Hilltop News
Florida Season Summary for Hilltop
Two months can go by remarkably fast! Michael Bragdell took eight horses down for winter training and showing options in Florida this year and we can hardly believe their season is already done. We keep our time in Florida shorter to allow the stallions to come home for the start of breeding season. Special highlights of this winter show season included Iris Aberbach’s Boxster A (Bugatti-Weltbekannt) earning the FEI High-Score Award at Global Dressage 3, Mitch & Lara Mitchelson’s Faberge Blue (Contango-Democraat) move up to the Developing Prix St. Georges with consistent top placings, Hilltop’s Sternlicht (Soliman de Hus-Rascalino) earning all scores of 73-78% in his FEI 7-year old and Prix St. Georges classes, and Bvlgari’s (Bordeaux-Rohdiamant) win of the Fourth Level AA class at Global 6 with owner Beth Custalow. All four of these talented horses are US-bred too!
The other horses with Michael used the training time to prepare for their moves up later in the spring. All have left Florida early this morning and we’re anxious to get everyone safely home. Thank you to Lady Jean Ranch for sharing your beautiful facility with us, to Brookledge Horse Vans who we trust to take us to/from Florida each year, and to all the owners who took part in this Florida experience.
Stallion News
Hilltop Archives

Once again we made the long drive out to the beautiful Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL for the Markel/USEF Young Horse Championships. Michael qualified two horses for the Championships this year.

With each step in their careers, the Riverman offspring continue to impress us with the versatile athleticism that has allowed them to succeed at the highest levels of most every discipline. Over the years we’ve seen Riverman ranked near the top the USEF Leading Sire rankings in multiple disciplines.
Hilltop Articles & Interviews

Whether you are learning about showing your horse in hand or just looking for some tips, this excerpt from the 2015 USDF Sport Horse Breeders/Handlers Seminar is for you – Showing Sport Horses In Hand with Michael Bragdell.

The dramatic view at Hilltop Farm is as beautiful as its magnificent horses, but the facility's scenic side in a relatively rural section of Maryland is just one of the many things that make it unique, the word most often used by people describing this one-of-a-kind property.