Tuesday March 30, 2004

Quarter Horse Royalty Back In The Dressage Ring With A 'Lark'
Printed in Sidelines Magazine by Mary Hilton

It's been 12 years since Lynn Palm came down centerline, but she's back, riding My Royal Lark. Anyone even faintly familiar with the lore of 'America's horse' knows that when you see 'Palm' and 'Lark' in a show program, quarter horse royalty is on the grounds.

Lynn Palm will forever be associated in many fans' minds with one of the most outstanding horses to ever grace a ring - the quarter horse stallion Rugged Lark. He was named the AQHA World Champion three times and earned the title Super Horse twice as the highest scoring horse of the World Show in 1985 and 1987 - and he was the first horse to ever accomplish that feat.

Rugged Lark has since sired two horses that also earned the Super Horse Title twice. One of those was Lynn's mount The Lark Ascending, a horse she started in dressage and who now competes at Grand Prix with Mari Zdunic. Lynn not only rode Rugged Lark to competitive fame but also to exhibition glory - they were known for their performances that combined English and Western riding plus bridle-less dressage where Rugged Lark took his cues from the garland of flowers around his neck. They were featured in shows and expos, including the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Lynn was one of the first dressage riders in the United States, and began competing in the discipline as early as 1967.

Now at age 51, Lynn Palm is back in the dressage ring, seriously competing one of Rugged Lark's elegant sons - My Royal Lark, a 10-year-old, 16-hand stallion out of Tails of Hoffman, a Thoroughbred mare, which makes this beautiful bay an Appendix Quarter Horse. Lynn has had My Royal Lark since he was a yearling and has fostered a partnership with him for nine years. She started competing with him in the hunters as a five-year-old and continued to find success in those events over the years, but this year the duo switched to dressage. As of February 2004, they had competed in four dressage shows in Florida. "One big reason why I'm doing it is that the American Quarter Horse Association has adopted dressage as a recognized discipline at USDF and USEF shows. All his scores 60 and above will be recorded. If it's well-received this year, then in 2005 he would get AQHA points as well. They're also having end of the year awards for the quarter horses showing in dressage."

Lynn notes that in the United States Dressage Federation each year more and more people are registering 'Quarter Horse' and 'Quarter Horse Types', making it the largest growing breed in the federation's registry. "They're hoping with AQHA now being involved that more people will say, it's a registered quarter horse and get involved also in the nice awards and promotions that AQHA will offer to the dressage horses," explained Lynn. "I truly think it's a horse that will be very, very popular for the amateur because of their temperament and the confidence that people can get. I know there's going to be a lot of people introduced to dressage with the quarter horse."