August 10, 2023 
Two Summer Fort series ago, at Thunderbird Show Park, then-newlywed Katie Kruger earned her first ever FEI win in the CSI3* Maui Jim Winning Round 1.45m aboard Goodwill VB.
At the time, the self-proclaimed “poster girl for getting excited” was in exuberant disbelief and gushed praise for her “godsend” partner of five years.
Fast forward to Thursday of the 2023 Summer Fort Welcome and history repeated itself in Langley, BC.
In a two-horse jump off against fellow Canadian Laura Jane “LJ” Tidball for the CSI3* tbird Challenge 1.40m, Kruger and “William” logged their second international win on the Fort Grand Prix Field.
“I’m pretty darn excited,” enthused Kruger. “I did not ride as well as I wanted to yesterday, and so it feels pretty great to have a great round today.”
First to return for Peter Holmes’ short course, Tidball and her 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood Jericho set the time to beat at 44.62 seconds but left the door open with four faults on the scoreboard. Kruger used her prime draw position and Goodwill VB’s massive stride to her advantage.
“We warmed up at the same time as I was right after her,” said the amateur rider, “and so we did our last vertical [in the warm up] just she was walking in so I could come and watch her. We had walked [jumps] one to two in the nine [strides] and we were watching LJ, she did the ten. But my horse was a huge step, so we thought the nine would be easy.
“We walked a few lines that we wouldn’t normally walk so that I had an idea of what was possible. And I rode them exactly how we walked, and it just showed up nice for me.”
Kruger and her 17-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion crossed the timers clear in 44.94s to take the win. As in 2021, she had nothing but glowing praise for her partner.
“He’s so careful. He’s so smart. I actually think once he learns how to read numbers, I’ll be obsolete, and he’ll go around by himself. He is brave—very brave as long as I’m on the job,” laughed Kruger.
Over eight rounds at the 1.40m height, the pair has a 62% top 10 finish average, according to Jumpr App, averaging just 0.88 faults.
“He has taught me so much. He is a pure gift,” she continued.
“He’s taught me to enjoy every moment for sure and have a little fun with it, because he’s got a good sense of humor and he has really helped me have a better sense of humor about it, too.”
Wednesday’s winners, Ashley Papalia (CAN) and Comme Tu Veux Z, completed the all Canadian podium, incurring a single time fault in the first round.
