Rices Landing girl wins prestigious horse title

Ava Bertagnolli knew exactly how to reward her prize-winning horse, Amber Lager, after the duo won the saddle-seat equitation competition at the World Grand Championships late last month in Louisville, Ky.
“He likes treats,” Ava said a week after winning her age group’s division. “He’s going to get more now.”
Ava, 9, of Rices Landing, has been riding since she was 3 years old, but the nerves began kicking in after finishing her routine. She kept reciting her riding number, 24, just before the judges announced that she had beaten nine other contestants to win the major competition.
“It’s hard, but I still like to do it. It’s lots of practice,” she said. “I wanted to win, but I didn’t expect to.”
Saddle-seat equitation is similar to dressage, according to her mother, Jodi Bertagnolli, in which a rider must show effective control of her horse and poise in the saddle. Bertagnolli said the competition is one jewel in the “triple crown” of competitive riding.
“It’s huge in a rider’s career,” Jodi Bertagnolli said. “It’s super exciting, especially with me being a trainer. It’s been a whirlwind.”
Jodi Bertagnolli, a trainer who previously taught at a farm near Washington, recently built a barn near Rices Landing and opened her own operation called Heritage Stables. She instructs saddle-seat equitation and riding, so her daughter has “always been exposed to it” while growing up.
They typically compete or show their horses from April to October in competitions from Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
The horses might be the attraction, Jodi Bertagnolli said, but it’s the riders who bring the show together. She said it was amazing to watch her daughter, who looked “teeny-tiny in the saddle,” win a major competition at such a young age.
“Horses are very animated, it’s fascinating. Their spirit and athleticism are just so incredible,” she said. “To be a rider, it takes a lot to make the horse perform to the best of its ability. It’s not just getting up to ride.”
Bertagnolli said she and her daughter teamed up with Shelley Fisher, a trainer at Sugar Knoll Farms in Huber Heights, Ohio, to prepare for the competition. She thinks Ava’s future in riding is bright after last month’s competition.
Meanwhile, Ava expects to continue bonding with the horse she’s nicknamed Sam and compete in many more show. If they keep winning, Ava said Sam will get even more of his favorite blue push-pops treats.
“Every time I knock on the (stall) door, he’ll stick his head up no matter what he’s doing,” she said. “He’s my buddy.”