Daily Show and Sole Mio To Compete at World Young Horse Championships

Sole Mio at the North American Stallion Sport Test, 2018, with rider Emily Miles and owner Leslie Waterman. Photo by Allie Conrad.

Two young stallions from North America will be competing under Kansas-based rider Emily Miles in the World Young Horse Championships this year in Ermelo, The Netherlands. The two 5-year-old stallions are:

Daily Show, a Hanoverian by Danciano out of Stockholm, whose average qualifying score was 85.033%.

Sole Mio, a Rhinelander by Stanford out of Donnerschwee, with an average qualifying score of 82.733%.

The stallions were bred in Germany, and imported by Leslie Waterman of Franklin, Tennessee. Leslie has a vision for growing dressage in the US in part by growing and training young horses with performance in mind. Her first horses are now competing at the FEI levels.

Leslie believes in consistent training for her horses from starting to Grand Prix, and she has had Emily Miles handle the training on these two from the beginning. They have been very successful in their showing careers to date. Leslie also brought both young stallions to the North American Sport Test in 2018, where they were ridden mostly by Emily. They placed first (Sole Mio) and second (Daily Show). Emily herself prompted the comment, "That's what dressage riding should look like," from one of the German judges.

The day will be delightful when the US can send horses from a US-based breeding program to Ermelo for the Championships, but this year we can take pride in the American-trained and ridden young stallions Daily Show and Sole Mio. Hats off to Leslie Waterman's vision as it becomes a reality, and to Emily Miles, the sympathetic and elegant rider from Kansas who's a big part of making it happen.

For current photos, click for article at DressageNews.com.

For more on the North American Stallion Sport Test 2018 click here.