Kerrigan Gluch Rides P.R.E. Horses To Success On Dressage Circuit
In the early 1980s, the P.R.E. — which stands for Pura Raza Española or Pure Spanish Horse — started to be introduced in the international dressage world.
The great Alvaro Domecq catapulted the breed into the high competitive scenery. Very few people bet on the Iberian horses back then, since the international dressage world was dominated by Warmbloods. Three decades later, thanks to the investment of breeders and owners, the P.R.E. has the respect of the judges, and the United States is now home to the second-largest population of P.R.E. horses in the world.
Today, there are a growing number of young, talented riders who choose P.R.E. horses for dressage competition, which means that the Spanish horse is among the future stars of American dressage. One of these riders is Kerrigan Gluch.
“I have found the P.R.E. horses to be super-sensitive,” Gluch said. “Their personalities are very prominent. With each horse, you can tell their personalities very quickly, and that makes it much easier to adjust to a new horse. The Spanish horses are still new to international dressage, so I think when you ride a horse that is still new to the judge’s eye, it makes you ride much more correctly and accurately in order to get the scores that are needed.”
Gluch met Kimberly Van Kampen, owner of Hampton Green Farm and a major supporter of P.R.E breeding, through Lendon Grey’s Dressage for Kids program.
“I participated in Dressage for Kids for many years,” Gluch said. “Through those clinics, I attended Robert Dover HorseMastership Week the first time it was held, seven years ago in Wellington.”
Students in the program rode horses provided by local sponsors, and Van Kampen provided HGF Camaron IX for Gluch to ride during the Robert Dover event.
“I just happened to ride her horse,” Gluch recalled. “I’m originally from Michigan, and she has a farm in Michigan. I started as a working student at age 15, and it just kind of developed from there.”
Gluch spent the summer there working with Van Kampen and her team. She helped prepare several of Hampton Green Farm’s horses for the next winter season and returned with Van Kampen to Hampton Green Farm in Wellington.
Since then, Gluch has been advancing up the levels in dressage on Van Kampen’s P.R.E. horses.
She found success in 2015 at the North American Junior & Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC), when she became reserve champion with Vaquero HGF in the Young Rider Division.
After a successful 2016 season in Wellington, Gluch was selected for the European Tour, including the CDI in Compiègne, France and the Festival of Champions in Hagen, Germany. Then 19 years old, Gluch and 2007 P.R.E. stallion Vaquero HGF concluded the 2016 USEF Young Rider Euro Tour in the ribbons at the Young Riders Nations Cup in Hagen, capping the six-week tour of Europe.
The Hagen CDIOY, known as the PSI Future Champions show, brings together teams of Young Riders and other youth levels from all over Europe in both dressage and show jumping.
The United States Young Rider team finished fifth overall, with Gluch and Vaquero the leading pair for the American team. In the Young Rider individual class, they finished sixth, and a respectable 10th in both the team and freestyle tests — distinguishing themselves among the best in Europe for their age group.
At the end of 2016, Gluch and HGF Brio capped their first year together at the U25 Grand Prix, finishing third overall behind Anna Buffini in the USEF Brentina Cup Finals (U25) at the Festival of Champions.
The final week of the 2017 Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington kicked off with the first FEI Nations Cup CDIO-U25. It was a red, white and blue victory day, as the USA “A” Team bested the competition in the FEI Intermediate II 16-25* CDIO. Along with teammates Anna Buffini and Sierra Keasler, Gluch took the win with the blue medal.
Gluch, now 22, was back in action during the 2018 AGDF. During Week 7, she was the best of the five entrants in the U25 Grand Prix Freestyle, coming tantalizingly close to 70 percent aboard Hampton Green Farm’s 14-year-old stallion Bolero CXLVIII with a score of 69.95 percent. Earlier in the season, when Danish Olympic rider Andreas Helgstrand gave a master class for spectators featuring P.R.E. horses, Gluch joined Danish team member Mikala Münter as a test rider.
Gluch spends about nine months out of the year in Wellington, with the rest of the time either at Hampton Green Farm in Michigan or on the road at horse shows.
“I would love to go to Europe to represent the U.S. again,” she said of her future plans. “I think going to Europe is so eye-opening as someone coming up the ranks, because everyone in Europe is so good, and it makes you realize what you have to do to be internationally competitive.”
