Roxanne Trunnell and Dolton.
© SusanStickle.com
The second week of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Florida saw CPEDI 3* competition across four grades. Each grade saw a clean sweep and there were some outstanding performances.
FEI Para Freestyle Grade I
Roxanne Trunnell (USA) won all three Grade I tests with Dolton, a seven-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Danone I and owned by Kate Shoemaker. The pair scored 73.690% in the Team Test, 73.155% in the Individual Test, and ended the weekend with a score of 77.889% in the Freestyle.
FEI Para Freestyle Grade II
Alanna Flax-Clark (USA) won the Team Test on 64.899%, the Individual Test with 65.735%, and the Freestyle with 68.222% on her horse El Paso, a 15-year-old Dutch Riding Pony gelding by Elegant.
Alanna Flax-Clark and El Paso.
© SusanStickle.com
FEI Para Freestyle Grade III
The Grade III saw a hat trick of wins for Rebecca Hart (USA) and El Corona Texel, a 10-year-old KWPN gelding by Wynton and owned by Rowan O’Riley. They won the Team Test with a score of 72.794%, the Individual Test with 69.088% and the Freestyle with 75.278%.
Hart is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, and moved to Wellington, FL. “I have loved this horse from the moment I saw his video on YouTube. I love his personality and his intelligence,” said Hart about El Corona Texel. “He’s quite a fiery horse, but he’s an incredibly kind horse. I love how we can have a true conversation when we’re riding, and it just makes it a very unique, special partnership.”
“Marlene Whittaker put the freestyle together for me, and we worked really hard on that one,” continued Hart of her freestyle music and choreography. “It’s actually the one that we rode at [the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games], so it’s a special freestyle for us. We actually all played [the music] for him so he could have a little bit of input. He would just be like, ‘Oh yeah’ and he’d start to get a little more exuberant, and we were like, ‘Okay, Tex likes this one!’”
Hart has been coming to AGDF for seven years and said, “I love having such a great facility for the 12 weeks. They have shows on the weekend, and we can just come and do a test and then go home. Having that availability, and in addition having the big three-stars and the four-star and the freestyles under the lights, that variety of atmosphere so that you can do a smaller national show or you can do a big three-star all within your backyard, is fantastic.”
Rebecca Hart and El Corona Texel.
© SusanStickle.com
FEI Para Freestyle Grade IV
Kate Shoemaker (USA) won the FEI Para Team Test, Individual Test and Freestyle with her horse Solitaer 40, a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Sandro Hit. They achieved a personal best score of 73.252% in the Individual Test, scored 74.208% (corrected score) in the Team Test, and were awarded 75.458% in the Freestyle on the final day.
Shoemaker travels back and forth between her home in Phoenix, AZ, where she is an equine veterinarian, and Wellington to train.
“He’s my heart horse, so just every day having the opportunity to ride him and to have that partnership is special. He’s a horse that when I got him I was told that I was never going to be able to ride him and that he would never be successful in Para,” said Shoemaker about Solitaer 40. “So to come this far with him – we’re now starting our fifth season together – I feel like it’s all about the partnership. He gives me so much that it’s just unbelievable.”
Kate Shoemaker and Solitaer 40.
© SusanStickle.com
“His elasticity is definitely his strength, and it was something that the judges noted this weekend that they really appreciated in him. Now we’re really starting to bring together a little bit more power and more balance in the arena, which is what’s been the big change,” added Shoemaker about her 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Sandro Hit. “As much improvement as he’s had, he still gives me those moments where there’s the next step up that we’re working on. It’s really an exciting journey that we are on right now.”
Shoemaker said of her choreography, “Last summer I got together with Tom Hunt, and asked him if he would be willing to do a freestyle for me. I was ecstatic when he said yes. He actually custom composed the music to fit to ‘Solly’ and the choreography that we put together.”
Competition at AGDF will resume on January 23, featuring the “Friday Night Stars” Grand Prix Freestyle presented by the U.S. P.R.E. Association. For more information and to see a full list of results, please visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.
Source: By Deirdre Sullivan for Jennifer Wood Media, Inc. / AGDF press release
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