Wellington, FL – The United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation awarded the 2025 Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy to rising dressage and jumping athlete Kat Fuqua at its Gold Medal Club reception held on January 17, 2025, at the National Polo Center in Wellington, Florida. The award is presented annually to a junior or young rider in an Olympic discipline who exemplifies the U.S. Equestrian Team’s ideals of sportsmanship and horsemanship.
Photo by Jump Media
“I’m really excited because the riders that have received the award previously have gone on to achieve unbelievable accomplishments as professionals,” said Fuqua. “The fact that I’m on that list alongside those athletes is really special. It was also unexpected because I didn’t know I was in contention, so it was a big surprise when I got a call from the USET Foundation.”
Fuqua enjoyed a stellar year in 2024, including claiming triple Young Rider dressage gold at the FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) riding Dreamgirl, her 17-year-old Dutch-bred mare by Spielberg x Goodtimes. Fuqua is currently eighth on the FEI Dressage World Youth rankings with Dreamgirl and was named the 2024 U.S. Dressage Federation Young Rider of the Year.
The 17-year-old athlete has been busy competing in dressage in the U.S. and Europe — including showing at CHIO Aachen, Germany, in July 2024 as part of the US Equestrian (USEF) European Young Rider Dressage Tour. She also successfully fields a string of jumping horses, bringing her globetrotting tally of international classes in 2024 to 77 rides spanning the two disciplines. At Hagen CSIO/CDIO in Germany in June, Fuqua competed internationally in both disciplines at the same show.
Photo by Roya Brinkman for Shannon Brinkman Photography
Fuqua — who is based between Atlanta, Georgia; Wellington, Florida; and Tecklenburg, Germany — stepped up to the FEI U25 Grand Prix dressage level in 2024 with her own new horse, Rigoletto 205. She also rode numerous horses in FEI jumping competitions, including her grand prix mounts Columbcille Gipsy, owned by Paul Schockemöhle Pferdehaltung GmbH, and her own Nate Archibald.
Fuqua is grateful for the career-boosting opportunities her experiences in the USEF High Performance Pathway Program have offered and the trajectory it has set her on.
“In 2022, USEF invited me to be part of the Emerging Athletes Program for dressage, and it is really constructive because they are watching my results and helping me come up with new goals for the year,” explained Fuqua, who mainly trains with her mother Shereen Fuqua and with US Equestrian Dressage Youth Coach George Williams. “I started in hunters and came up through the ponies and junior hunters, and the championships in the hunter ring taught me a lot about how to deal with larger competitions.
“The European Young Rider Dressage Tour, which I went on in 2023 and 2024, was one of the most transformational programs for my career. I got to meet so many people and made so many connections,” continued Fuqua, who was on the U.S. Dressage Young Rider Team that earned bronze in the Future Champions CDIOY Hagen Nations Cup in Germany in June 2023. “The USEF Dressage Training Series [previously the Robert Dover Horsemastership Clinic Week] is also great. I’m thankful to USEF and the USET Foundation for the support and opportunities.”
Despite her extensive competitive experience, Fuqua has mostly shown as an individual and relished the opportunity to gain further team experience at the 2024 NAYC.
“Competing on a team at NAYC taught me about working well with other riders even if I didn’t know them,” she said. “It highlighted the importance of teamwork and prepared me for the pressure of competing on a team. NAYC couldn’t have been a better experience because my goal is to be selected to Nations Cup senior teams. This is the perfect stepping stone.
“I’d like to thank the USET Foundation and USEF for supporting me and my career along the pathway,” added Fuqua. “Also, thank you to my parents and my groom Pepe, who has been with us since I was nine and is Dreamgirl’s best friend.”
Fuqua’s long-term goal is to compete at the Olympic Games in dressage, but in the near term, she hopes to be selected for the USEF U25 European Tour and to compete in the U25 division at NAYC again this year. She encourages other up-and-coming riders to seize every opportunity that comes their way.
“If you’re ever invited to anything, like a pathway program, even if it feels like a lot of work, just do it,” she advised. “It might be an open window to something you don’t see now. You could meet someone who could completely change your career, or you could learn something that will help you transform your riding.”
Past Recipients of the Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy
2024 – Zayna Rizvi
2023 – Christian Simonson
2022 – Mimi Gochman
2021 – Hannah Irons
2020 – Brian Moggre
2019 – Daisy Farish
2018 – Jennifer Gates
2017 – Chloe Reid
2016 – Lucy Deslauriers
2015 – Lillie Keenan
2014 – Katie Dinan
2013 – Reed Kessler
2012 – Lucy Davis
2011 – Tiana Coudray
2010 – Jennifer Waxman
2009 – Laura Noyes
2008 – Hillary Dobbs
2007 – Carolyn Kelly
2006 – Katie Hamilton
2005 – Brianne Goutal
2004 – Kristin Schmolze
2003 – Will Faudree
2002 – Clark Montgomery
2001 – Marilyn Little
2000 – Elise Haas
1999 – Chad Geeter
1998 – Bruce Davidson Jr.
1997 – Alison Firestone
1996 – Jonathan Elliot
1995 – Megan Johnstone
1994 – Gabriella Salick
1993 – Mark Combs
1992 – Abigail Lufkin
1991 – McLain Ward
1990 – Kim Keenan
1989 – Molly Bliss
1988 – Christopher Kappler
1987 – Susanne Owen
1986 – Gregory A. Best
1985 – Holly Mitten
1984 – Jeffery Welles
1983 – Mark Leone
For additional information or to support the USET Foundation and U.S. equestrian athletes and horses, visit https://www.uset.org/donate/.
