As part of Horse Illustrated magazine and HorseChannel.com’s latest contest, visitors have a chance to win two tickets to the Destination Equus California Farm & Wine Tasting Tour, Sept. 7-9, in California’s beautiful Santa Ynez Valley.
Part of the tour will include a private exhibition of world-class horsemanship at the Santa Ynez Equestrian Center, where participants will see the following equestrians during the Platinum Performance Exhibition of Champions:
Charlotte Bredahl
The 1992 Barcelona Olympics was a memorable year for United States equestrian sports, as a dynamic United States Dressage Team captured the bronze medal. One of its key members was internationally acclaimed dressage talent Charlotte Bredahl, who came to America from Denmark as an unemployed young girl with a passion for horses. These days she divides her busy schedule among high level competition, leading junior dressage teams to national championships; accompanying her equally high profile polo-playing husband, Joel, to his matches; raising her teenage son, Zachary; and mentoring children in the local Santa Ynez community. Charlotte is preparing a unique showcase of world-class dressage for her fans during the Platinum Performance Exhibition of Champions.
Sandy Collier
A renowned trainer and clinician, Sandy established her equestrian legacy as the first and only woman to win the prestigious National Reining Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) World Champion Snaffle Bit Futurity, where she is now a regular annual finalist. With a tireless list of record wins in NRCHA, NRHA and AQHA, Sandy enhanced her mark on the horse world by adding “Equine Clinician” to her talented repertoire. As if her talents weren’t enough, her peers are quick to comment on Sandy’s “inner beauty” as a person. Demonstrating and teaching around the world, Sandy most enjoys the quiet solitude of her home and ranch in Santa Ynez, where she cuts buffalo and cattle and enjoys riding with friends. Sandy will be hosting a casual lunch on the California Farm & Wine Tasting Tour Saturday afternoon and exhibiting under the lights during the Platinum Performance Exhibition of Champions that evening.
Kristin Hardin
Feminine. Full of heart. A bulldog of a rider, riding bulldogs of horses. She knows who she is and always knew what she wanted. At the age of 16, she turned professional in a world of hunter/jumper riders and trainers. Now, some twenty years later, frequenting the top positions at world-class California competitions including Indio and Pebble Beach (winning more than 30 Grand Prix jumping events), she remains dedicated to the sport she loves and continues to earn increasing levels of respect and admiration. She is perhaps best known for winning the prestigious NorCal Jumper Rider of the Year in 2000. But, to be fair, it could also be her incredible live stunts of jumping through fire and over full-size automobiles. She now divides her time between her family of four–husband Cole, daughter Tyler Holiday and son Zach–and her hunter/jumper passion. Living just north of Santa Ynez Valley in Cuyama Valley, Kristin will pummel the evening with her usual energy and edge-of-your-seat excitement in the Platinum Performance Exhibition of Champions.