Wellington Offers The Perfect Home For Quality Saddle Fitter Debbie Witty

When Debbie Witty first visited Wellington 10 years ago, she immediately felt at home with its charming atmosphere and sense of community.

Although she originally planned on only residing in the equestrian hub for the winter seasons, seven years later, she officially moved her family from Ithaca, N.Y., to become year-round Floridians.

An avid dressage rider, Witty fell in love with all that Wellington has to offer in addition to the abundance of equestrian networking opportunities at the highest levels of the sport. From the Olympic sports of dressage and show jumping to the thrilling game of polo, Witty had found the ideal location to further establish her company, Trilogy Performance Saddlery.

“When I began riding, I noticed that the expectation from riders was to swing their leg over a saddle, sit on their horse and everything go perfectly,” Witty said. “I quickly recognized that many riders were struggling with their performances due to incorrect saddle fit for themselves and for their horse. Personally, I remember taking a lunge lesson in a saddle that was so uncomfortable and left me sore, and the trainer said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.’ I decided at that moment the saddle-fitting industry needed to be revamped.”

After embarking on her entrepreneurial journey, with stories of rider discomfort and saddle shopping nightmares inspiring and motivating her, Witty dedicated her life to developing a line of saddles that would provide comfort for both the horse and rider.

“I saw the opportunity for change, and I enveloped everything I had personally experienced and witnessed with fellow riders into designing my own saddle line,” Witty said.

Early in her career, she gained extensive knowledge and expertise on equine biomechanics from her 10-year tenure at the Cornell Veterinary College. Thus, the Trilogy Performance Saddlery design process became ingrained with scientific studies.

Witty also spent a great deal of time in England learning from and becoming certified by the prestigious Society of Master Saddlers.

“It was my desire to show people that I was really passionate about the correct fit of the saddle,” Witty said. “I am always hungry for information and a thorough education. During my time with the Society of Master Saddlers in England, I was among the first group of international students to be accepted as a qualified fitter, while more than 50 percent of the participants failed. It showed me how, as an industry in the United States, we needed to step up our game. The qualifications proved that I was knowledgeable, and I wanted to share my expertise with my potential clients and the equestrian community.”

Over the years, Witty’s Trilogy Performance Saddlery has developed into one of the top saddle manufacturing companies in the United States. The firm is dedicated to achieving a greater level of performance and awareness for horse and rider through education, service and design. From observing riders’ performance while training and showing to listening carefully to their feedback, Trilogy Performance Saddlery has successfully fit many Olympic champions, such as Debbie McDonald, as well as amateurs and young riders.

“Our saddle collection fits virtually every body type. Usually, if someone comes in, they’ll always find something that is comfortable for them,” Witty said. “We also work hard at making the saddle user friendly for the horse. Our design features a nice wide flat panel, a wide gullet and they’re all wool flocked so they’re totally adjustable. I always stress to everyone that adjustability is the most important element, no matter what saddle you’re looking at, because as the horse develops in his body, the saddle must change along with him. However, you must have a highly skilled technician adjust the wool flocking correctly to ensure proper fit.”

Trilogy Performance Saddlery offers customers a distinct advantage over other saddle competitors, not only in the quality of its products, but also in providing access to a vast network of specially trained saddle fitters, who have all passed an extensive education program developed by Witty.

Located across the United States, Trilogy Performance Saddlery’s fitters specialize in hand fitting, flocking and providing ongoing client support. Witty requires that every member of the saddle fitting team participate in continual educational sessions, as well as benefit from ongoing training in new techniques and methods of evaluation.

“One of the things I am most proud of is our saddle fitting training for our consultants,” Witty said. “They’re talented, trained technicians. They’re professionals, but they all continue to come back for more education, and many of my training sessions take place in Wellington.”

The equestrian community in Wellington has accepted Witty as one of the top saddle experts in the industry, and she has a packed schedule during the winter season. Being in the center of Wellington allows her to spend time at the horse shows, where she can continue to grow her connections and share her knowledge, while also personally meeting with clients at their barns for fittings.

