| Nancy
Later and Mänster Win 2002 Heidelberg Cup Championship Nancy
Later and Mänster won the 2002 Heidelberg Cup Championship at the Heidelberg
Cup show held at Clarcona Equestrian Park in Orlando, Florida, March 21-24. To
win the award, a rider must have the highest combined score from one of three
categories in the Open or USET division – Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire
I; or Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special; or Young Rider Team and Individual. Later
and Mänster earned 68.833% and placed second to Michelle Gibson and World
of Dreams in the USET Prix St. Georges. Later scored 68.917% in the USET Intermediaire
I and won the class. The two scores gave her the highest combined score of the
weekend. 
"I’m
totally psyched," said Later. "Axel Steiner gave me over 70% in both
my tests. He had me winning the Prix St. Georges and the I-I. We can get better
and we can improve. I feel good about that. It’s exciting to know that we
can do better and that there’s work to be done." Mänster
is a 16.1-hand, chestnut, 10-year-old Swedish warmblood gelding (Chapman x Manstrimma)
owned by rider Suzanne McCarthy. “She bought him for herself and has done
very well with him, but she generously changed her mind and is helping me to qualify
for the Intermediaire I Championship at Gladstone," said Later. "At
the Palm Beach Dressage Derby I entered where there had been some scratches and
Klaus (Fraessdorf) let me have late entries at the Heidelberg Cup. I qualified
for Gladstone." McCarthy is in the process of purchasing another horse to
ride while Later continues to show Mänster. Later
started riding Mänster 18 months ago. "He’s fun to work with,"
she said. "We enjoy each other. I’m lucky to have him." She said
that his best attribute is that “you can tell in just one look at him that
he is fun to ride. He’s light on his feet and is lofty in his extensions.
You can feel that he can really move. He participates and makes a big effort."She
added that currently, he is the most athletic horse that she has in training.
Mänster has started passage, which Later describes as "super" and
has learned the one tempis. 
The
duo’s immediate goal is Gladstone then "we’ll play it by ear. My
partner, Oded Shimoni, is going to Europe so I will stay in the States this summer."
Later and Shimoni are based in Wellington, Florida, during the winter and Brewster,
New York, in the summer. "If things work out, I’ll go to Europe also.
I may hold Mänster back from the Grand Prix ring and aim for the Pan Am Games.
We just started back to work seriously three weeks ago. Klaus Balkenhol worked
with me this winter and he was very positive and very helpful. Mänster is
a top horse." Mary
Hilton for DressageDaily.com - Thursday, March 28, 2002 | 
