22 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Mary Adelaide Brakenridge
Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel may be a relative newcomer to the sport
of dressage, but she is already stamping herself as one to watch.
The 16-year-old rider switched to dressage after beginning her
career in the hunters and equitation. She has rapidly moved up
the ranks from Training and First Level at the end of 2012 to the
Juniors in 2013, achieving high scores every step of the way.
Only seven months after making the full transition to dressage in
November 2012, Ashleigh represented Region 1 at the 2013 North
American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC)
in Lexington, Kentucky, getting her first taste of international
competition in a team-oriented environment. She and her mount
Ungaro contributed to the team’s fourth place finish, barely
missing the podium.
“We joke that I’m on the fast track in dressage!” Ashleigh said.
Most recently, she turned in an impressive performance at the
U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions in Gladstone, New Jersey,
finishing in sixth place among the country’s very best junior
riders. She qualified for the Festival through good results against
tough competition at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in
Wellington, Florida, not long after coming back from an injury in
winter 2013.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Ashleigh took advantage of her
time in Gladstone to collect ideas and inspiration for the future.
“I found it amazing that we could be around the top international
professionals,” she said. “I was able to see how they warm up
before the show and how they manage the horses. I could see the
techniques they used that I could use myself in the future. Each
rider had a different way of preparing for the movements during
their tests, and it gave me ideas of how I could reuse that for my
own riding.”
Ashleigh is following in the footsteps of her mother, Sonia
Zugel, an amateur who competes successfully in the small tour
for Ireland. Mother and daughter share a passion for the sport,
and Ashleigh benefits from her mother’s experience.
“I really enjoy it because we’re able to go to the same shows
and cheer each other on,” she said. “We’re really close, and I think
dressage makes us closer. If she sees a really good video or an
article, she shows it to me. If I have a question, I can ask her, and
she can explain it right away. I always have someone there to help
me improve, on or off the horse.”
Ashleigh trains with Sonia as well as with Ashley Perkins, who
adds another perspective to the mix and focuses on the theory
behind the movements. Sonia and Ashley have similar styles that
give Ashleigh a consistent framework as she progresses.
Ashleigh began her dressage career on her hunter horse, Rolex,
ultimately training him through the Junior level. As her interest
grew, she began riding and competing her mother’s small tour
horse, Ungaro. Sonia helped her daughter learn to bring the best
out of the 17-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Weltmeyer II-
M. Lady One, Wenderkreis).
“It was a learning experience bonding with my mom’s horse,”
Ashleigh said. “We’ve really become close. She was able to help
me figure out how to ride him sensitively and correctly. She knew
little tricks that helped keep him happy. It was great that she knew
him so well and could pass on her knowledge of him to me.”
Ashleigh’s excellent results with Ungaro thus far show that her
hard work is paying off. She’s a motivated student of the sport
who not only turns to her mother and her trainer for advice, but
also observes others at every opportunity to glean useful tidbits to
e
Dressage
Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel
Trots into the Spotlight
Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel and Ungaro at the 2014 U.S. Dressage
Festival of Champions presented by The Dutta Corp in
Gladstone, New Jersey.
Photo by Sue Weakley/PSdressage.com
Ashleigh and her mom Sonia Zugel
Photo courtesy of Ashleigh Conroy-Zugel