“I love the atmosphere of Wellington,” Witty said. “It’s beautiful, clean and the sense of community is what sets it apart. I love being a part of something as special as Wellington.”

To learn more about Trilogy Performance Saddlery, visit www.saddlefit.com.

Young Horseman Timmy Dutta  Knows Polo Is His Passion

Young American polo player Timmy Dutta found his passion for polo early in life. Born and raised in Wellington, Dutta has always been around horses, and started his equestrian career at the age of five with a little black pony named Stripey.

At age 12, after a few years in the show jumping world, Dutta picked up a mallet for the first time, and immediately knew polo would be his future.

“One day I had the opportunity to stick-and-ball with my father. From that day on, I was hooked,” Dutta said. “Playing polo is an addiction. I want to play every day. It’s my love, it’s my passion, it’s my life.”

Dutta’s father, Tim Dutta, also a polo player, is the founder of the Dutta Corporation, a world-class international equine transportation company, and his mother is an international Grand Prix dressage rider.

With parents so immersed in the equestrian world, it is no wonder that the young Dutta is excelling on the polo field. At just 16 years old, he is one of the youngest players on the field in the high-goal tournaments in Wellington.

During the 2018 season in Wellington, Dutta has been playing with the Pilot team in the 20-goal tournaments at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, alongside Curtis Pilot and Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres, who are widely recognized as some of the best players in the world.

“It’s a great pleasure to play with these guys,” Dutta said. “They are amazing players; they’re the top in the world. It’s a learning experience for me. As a young player coming up in the sport, playing with the top players is something we all dream about.”

He is also playing on his father’s team, Dutta Corp, in the Grand Champions 20-goal events.

Dutta has learned from his parents’ example that success in riding starts in the barn. He has 14 horses in work and is very involved in the daily operations — riding five to 10 singles a day during the season and paying close attention to his horses’ nutrition and exercise regime.

“Every horse is different — some need more, some need less,” Dutta explained when asked about his nutrition program. “We have a base Triple Crown feed that we use, and then we add in supplements. Sometimes the base feed will change depending on their needs.”

Dutta’s inherited commitment to horsemanship and horse care has drawn him attention and support at a very young age. He is sponsored by the leading supplement company, Vita Flex, as well as Triple Crown Nutrition. Both companies admire the young player’s passion not only for the sport, but the horses themselves.

Being a young American player is not easy in a sport that has historically been dominated by Argentina.

“As a young American player, there are a lot of challenges,” Dutta said. “We have great polo here in America, but down in Argentina, you get to play every day. I’m lucky that my dad supports me and allows me to go down there to play.”

Dutta is quick to recognize how vital his father’s support has been to his polo career. “My father has taught me a lot. I respect and admire him, especially his work ethic. He has really taught me to manage my horses,” Dutta said. “He has put me in a place where he has bought me the best horses, and he has been helping me from the start and training me. I couldn’t do it without him.”

Dutta also credits his coach and mentor Piki Diaz Alberdi, and said that he has tried to model himself after both Alberdi and his father. Some of the horses that he is playing in the high goal have come from Alberdi, as well as legendary player and horseman Memo Gracida and Carlitos Gracida. A true horse family, the Duttas know that good horses make the polo player, and they have mounted Dutta as well as possible.

Although a career in polo is Dutta’s main focus, he does intend to pursue a college degree in international business and psychology. However, most likely it will be online so that he can continue to ride and play at the same level.

The future looks bright for this upcoming American player, but the ever-humble Dutta is quick to turn the attention back to his father’s support.

“I wouldn’t be here without my father,” he said. “He’s been here for me and taught me everything.”

Laura Graves

Laura Graves and her horse Verdades have a strong bond of harmony and talent clear to all who watch the pair master the sport of dressage. Graves and her mother bought the horse as a foal from Holland, and she set to work to master each step of the training. In 2014, she blew the judges away at the U.S. Dressage Championships in Gladstone, N.J. She not only placed second overall, she also received one of the highest scores of any American rider and qualified for the 2014 World Equestrian Games. That summer, her first time in Europe to compete, the pair impressed the judges at the CHIO Aachen 5* and then at the WEG in Normandy, France. In 2015, at the FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, she finished fourth. Later that year, she competed at the Pan American Games in Toronto, where she won the team gold medal and the individual silver medal. In 2016, Graves competed at her first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She won the bronze medal in the team competition and earned the fourth position individually. So far in 2018, she scored an 84.675 percent in CDI-World Cup Qualifier FEI Grand Prix Freestyle, in which she has her first of two qualifying scores to be invited to the FEI World Cup to be held in April in Paris.

