01/18/2026
Very proud to have personally selected Fortunatto EDI aka Tater in Germany when he was just three days old. Successfully being developed like his sister and brother, both also selected as foals by Joseph Newcomb and myself for the Exclusive Dressage Imports program. It is by far, the best part of the job! Fortunatto was lightly started in Europe before Jo set up his basics giving him a good foundation before he left EDI as a rising six year old to thrive with mom Lori and his trainer Natalia.
MEET THE RIDERS riding at the CDS 2026 Steffen Peters Symposium Sunday, January 18th at 8AM at the Los Angeles Equestrian Centersponsored by Halter EgoEach horse/rider combo has been a CDS Horse of the Year Champion.
W***Y ARTS (8:30 AM), trainer at DG Bar Ranch in Hanford, is one of the most successful breeders, trainers, and riders of Young Horses in California. Today he is riding Pharaoh DG, a 6 yr. old KWPN and GOV licensed stallion by Koning DG x Parcival, bred and owned by DG Bar Ranch.
BLAIR NIEMCZIEK (9:30 AM) has been partnered with Optima (aka Dewey) since he was a green broke 3yo freshly imported from Germany. “Liz Jenkins and I saw the promise in him as a youngster and entered into a partnership to develop this special guy!”
ASHLYN DODGE (10:30 AM) Maebria DG is a 9 year-old, KWPN mare bred and owned by DG Bar Ranch. She is by Totilas out of Famebria DG (Idocus x Krack C). Ashlyn has been riding Maebria since the mare was 3 years old. This past year they won the CDS Fourth level Championship
Tracey Hill (12:30 PM) is based in Pleasanton, Tracey has a reputation for her patient, systematic approach to developing young horses into elite athletes. She has earned her Bronze, Silver, and Gold USDF Medals with distinction. There is perhaps no finer testament to her training program than her partnership with Lunavella, (aka, Luna). Tracey bred, trains and rides the mare, born in 2016.
Alexandra Duarte (1:30 PM) rides Q Sieben an 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Quaterhall out of Bella Donna (by Buddenbrock Trak.) bred by Hartmut Wissel in Germany. Alexandra purchased him from Johann Hinnemann in 2019. Following impressive early wins, In 2024 they were CDS PSG HOY A/A and in 2025 Reserve Ch. In both USDF A/A Intermediate I and I1 Freestyle.
Natalya Slipchenko (2:30 PM) rides Fortunatto, Aka Tater as he is known in the barn. He is a 10-yr-old gelding by Furstenball x Fidermark. He was imported by Lori Kornblatt. Natalya is a Diamond Achievement Award recipient and trainer in Davis. She partnered with Tater in 2022 and fell in love with him from the very first ride. In 2025 they won Champion titles in the USDF & CDS Intermediate divisions, and the CDS Intermediate I Freestyle.
Pre-registration is closed, but walk-in admission for box seats is $120 is available. Check out the special Halter Ego pop-up store
