Dressage
Steffen Peters swept the 2011 World Dressage Masters Palm Beach presented by the International Polo Club, dominating both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle at Jim Brandon Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL. The California combination scored a personal best CDI Grand Prix score of 80.872% and a Freestyle score of 84.525% at the only CDI5* in the United States. Tina Konyot and Calecto V were second in the Grand Prix and third in the Freestyle to complete a strong showing for the United States.
Watch more of the Freestyles, view photos, blogs and news at www.usefnetwork.com
At the Dressage Affaire in California, Jan Ebeling dominated the FEI divisions. He won the CDI-W Grand Prix on Rafalca on a score of 69.596% over Sue Blinks on Robin Hood and Guenter Siedel and U II. Ebeling also won the Prix St. Georges and the Intermediaire I on Sandrina and Rosenzauber 8 respectively. Shannon Peters (Steffen's wife) made sure that their stable (and family) was winning on both coasts; she topped the Grand Prix Special with Odyssey on a score of 66.250%. Seidel and U II slid ahead of Ebeling and Rafalca in the Freestyle. The pair scored 71.900% to win. Seidel's win was especially sweet, as the Olympic veteran suffered a serious accident last year in which he broke his hip.
Complete results are available here: http://www.dressageevents.com/
Driving
Catching up on the Little Everglades CDE, the story of the last weekend in February was that of Jacob Arnold, who at age 18 won the Single Horse division and drove the only double clear cones phase. Arnold drove Spring Hollow Dark Shadow to third in the dressage, but topped both the marathon and the cones to win by more than eight points over 2010 USEF National Single Horse Driving Champion Robin Groves. Alan Aulson won the Pair Horse division which served as a Selection Trial for the FEI World Championships; he beat a strong field, narrowly winning over Joe Yoder. Randy Cadwell won the FEI Single Pony division with Kabam, Jennifer Matheson won the FEI Pair Pony divisions by four points over Elizabeth Keathley. Silver medalist from the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Chester Weber, test-drove his new horses, Uniek and Splash and won the Four-in-Hand division handily.
Results are available here: http://drivingnews.us/results/results2011/LittleEverglades/
Endurance
At the FITS CEI* in Williston, FL John Crandell aboard Heraldic won the 160km ride by more than 15 minutes with an average speed of more than 20 KPH . Two-time World Champion Valeria Kanavy was second on Destiny Gold, a horse just beginning to compete at the top levels and veteran Kathy Brunjes was one second behind Kanavy on LM Parys.
There were three 120km rides held throughout the weekend, Deborah Reich and SA Zacks Comet won the first one, completing in just under eight hours. Nicki Meuten and Not Tonight won Friday's ride by nearly 30 minutes finishing in 6:40. Daryl Downs riding Gracie was the top placed American in Saturday's 120 km ride, finishing third behind two Venezuelan riders.
Information about this ride is available here: http://www.fitsenduranceride.com
Eventing
The first U.S. CIC3* of 2011 took place this weekend at Red Hills International Horse Trials in Tallahassee, FL as much of the eventing community descended upon this destination event. Allison Springer won a year's lease on a Mercedes, after she scored a big win in the CIC3* on Arthur. They were second after the dressage, moved up to the lead after the cross country and held on to win in the show jumping, winning by a narrow margin. Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos kept the pressure on to be second and Michael Pollard rode Icarus to the third spot.
Phillip Dutton scored in the CIC2* with Mighty Nice on the merits of flawless jumping. This was the horse's first try at this level after arriving from Ireland late last year. Candace Tribe and Catalina won convincingly from start to finish, adding nothing to their dressage score in the CIC1* to round out the weekend.
Complete results are available here: www.rhht.org.
Jumping
Young Rider Lucy Davis proved unstoppable in California, closing out the HITS Thermal circuit with two more major wins. She rode to top honors in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health on Hannah, marking her third Grand Prix win in seven days. The Grand Finale of the West Coast winter circuit, the $200,000 Lamborghini Grand Prix, got underway in front of a full house on Sunday and Davis was not to be denied. She rode Nemo 119 to the top of the 51 horse field, beating a tough group including Rich Fellers, who was third on Flexible, and former World Cup Champion and 2010 Gold Medalist from the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, German rider Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.
Please visit http://www.hitsshows.com/thermal/index.html for more information.
In Florida, Lauren Hough was the top placed American with Quick Study in the $231,000 FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI-W 4* presented by Bainbridge Companies at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The winner of the Grand Prix the previous week finished third behind Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and England's Nick Skelton. Eight horses went forward to the jump-off, the top two went clear and Hough was the fastest of the four fault rounds to finish behind two of the greatest names in the sport.
Complete results are available here: www.showgroundslive.com.
Para-Equestrian
Jonathan Wentz won the 1b Grade at the CPEDI3* held at held Dressage Affaire. Riding NTEC Richter Scale, Wentz, a veteran of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and a student at Southern Methodist University swept all three Grade 1b tests, winning the Team, Individual and Freestyle. He also had top placings on his new ride NTEC Daytona Beach in the same three classes.
Results can be found here: http://www.dressageevents.com/ or please see www.uspea.org for more information.