Arlene ‘Tuny’ Page

Tuny Page is a champion for the sport of dressage on two levels, first as a top competitor for the United States and second as an advocate for others. She has long been a champion of the Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center and also one of the founding members in building the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. A true perfectionist, Page works to refine her mindset about how to ride in a competition with high results. Her philosophies, in her own words, include, “Riding dressage is about trusting in the process and concentrating on the moment. It is developing habits so that I always subconsciously and naturally do things in a consistent way.” Page credits Vincente Guilloteau for allowing her to develop a great partnership with her world-class partner, Woodstock. She, and many other Wellington sponsors, spent years volunteering their time in finding ways to make a winter series come to fruition for all riders competing in dressage. Every year, the final competition in the 12-week series includes the CDIO Nations Cup, which is sponsored by Page’s Stillpoint Farm.

Christoph Koschel

Christoph Koschel comes from the best in Germany, as his father recently retired from running one of the top training facilities in the world. After graduating as a lawyer, Christoph joined his father at their training stables. Koschel competed at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and the 2011 European Dressage Championship, winning top medals. He has had the most success with the gelding Donnperignon, placing sixth at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington with the bronze-medal-winning German team. Koschel is known as a great coach. He coaches a lengthy roster of international riders, including his niece, Felicitas Hendricks, a top German Junior Division Rider, and all of the Japanese dressage team riders, including Kiichi Harada here in Wellington. He coached Harada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Koschel is a master of focus in the international arena, and many of the riders associated with him achieve great results.

Kasey Perry-Glass

Kasey Perry-Glass represented the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics, winning the team bronze medal with Laura Graves, Steffen Peters and Allison Brock. Perry-Glass and her remarkable Grand Prix horse, 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Goerklintgaards Dublet, continue to wow the sport. The daughter of Robert and Diane Perry, she has five siblings. In 2016, she married Dana Glass, a Wellington-based trainer of young horses. The entire family — known as “Team Believe” — is tight-knit. For example, one of her sisters travels with her to help look after her horses. Perry-Glass works closely with Olympian Debbie McDonald at their Wellington winter base. She began training with McDonald during the 2015 European tour and continues to soar high in the Wellington competition series. In 2017, at the Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions in Gladstone, N.J., Perry-Glass and Dublet placed first the first day to best the field of seven in the FEI Grand Prix Test with 73.700 percent. The second day, they placed fifth in the Grand Prix Special with 68.529 percent. On the third day, in the FEI Grand Prix Freestyle, they placed second with a score of 73.325 percent. Their scores assured them the overall 2017 Grand Prix National Championship.

Katherine Bateson-Chandler

Katherine Bateson-Chandler, born in Great Britain, moved to New Jersey when she was 13. Starting at age 16, she worked for American dressage star Robert Dover for 16 years until his retirement in 2007. She tacked up and assembled horses for his business, at home, as well as traveled with the horses to international competitions. Based in Wellington, Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar compete at the Grand Prix level and hope to qualify for upcoming championships. She has enjoyed exceptional success in the U.S. and Europe with the support of Jane Forbes Clark, owner of Alcazar. Currently, Bateson-Chandler trains each summer in Europe with Olympian Carl Hester and gains international exposure competing abroad. In 2017, Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar won over the crowd and the judges with a sensational first-place performance in the CDI 4* Grand Prix Freestyle at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. They went on to compete for the U.S. alongside the country’s top riders in the 2017 Uggerhalne, Denmark CDIO Nations Cup, and then helped Team USA claim the bronze at the 2017 Hickstead FEI CDIO3* Nations Cup. Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar recently won the Grand Prix Special during week five of this year’s AGDF.