“I was vacationing in Paris with a friend when Alex Duffy, who I bought my first grand prix horse from, called me,” Rufer recalled about the day she first heard about Stern Dei Folletti. “My friend and I hopped on a train at five a.m. in Paris and went to Dusseldorf and tried the horse. He was just incredible. I fell in love with him and bought him as a 6-year-old.”

Flash forward six years and Rufer and “Stan” have accumulated quite a few victories, including in Saturday’s $38,700 Pomponio Ranch CSI3* 1.45m Classic at Desert International Horse Park (DIHP). Bernardo Costa Cabral designed an impressive course to test the international field, with only five jumping clear. Rufer and the small but mighty 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Toulon x Berlin) put in the quickest of four double-clear rounds for the top call.

Rufer knew the horse would be a stellar competitor early on. “His first show in [North America] was Spruce Meadows as a 7-year-old and he didn’t bat an eye,” she said. “He was so game for whatever you wanted him to do. I knew as a 7-year-old that he was going to be a very special horse.”

“He’s one of the only horses I’ve ever ridden who understands a jump-off,” Rufer continued about what makes the horse so special. “He knows what’s expected, and he gives every jump everything. He’s very smart.

“He fires up in the ring,” Rufer continued. “He’s very calm; you can take him on a trail ride, ride him in a snaffle at home, then he goes in the ring and just knows. He’s got this strut and flick of the tail. He’s aware of the job and always tries to exceed my expectations.”

Rufer and Stan to the winner’s circle, while Kyle King (USA) claimed second with Chess, owned by the Chess Group. Ali Ramsay put Canada on the podium in third place with Conrado 12, owned by Ramsay Equestrian Inc.

Rufer is learning and training under Belgian show jumper Gregory Wathelet, who is also racking up wins at DIHP. “It’s great having Gregory here,” she remarked. “He’s a super help and is so knowledgeable. He takes such a detail-oriented approach. It’s great to have that caliber of rider out here on the West Coast because it raises your own expectations. You expect to do better because you have these riders going so much faster and you can learn from them.”

Show jumping concludes for Desert Circuit V with Sunday’s $145,100 Premier Equestrian CSI3* 1.55m Grand Prix.

Source: Press Release Desert Horse Park
Photo©: High Desert Sport Photo

Final Results: $38,700 Pomponio Ranch CSI3* 1.45m Classic

1. STERN DEI FOLLETTI: 2011 HOLST gelding by Toulon x Berlin
KARRIE RUFER (USA), Morning Star Sporthorses, LLC: 0/0/40.33

2. CHESS: 2011 BWP gelding by Bufero Van Het Panishof x Latano I
NICK DELLO JOIO (USA), Wembley Farms Inc.: 0/0/40.74

3. CONRADO 12: 2013 ZANG gelding by Cardento x Diarado
ALI RAMSAY (CAN), Ramsay Equestrian LLC: 0/0/41.91

4. KINGSTON: 2013 AES gelding by Ustinov x Insider
VANESSA MANNIX (USA), Vanessa Mannix: 0/0/42.22

5. JEFFREY JARDEN: 2014 KWPN gelding by Bustique x Warrant
TALI DEJONG (USA), Tali DeJong: 0/4/47.03