Former Eventer with Incredible Comeback Story Leads Lineup of Saturday Champions at US Dressage Finals
Sarah Pyne scored an emotional win on Saturday, November 1, at the 2025 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, which runs October 30 to November 2, 2025, at World Equestrian Center (WEC) in Wilmington, OH.
The residential architect’s former eventer Dirhon C “tried to die” three years ago and has since been rerouted to a dressage career, which he has taken to with aplomb. The duo won the Fourth Level Adult Amateur (AA) Freestyle Championship with 72.9% to a Johnny Cash compilation, and Pyne punched the air on her lap of honor.
“On Christmas morning we found him panting with a temperature of 107.3 degrees,” explained Pyne of the now 13-year-old Holsteiner. “We called all the vets and ruined everyone’s holiday; we threw everything at him. For about six weeks we couldn’t lead him out of the stall because he would try to collapse. He had EHV-5 [equine herpes virus] and, as a result, he doesn’t have very good lung capacity now, so after six years of eventing together, we switched sports.”
Initially, the only goal was to see if she could achieve her USDF Bronze Medal on the Diarado son. Since then, Pyne — who trains with Susanne Hamilton — has achieved her Silver Medal with distinction on the willing gelding and excelled at freestyles, with music from Ruth Hogan-Poulsen. She and her wife have also just relocated from New York to Maryland.
“I can’t stop smiling the entire time I ride freestyles,” said Pyne through happy tears. “Every time we set a goal, he meets it, and we have to get creative and come up with another one. I’m just excited he’s alive. He gets nebulized and we still jump a little to keep his brain happy and mix it up, but at this point, he gets to do what he wants to do.”
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