Wednesday October 6, 2004

A German in America, Fritz Fleischmann Competing Donna Novella

American dressage riders not only import many young horses and FEI schoolmasters from Europe, once in a while they also bring over trainers and riders so that they watch and learn from their knowledge. That is exactly what Melissa Mulchahey did when she decided that her German bred mare Donna Novella was ready to compete at the he MSEDA show in Lexington, KY, September 11, 2004.

Under Fritz Fleischmann, Donna Novella, a black Hanoverian mare by De Niro x Werther x Gotthard, won Second Level Test 1 receiving a score of 73.947% from judge Tami Batts. Donna Novella and Fleischmann became the High Score Second Level for the show.

Mulchahey discovered Donna Novella at the 2002 Verden Elite Auction and the mare was her first purchase ever at an auction. Mulchahey had picked out three horses she liked based on size, temperamant, movement and veterinary exam, but simply fell in love with Donna Novella during the Gala evening, the night before the auction.

"There was an opera singer in the middle of the arena, smoke from lots of dry ice and really loud music with the horses doing a quadrille in the smoke," Mulchahey explained. "Several of the horses really didn't handle the commotion, but Donna just floated around the arena with her ears flopping, totally listening to her rider. I took one look at her and said to my husband, "thats it, she's the one, I have to have her." So lucky for me on auction day, I was the lucky bidder."

Melissa imported the mare into the U.S. in the spring of 2002; Donna Novella was then 4-years old. She was shown in the U.S. in the materiale division and became the USDF Horse of the Year 2002 in Mare Materiale under her amateur rider.