It's not happening everyday that you find your trainer in the yellow pages and become the bronze medal winner at the North American Young Riders' Championships only three years later. Ryan Hites, his trainer Roxanne Christensen and the Hannoverian Staatsmann (by Sandstrem out of Akelei) have proven to be a successful combination.

This is the story of the nineteen year old Ryan Hites, whose parents own a sight seeing company in Alaska. Two years ago he started competing at First level, but in the meanwhile he was riding his trainer's FEI horses and felt challenged by the complexity of the higher levels. In September 1997 he purchased Roxanne's Prix St. Georges horse Staatsmann and did two show seasons with him in California. As Roxanne Christensen is emphasizing the fundamentals of dressage and the aspect of riding 100% correctly, Ryan Hites was able to achieve every single title during last show season.

When we asked him how he felt after having won the bronze medal, he replied: "I'm very happy with my test and Staatsmann was a good boy. At the NAYRC you learn much by competing against all U.S. Young Riders. I like dressage because of the mental aspect and the feeling you need to ride well. Not anyone can do dressage and that's special."

Do most riders have another life besides horses? Ryan does! When he's not working at Roxanne's barn, mucking out stables and training horses, he likes to go fishing, playing some football and do some skiing. Even though he's very calm and sober while he's riding, he does like the action and commotion of the Jerry Springer show, which is his favorite TV-show.