Cassie Sanger Hits the Board in Her CCI3*-L Debut at Maryland

Cassie Sanger and Fernhill Zoro. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

In her first run at the CCI3*-L level, 18-year-old Cassie Sanger claimed the top Young Rider award and third place overall at the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill last weekend. She and Alice Roosevelt’s Fernhill Zoro, a 14-year-old Anglo European gelding (Verdi x Oronia 2/Voltaire) rose to the overall top three of the USEF National Championship in a field of 58 entries that included several Olympians.

“Since the beginning of the year I had dreamed of coming here, but it was a bit of a reach because I hadn’t even moved up to Intermediate yet,” she said. “But the season kept going the way we had hoped and suddenly we were here!”

Cassie said that “Zoro” put in a personal best dressage score for both herself and the horse at the 3* level. On cross country she had a plan for how she wanted the course to go, and she rode her own horse, Redfield Fyre, earlier in the day and their double clear round gave her a boost of confidence going into her ride on Zoro.

“In show jumping it was honestly a little helpful that the rails kept coming down because it took the pressure off a little,” she admitted. “I obviously wanted to jump a clear round and we had the second to last rail down, which is a little bit heartbreaking because it was just a cheap rail, but that’s the sport and we can always do better next time. We can put that behind us; for my first three-star Long it was very satisfying to finish third.”

Cassie has been riding Zoro fully since December and is leasing the gelding from Alice Roosevelt and her family while Alice is focused on college. The girls are friends and keep in close touch — “I text her all the time and send her little video snippets,” Cassie said.

While Zoro has an abundance of talent, Cassie said his rise to success hasn’t come without hard work. “He’s an incredible mover and a super jumper. He’s been in my coach’s program for seven years and it’s taken all that time to get him the way they want on the flat. Even in the warm-up here, we were both getting a little annoyed with each other and I gave him a little tap with the whip and he almost bucked me off and then took off! I was like, ‘Oh God, here we go.’ But he is an absolute professional in the competition ring.”

Cassie is a senior at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts, where she is a day student. She rides with with Darrah Alexander, who schools her horses for her when she is too busy with school. “She knows that horse inside and out, just like Alice and me,” she said.

The proper way to celebrate. Photo by Amber Heintzberger.

Redfield Fyre, a 9-year-old KWPN gelding, has been Cassie’s partner since the beginning of his eventing career in the U.S., after he was imported by Caroline Martin. “I’ve had him since 2020 in the middle of Covid and we know each other really well,” she said. “He’s a cross country machine, that’s where he really shines, so Saturday was so much fun, getting to do that with him. On Sunday morning he came out with a lot of energy and then got in the ring and fizzled. I think we jumped him a little too much in the warmup. It’s okay, we’re learning and he’s still young and it was his first long-format too. It’s also a learning experience, figuring out how many jumps we can get out of him, and we won’t do that next time, we’ll limit how many jumps we do. He was good; I could have been more tall with my body and he didn’t pick up his feet quite as much as we’d hoped. It was a very tough course and for him it was a very challenging course but he is very talented and definitely a horse for the future.”

Fortunately, she said, “Zoro is very good on his feet, he was tired too and luckily it worked, just kicking on. There’s a lot of atmosphere but in the ring you don’t really see all the crowds – I did see the big screen out of the corner of my eye and it was a little distracting.”

Cassie keeps her horses at Caroline Merison’s Shekomeko Creek Farm in Pine Plains, NY, where Darrah is the head trainer. “It’s about five minute to my house and I spend time there every day,” she described. “I have a very good group of people around me and right now I’m basically the only Young Rider in the barn, and every time I ride I get a private lesson and I get a ton of attention. I’m kind of like the child of the barn, it’s all older ladies and they really look out for me, it’s really fun. Caroline and a couple of her friends from Area I that I’ve gotten to know came to Maryland, as well as my family.”

Cassie Sanger and Fernhill Zoro. Photo by Amber Heintzberger.

She noted, “I also have an amazing groom, Sarah Tompkins, who was been incredible all weekend. It would not be possible without her! Coming to these events is an eye-opener, even for riders; especially being young, you see a whole other side of horsemanship, especially on Saturday night and Sunday morning. “

Following the event, Sanger is focusing on college applications. “I have one week left this fall quarter before all my college applications go in, so it’s a busy week! Riding is a huge priority but I definitely want to go to college. I’m interested in SMU in Charleston and I’m ED-ing to Richmond. I think I’ll just travel to go to college like Alyssa Phillips did, it seemed to work out for her and I have a good support base so I can keep my horse at home. I’m interested in Econ and Business; even if I end up doing riding as a profession, I think that will be useful.”

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