current mount, a 7 year-old gelding, Spring Hollow Night Magic, which required them to ride components of training/first-level dressage tests, jump grids, stadium and cross country fences up to 2’9.”
Janet Finley, an adult amateur from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, purchased her first Morgan, her current mount, Chester County, several years ago after working with her gelding’s sire in combined driving, when she decided that she liked the breed’s temperament, willingness, talent and disposition for dressage. She is not new to the sport, however, having begun working in the discipline more than 30 years ago. Janet and Chester County competed at training level in 2003 and won several USDF high-score awards in addition to placing third in the USDF Regional Championships and fifth in the Rocky Mountain Dressage Society Championships - all in Chester’s first year of competition and Janet’s first show season in 30 years.
Professional rider David MacMillan of Provo, Utah began his work with Morgans in 1999 when he started riding Karin Weight’s then 4 year-old gelding, West Mt. Winston. Since then David has brought Winston to fourth level, and competed another of Karin’s geldings, West Mt. Christopher to first level, winning year-end awards with both geldings from USDF, AMHA, MDA and USEF in addition to a number of championships at the Morgan Grand Nationals.
Adult Amateur rider CeAnn Shipley began her love-affair with Morgans in the 1970s when she began riding Morgans in a lesson program. She purchased her first Morgan in 1975 and has been a breeder since 1992. She has trained and competed her homebred breeding stallion, Mythic Aladdin, through first level in both open and breed shows. In addition, she has organized a number of dressage competitions, including the Mid-A Morgan Show, which has one of the largest dressage divisions in the breed.

MDA hopes to award scholarships annually funded by its annual stallion service sale. Contact MDA Co-Chair Diana Wold by e-mail at Djwold@aol.com if you'd like to suggest a stallion for inclusion in a future service sale. More information about the 2005 stallions will be available on the MDA web site and newsletters this fall.

Scholarship winners may not receive a scholarship in consecutive years, however they will be eligible to compete for a scholarship in future years if they have moved up a level. For example, if a winner has received a Training/First Level Scholarship in this round, he/she will not be eligible to apply for a Training/First Level Scholarship this fall, but would be eligible to apply for a Second/Third Level Scholarship in Fall 2005. Winners of Fourth Level and Above Scholarships will be eligible to apply in subsequent years if they have moved up at least one level from when they received the scholarship.

The application deadline for the 2004 program is October 1, 2004. Go to the application form for more information on how to apply. Winners will be announced in late 2004.