Cassiana SR
2010 16.3 1/2h Holsteiner mare (Cassiano x Calando I). USEF #5153365
Barn name, “Cassie.”
Cassie is a spectacular mare and it’s impossible to share all of the good things about her in a space this small. Absolutely my favorite horse to work around in the barn, to ride, to show, and to interact with day to day. Currently showing and winning to the 1.15m (so far) with a young teen, but winner winner through the 1.40m with her amateur owner. Smart, quick, and efficient when asked to pick it up, but always under the rider’s control. More on the kick side, she’s quiet enough to softly canter around a hunter round or march around a medal/eq course.
Cassie has won more young horses classes than I can count, and was circuit champion every year in the hotly contested 4yo, 5yo, and 6yo Maplebrook Young Jumper series at Thunderbird Show Park. In addition, she took a clean sweep of the YJC series 5yo classes and 6yo classes in the NW. We traveled to Thermal for the first time in 2017 where she was consistently one of only a few double cleans in the 7yo YJC classes, and picked up top three ribbons and circuit/half-circuit awards again and again. She continued into 2017 with wins in all of her 7yo YJC Qualifiers through the remainder of the season. She was Washington State and Zone IX Champion for the Young Jumpers every year eligible (5, 6, 7yo).
In other words, this mare is a winner through and through. She is one of only a few horses I’ve owned who I can absolutely count on jumping off because I *know* we will get there. She understands that the “game” in show jumping is to leave the rails up, and she hasn’t yet met a jump that scares her (including water). She is clever, quick, and absolutely consistent in her manner of going. Put her in a snaffle and get up in two-point and she will walk right into the hunter derby ring.
From a riding perspective, she is an absolute dream to ride. Slightly more on the “kick” side of riding than the “whoa” side, she perks up in the show ring and navigates courses with minimal rider input. She would be the perfect horse for an amateur looking for the same mount day in and day out. She carried a junior rider around the 3’6″ Medal/Eq classes in 2018, and was as consistent and easy going as she’s always been in her jumper classes. And for the last few years (through the pandemic) she stepped into the babysitter and tutor role for my young daughter, starting her in the 0.80m jumpers when shows started again a couple of years ago and stepping her into the 1.10m High Children’s Division and 1.15m Jumper classes (so far). Her list of wins and championships just keeps growing year over year. In June 2022 she took 2nd in the USHJA Jumping Seat Medal Class and Reserve Champion in my daughter’s first ever big A show in the High Children’s Jumpers. And in September took 2nds in the Jumping Seat Medal and the competitive Equitation Challenge at the Cascade Finals show.
Dozens and dozens of videos of Cassie and Sadie, chronicling their journey week in and week out at home and at shows, are on my Facebook profile page (Lindsey Fletcher).
Cassie also has a secret “super power.” She often fixes chips before they happen. If her rider is approaching an awkward distance she will adjust her stride a couple of steps out and make the strides fit evenly (even if a little short). With that being said, when the really ugly one shows up and there’s no “finessing” it away, she will roll with the punches, jump the jump, and help the rider fix the canter to the next fence (like she does in the medal/eq video below from 2018). She goes so far above and beyond what is required by a horse and is always looking to find ways to help her rider.
With phenomenal bloodlines, she’s also a good candidate for breeding (or embryo transfer while she competes).
Cassie is priced according to her quality and is in the high 5-figure price range. This mare is truly a one-in-a-million horse.
Thunderbird Good Hands & Seat 3’6″ Medal class with a junior who hadn’t ridden her prior, July 2018:
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