A Three Peat for Keith Ceddia and Xtra Dun Step in Congress Open Freestyle Reining

By Sarah Welk Baynum

The Freestyle Reining Class is a night many at Congress look forward to—and for good reason.

Keith Ceddia and Xtra Dun Step are no strangers to winning the Championship title at Congress in the Open Freestyle Reining.

In fact, this is now the third consecutive year they’ve won it, despite the popularity of the class and competitive routines horse and riders showcase each year.

“This is actually his fourth year in a row for Xtra Dun Step to win it—three times with me and one with Ben Beckett before that,” says Ceddia.

When Beckett decided not to do the freestyle the year following his win, he recommended Ceddia contact the owners, since he was still looking for a Freestyle mount.

“I want to thank his owners, Jennifer Groehn and Jerry Douglas, for a chance to compete with such a great horse the last few years!” says Ceddia.

But Xtra Dun Step, known as Angelo around the barn, isn’t just a fantastic freestyle reining horse—he even crossed the NRHA $200,000 mark earlier this year.

“He’s just been a solid competitor. The environment in this class doesn’t faze him, and he’s got a good look. He’s got the big maneuvers, and he’s just enjoys doing his job,” says Ceddia.

Ceddia has worked with Lauren Schoeller, the choreographer who originally helped Beckett and Xtra Dun Step win their Freestyle Championship, for the last three years they’ve competed and won in this class. Like in previous years, the crowd went wild after Ceddia’s performance.

“Lauren helped with the choreography and putting the music together for us, and we came up with the idea of the Batman theme this year. We were trying to come up with some good music for that, and we found some upbeat music to keep the crowd up and keep the mood going. We put together a pattern that we felt was pretty strong, flowed well, and hit all the maneuvers. We wanted to get in, get out, and get it done quick so we didn’t lose the crowd,” says Ceddia.

One of the moves Ceddia performed that helped win over the crowd was a quick partial jump dismount at the lope, returning to the saddle so fast that the crowd couldn’t help but be impressed. He also stood on top of his saddle at the end, capturing the crowd even further.

“This year, we tried throwing in a jump that I stole from Trevor Dare that he did in a freestyle probably 10 or 15 years ago. That was definitely a good way to get the crowd on my side early on,” explains Ceddia.

After Congress, Xtra Dun Step will head home back to his owners, where they will make the decision on what the next steps in his career will look like.

“They’ve talked about retiring him and breeding him because he has crossed over that 200 mark, and he’s had a great show career. But I’m still going to try to convince them to go for win number five in the Freestyle next year. They almost didn’t want to do it this year, because they thought three wins was going to be tough to beat. And I said, well, what’s better than three wins is four!” adds Ceddia.

Results for the 2024 Freestyle Reining, Open and Non Pro

 

Open

Champion: Xtra Dun Step with Keith Ceddia for Jennifer Groehn and Jerry Douglas -$4872.18

Reserve Champion:

TIE

Jessicah Keller and Shift N Gears with for Hilldale Farm -$$3373.05

Sugared Shining Gun with Samantha Musante for James Blumer Jr. -$3373.05

 

Non Pro

Champion: Jessicah Keller and Shift N Gears -$1130.92

Reserve Champion: Madison Rafacz and Got Twisted In Vegas -$769.02

Bronze Champion: Polly Hilliard and Little Man Spook -$542.84