July 28, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – The third of five weeks at the Vermont Summer Festival is underway in East Dorset, Vermont, and Tatiana Dzavik of Toronto, Canada, came up the big winner in Thursday’s United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Talent Search.

An equitation class in which the rider is judged rather than the horse, the USEF Talent Search is open to athletes aged 21 and under and is a means of identifying up-and-coming talent with the potential to become successful at the Grand Prix level. Following the opening jumper phase which saw 17 riders competing, 12 riders were called back to compete in the flat phase by judge Linda Andrisani. Dzavik was called back in first position with Quidam, a horse owned by Sarah Willeman that she only began riding six weeks ago.

“I just think he is a very sweet horse, he tries really hard and he is so much fun to ride,” said Dzavik, who was celebrating her first victory in a USEF Talent Search class. “Quidam has a huge stride, a lot of finesse, and he is smooth over the course and makes it look easy.”

The course designer for this week’s USEF Talent Search, held in the Annex ring, was William Aguirre.

“It was a good course, there were some tricky parts, but I thought it flowed really well,” noted Dzavik who has been competing at the Vermont Summer Festival since it opened on July 13 and, in the first week of competition, was named the Junior Hunter Champion and the Best Child Rider in addition to finishing second in both the WIHS Equitation Classic and the USET Talent Search.

The class was a qualifier for the USEF Talent Search Finals that will be held at the USET Foundation headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey. Dzavik, who only rode in her first USEF Talent Search class six weeks ago, will be making her debut in this event.

A familiar face on the Canadian competition scene, Dzavik began training with Christina Schlusemeyer and Bob Braswell of Quiet Hill Farm of Ocala, FL, in the winter. While she plans to continue competing on the American circuit, Dzavik will contest the Jump Canada Medal competition at Toronto’s famed Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November, and also hopes to qualify for the Canadian Equestrian Team Medal.

The 2005 Vermont Summer Festival features five weeks of exciting equestrian competition running July 13 to August 14 at Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, VT. New England’s largest ‘AA’ rated hunter-jumper horse show and newly sanctioned by Equine Canada, the Vermont Summer Festival kicked off with the Manchester Summer Festival held July 13-17 and continued with the Manchester Classic Horse Show from July 20-24. The Valley Classic Horse Show runs from July 27-July 31, followed by the Manchester and the Mountains Horse Show from August 3-7, and concluding with the Vermont Summer Celebration from August 10-14.

As is the tradition at the Vermont Summer Festival, each of the first four weeks of competition features a $30,000 Grand Prix and a $10,000 Mini Prix. New for 2005 is the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix to conclude the five-week Vermont Summer Festival on Sunday, August 14. For more information on the Vermont Summer Festival, please visit www.vt-summerfestival.com or call (802) 362-7548.