International-level dressage with a Saturday night musical freestyle celebration under lights will be held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC), December 4-6.

The CDI*** dressage competition will be combined with the CSI*** Holiday & Horses event that includes the Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship presented by Equine Motorcoach. The dressage competition is a major upgrade from the national level show of previous years.

The musical freestyles will be in the International Arena while other CDI classes will be in the neighboring DeNemethy Arena. Both arenas have the same Olympic-quality footing that was universally lauded at the 2008 Winter Equestrian Festival. Each arena has its own warm-up ring.

The musical freestyles can look forward to large crowds.

To celebrate the Saturday musical freestyles, a dressage party is planned for the International Club that overlooks the arena.

The lighting of a Christmas tree with accompaniment by singers and choirs from schools in the Wellington area is planned right before the musical freestyles.

A Business Expo that is being staged by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce during the day in the giant special events tent with a panoramic view of the competition arena will be extended into the night to provide a special bonus for those attendees.

The CDI*** that is sanctioned by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) is one of three international-level dressage events scheduled over winter by Equestrian Sport Productions, the company that manages events at PBIEC for Wellington Equestrian Partners that owns the venue.

The World Dressage Masters CDI***** that will see the world's top riders compete for $115,000 in prize money at the end of January and a CDI*** in mid-March that is also a qualifier for the FEI World Cup to be held in Las Vegas in April are the other two.

CDI competitions have become vital for high-performance riders as only results from them will count toward qualifying for the U.S. Grand Prix Championship and for global rider and horse rankings.

More details of the Saturday night celebration and the prize list will be provided by e-mail and on www.equestriansport.com.