Fuqua's European Tour Concludes with Aces in Aachen CDIY…
Fuqua's European Tour Concludes with Aces in Aachen CDIY, Top Finishes in Show Jumping Grand Prix
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EQUINIUM SPORTS - Aachen, Germany (July 23, 2024) - Atlanta's Kat Fuqua followed in the footsteps of many a great American rider to contest Germany's famed equestrian competition, the Aachen World Equestrian Festival. Aboard the bay KWPN mare DreamGirl (Spielberg x Goodtimes), 16-year-old Fuqua cemented top finishes for the United States in the FEI CDIY Young Riders Freestyle and Individual tests, with scores up to 73.185%. Talented in a wide spectrum of equestrian sports, Fuqua is also an internationally ranked FEI Grand Prix Show Jumper and decorated Hunter rider.
Fuqua was first chosen to represent the US last year, making 2024's European campaign her second consecutive time on the USEF Dressage European Young Rider Tour. The schedule featured three CDIs and one Nations Cup, culminating with Aachen. She and DreamGirl finished 4th in the Young Rider Team Test, 2nd in the Young Rider Individual Test (69.804%), and 3rd in the Freestyle (71.200%) at France's Le Mans CDI, and went on to finish 8th in the Team Test (68.922%), 7th in the Individual Test (69.510%) and 5th in the Freestyle (73.733%) at the Hagen Future Champions Nations Cup in Germany.
Fuqua capped off her 2024 European trifecta with the one and only CHIO Aachen World Equestrian Festival. Their highlight performance was a dramatic and sweeping Freestyle that included tempi circles and serpentines, canter half-pass zigzags to pirouettes, and multiple exhibitions of the mare's balanced and expressive extended trot. Fuqua improvised a one-handed final trot extension to close out her Freestyle, which earned them a 73.185% for 5th. The pair also were awarded a 67.382% in the Individual Competition to finish 8th in the showgrounds' famed and cavernous Deutshe Bank Arena. She later led the US Riders during the Farewell of Nations, Aachen's prestigious and exciting closing ceremonies, accompanied by Olympians Steffen Peters and McLain Ward.
Aiming at boosting her Medal count stateside, Fuqua returns to the US in August to defend her titles in the FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) in Traverse City, Michigan. She and DreamGirl were named to the Region 3 Young Rider Team, and in 2023 the pair took a Team Gold Medal plus Individual Bronze & Silver for their Freestyle in last year's Championships.
Not content to be successful in only one discipline, while in Europe Fuqua also campaigned three jumpers at the FEI level. She finished 5th & double clear with her gray Holsteiner gelding, Nate Archibald (New Quidam x Casco 4) in the 1.45M Grand Prix German National show in Hertford, Germany. She and Nate also jumped in the CSI2-star Grand Prix 1.45m at the Longines Balve Optimum, going fast and almost clear until the last fence where one unlucky rail came down. Surprisingly, the crowd was so impressed with the young American, they cheered in delight for her ambition in the difficult track that few professionals cleared to the next round. She also campaigned Schockemöhle’s 8-year-old gelding Constantine in the 1.40M’s and her own 7-year-old mare Chalivia PS, purchased at last summer’s PSI Auction. Known around the barn as Lily, Chalivia PS is a granddaughter of the famous stallion Chacco Blue and with Kat in the irons placed 4th in the 1.20M’s in Herford, Germany.
About Kat Fuqua
As a Grand Prix Dressage & Grand Prix Jumper, Dressage USA FEI YR Gold Medalist, and Nations Cup Bronze Medalist, Kat Fuqua is expected to be America’s most decorated and versatile equestrian. She is currently ranked 9th in the world for FEI Young Riders Dressage with her own KWPN mare, DreamGIrl, and has an extensive resume of multi-discipline success.
At age 10, Fuqua won her first national championship at USEF Pony Finals, repeating the win twice in the following years. By age 13, she racked up multiple national Grand Championships as a JR Hunter at the country’s most exclusive shows: WEF, Devon, Harrisburg, Washington, and Nationals, with multiple mounts and under the tutelage of Coach and Trainer Jimmy Torano. By then she had also added the jumpers and dressage to her repertoire, training and commuting now for eleven seasons in Wellington, Florida. She has collected numerous titles including 8 USEF Horse of the Year awards, 12 WEF Circuit Champion Awards, and 2 Show Hunter Hall of Fame Awards, before being named to USEF Emerging Athletes Program at 14 years old for Dressage, where she added FEI Gold, Silver & Bronze medals to her showcase in 2023.
That year, she moved to Germany’s Driehof in Tecklenburg, teaming with Performance Sales International of Hof Kasselman and Schockemöhle. Fuqua completed her first Grand Prix Show Jumping class by age 15, and her first Grand Prix Dressage by 16. She trains with Schockemöhle's Andreas Kreuzer for show jumping. By the spring of 2024, Kat competed in 6 Grand Prix competitions with her Nate Archibald and Schockemöhle’s 8-year-old gelding Constantine. Finishing 5th out of 51 after the jump off in Herford, Germany's CSI2-star Grand Prix, she competes with the professionals in her show jumping divisions, placing 14-16 out of over 80 competitors. She trained in dressage with Germany's Frederic Wandres for the ‘23-‘24 Wellington season, and then with Hartmut Lammers in Germany through her Aachen campaign.
Kat attended Holy Innocents Episcopal School for 12 years, recently changing to ICL Academy as a rising high school junior. Her favorite subject is French. Since 2021 and at the age of 14, Fuqua began writing a regular column for Elite Equestrian magazine which she continues to this day. She has a fervid love for all things fashion and couture, and blends both her equine career and interest in high fashion into multiple cover photo shoots for magazines and with famous photographers.
While she competes and trains in Wellington and Germany, Kat is based at her family’s Collecting Gaits Farm of Atlanta. With unbound determination, Fuqua is poised to redefine what an equestrian athlete can achieve with the support of her show manager and groom ‘Pepe’ Escobedo, her parents and world class trainers.
