Kansas City, Mo. – It’s been a banner week for saddle seat equitation star Izzy Fischer. On Wednesday at the UPHA American Royal National Championship Horse Show, she and CH-EQ Sugar Fund captured the win in the UPHA Adult Challenge Cup finals. On Friday, she came back to win the 2025 USEF Saddle Seat Adult Amateur Medal Final. In her first year in the adult amateur ranks, she’s already checked off the two most prestigious titles in the sport.
It was just two years ago that Fischer (Villa Hills, Ky.) and Sugar Fund (Trust Fund x CH Callaway’s Sugarplum), the 2015 American Saddlebred gelding owned by Dream Blue LLC and nicknamed “Belmont,” took a victory lap at the Royal after winning the USEF Saddle Seat Medal Final for junior exhibitors. Their partnership has only gotten better over the years under the direction of trainer Shelley Fisher.
“He’s got a very big personality, and I really love when a horse shows all of that,” said Fischer. “I want him to bring that out, and I feel like I help enhance that. He’s very, very smart, and I had to learn how to utilize his talents without being overbearing. It took me a second to learn that when I first got him, but now, since it’s my third year with him, we’ve got it down pretty well.”
Judges Dwayne Knowles, Cindy Mugnier, and Richard Wright observed the class of six finalists on the rail followed by individual testing. The pattern for the adult amateurs required precision and planning and included trot and canter circles, pivots, and changes of diagonal through the ring and on the rail.
“Belmont had a lot of good energy today,” said Fischer. “He was definitely clear-thinking, and he really wanted to think through the pattern. Sometimes he tends to rush, but this pattern was very well suited for him, and he thought very clearly through all of his transitions. I thought the railwork was really good, and we just kind of kept building from when we entered the ring. It just got better and better.”
With a partnership that is now legendary in the sport of saddle seat equitation, Fischer isn’t sure what the future holds for her and Belmont, but she knows there’s more to come.
“We are very fortunate to win it all in one year, but I think we’re going to wait and see what we do next,” she said. “I’m very attached to him, so I want to keep him as long as I can, but I also want to make sure that he has a job to do, because that’s something he really loves. So we’re just going to see what comes next.”
Reserve champion and silver medal honors went to Morgan Glenn (Stockbridge, Mich.) riding Far and Away (Mizrahi x I Dream of Jeanie DZ), Paula Messier’s Morgan gelding, representing the breed in a class of Saddlebred riders. Glenn and “Big Frank” punched their ticket to the finals by winning the qualifying class in a field of Saddlebreds at the Lexington Junior League Horse Show in July.
“Morgans are so well-rounded,” Glenn said after her win at Lexington. “They can do so many different divisions very well. And their heart, to me, is everything. We were so excited to go in against the Saddlebreds. It’s just such a good way to have different competition.”
The bronze medal went to Macy Brangers (Prospect, Ky.) and Aunty Bellum (Ocean’s Roar x Kalarama’s Belle of the Ball). Their podium finish followed a reserve champion win earlier in the week in the UPHA Adult Challenge Cup Finals.
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