Wellington, FL – March 6, 2016 – Christina Rogalny piloted Marvelous, a sixteen-year-old Oldenburg gelding, to the Engel & Volkers Low Children’s Hunter 2’6″ division championship honors this Sunday afternoon.
Christina Rogalny and Marvelous. Photo: Sportfot
A competitive field of twenty-eight horse and rider combinations battled it out for the tricolor honors, but Rogalny and her catch-ride Marvelous, who is owned by Maarten Huygens, came out on top. The duo won three of the four over fences classes and placed second in another. They also earned the blue ribbon in the under saddle class.
Rogalny, of Wellington, FL has a great deal of experience catch-riding horses. “I usually catch-ride because I don’t own a horse or pony of my own,” Rogalny commented. Her experience paid off with new mount Marvelous, who she rode for the first time this week.
“I rode him in a schooling class on Friday and then showed him this weekend,” Rogalny said. “He was great, he was awesome!”
“He’s a really good horse,” Rogalny commented. “His trainer told me he’s been all around the world and done a lot of things, but now he’s older and they wanted him to do a few little classes to see how it would go with a smaller kid.”
Trained by Ali Sweetnam and the team at Sweet Oak Farm, Rogalny enjoys a lot of success catch-riding different horses each week. She especially enjoyed riding Marvelous for owner Maarten Huygens.
“He’s actually pretty easy, but he’s a little spooky sometimes on the ends of the ring. That was a little hard, but overall he was really good,” she smiled.
Rogalny has been around horses her entire life. “My mom always rode as a kid, so we had a barn when we were younger. Riding was in the family,” she commented.
As a full-time resident of Wellington, she does not have to commute each weekend to compete at WEF. “Its great, I get to show all circuit!” the 15-year-old freshman of King’s Academy School exclaimed.
Rogalny currently competes in numerous classes each week at WEF. “I show in a lot of the pony divisions and also the equitation classes. I do the THIS medal and the 12-14 equitation,” she stated. Rogalny hopes to qualify for indoors this year and she also aspires to move-up to compete in some of the bigger classes. “I want to go to indoors and do the big equitation and the bigger hunter classes.”
The 2016 Winter Equestrian Festival continues with its ninth week of competition sponsored by Douglas Elliman on March 9-13, 2016, featuring CSI 5* jumper and ‘AA’ rated hunter divisions. The week’s highlight event is the $380,000 Douglas Elliman Real Estate Grand Prix CSI5* on Saturday night, March 12. For full results and more information, please visit www.pbiec.com.
Lauren Fisher and Callie Seaman for Jennifer Wood Media, Inc.