Elan Stremmel of Cazanozia, N.Y., is making her first appearance at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions this week, riding her longtime partner Bitsy's Itsy, an 11-year-old Connemara-Oldenburg-Thoroughbred cross (Wasabi x Bitsy), in the Aspen Leaf Farm/USEF Pony Rider Dressage National Championship.
"She loves to work, and she loves to do dressage," Stremmel said. "She works really hard for me."
Stremmel found “Itsy” through a connection made in Pony Club, when she was just 8 years old and searching for her first horse. She traveled down to Maryland to try several horses, and Itsy, then 5 years old, green, and by Stremmel's own description "almost unrideable,” stood out immediately.
"We had a good connection," Stremmel said. "I really loved her."
Stremmel has been Itsy's only rider and trainer ever since.
"I've never had her with a trainer or anything," she said, "so we have a really great connection."
For Stremmel, the sport has always come down to that connection. After trying other sports as a kid and never sticking with them, she found something different in riding.
"It's unwavering trust and everything that I have with them. With horses, you can develop such a special bond that is uniquely part of our sport," she said. "It's such a team effort with a rider and their horse."
This marks Stremmel and Itsy's second year competing in the FEI Pony division after qualifying for the championships last year, and the pair decided to keep building before returning to compete at HITS Lamplight Equestrian Center this week.
Around the barn, Stremmel describes Itsy as a pony with strong opinions.
"She's very serious but can also be very playful," she explained. "She likes me a lot. She's very sour to new people... she's definitely a one-rider horse."
Itsy also has her comforts. The mare enjoys being pampered before she heads out to work and has a soft spot for low-sugar alfalfa pellets and green apples.
That personality shifts once she's at work.
"She really goes into work mode," Stremmel said. "She's all business and really likes to try hard. She definitely likes to get things right."
Over the years, Stremmel said, Itsy has "gotten really good about answering what she is being asked."
When given the challenge to imagine Itsy as a human, Stremmel painted a picture of the mare as a Fortune 500 CEO.
"She would definitely be someone who dresses in heels all the time going to work," she said, giving a colorful description of the corner-office type woman with pure boss mare energy from ears to tail.
Reflecting on her first day at the Festival of Champions, Stremmel had high praise for the event.
"It's run so well," she said. "The venue is beautiful, and Itsy's very happy with her accommodations."
Before their rides this week, Stremmel shared a message to her mare as a pep talk.
"Itsy, I want you to trust me and listen to me... to be with me,” she said, “I want her to know that she's a great pony and she can do it, because she loves to have a cheerleader that can give her a confidence boost."