Dressage

Fresh from the Reem Acra/FEI World Cup Dressage Final, Jan Ebeling and Shawna Harding headed to CDI Hagen with their World Cup horses, Rafalca and Come On III. Ebeling led the charge for the U.S. finishing fifth in the Grand Prix on a score of 70.872%. Ebeling commandeered an excellent performance out of Ann Romney’s mare, and received four 8s on his riding. The pair was then eighth in the Grand Prix Freestyle on a score of 73.875%. Laura Bechtolscheimer, Great Britain’s Silver medalist from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, was invincible with Andretti H, easily winning all four Grand Prix classes at the competition. She also won the Grand Prix for the Special and the Grand Prix Special convincingly with her WEG veteran Mistral Hojris. Shawna Harding showed the benefits of her first World Cup Final experience, finishing 14th in the Grand Prix for the Special with Come On III. The pair received high marks for their lateral work and was rewarded with a score of 68.043%. In the Grand Prix Special, they scored 66.396%.

Results are available here: http://www.horses-and-dreams.de/en/sports/starting-result-list/

Endurance

The Biltmore Challenge Endurance Ride CEI/CEIY was held on the historic grounds of George Vanderbilt’s picturesque estate in Asheville, NC. The event boasted over 150 entries in both the Open and FEI divisions. Hot Desert Knight was the first horse across the finish line in the CEI3* 160km. Farzard Faryadi rode the Arabian gelding to the win in 10:19:12. Meg Sleeper and Syrocco Cadence took second in 10:38:44, barely edging out Ceci Butler-Stasiuk and DJB KD Fantasia who finished in 10:38:46. In the CEIY3* 160km, Kyle Gibbon was the only rider to finish, taking the win in 12:55:47.

In the CEI2* 120km, Valarie Kanavy and Reach for the Gold set the pace and won handily in a time of 7:14:56. Natalie Muzzio and Laconic were second in a time of 8:19:22 and Lithuanian rider Alisija Zabavska-Granger rounded out the top three. Kelsey Russell and My Wild Irish Gold came in for the win in the CEIY2* 120km in a time of 7:14:54, and hot on their heels was Cassandra Roberts with Destiny Gold, taking second in a time of 7:14:55. Coming in third was Steven Hay on Khalil Asam in 8:19:24.

TJ Vore rode BHF Flash Back to the win in the CEI1* 80km in a time of 6:01:48. Frank Murphy and Tumultuous were second, with Amy Atkins and SA Zacks Comet finishing third. In the CEIY1* 80km, Meghan Delp blazed home for the win in 5:09:37 aboard Layla Z Gold. Sophia Bashir and DJB Cyton Kon JMF were second, and Amos Cader and Blaze Star were third. 

For more information, please visit http://www.biltmoreendurance.com/index.html

Jumping

The U.S. jumping riders were busy all over Europe this weekend. Laura Kraut was fourth in the Valencia CSI5* with Cedric. The pair jumped two clear rounds in the spectacular Arts & Sciences Venue only to have a rail in the jump-off to settle for fourth. Ireland’s Bill Twomey took the top spot with Je t’Aime Flamenco, winning 92,000 Euro for his efforts. American Richard Spooner jumped a clear first round with Cristallo but had three rails in the second round – their 14th place finish kept them in the money. Lauren Hough and Quick Study had one down at the second to last fence in round one.

Hough and Quick Study were fourth in the Trofeo Massimo Dutti – the final class of the horse show.

Caitlin Ziegler and Herald 3 were third in Sunday’s 1.45m Grand Premio de Valencia Trofeo Nespresso, putting in one of only three double-clear efforts. The Young Rider was also second in the 1.40m Trofeo Valencia 2011 Capital Europea del Deporte with Butragenia the previous day.
Kraut and Cedric were eighth with a steady double-clear effort in the Trofeo NH Hoteles, 1.50m on Friday in their prep for the Global Champions Tour. Kraut also rode Dona Evita to sixth in the Trofeo EL Corte Ingles 1.45m, two places behind Spooner, who was fourth on Billy Bianca.

Results, information and video of each round is available here: http://www.globalchampionstour.com/events/2011/valencia/results/282/gran-premio-de-espana-trofeo-banco-sabadell--1-60m

At the CSI Hagen, held concurrently with the dressage competition, American veteran Peter Wylde jumped to sixth place in the 1.50m class with Unbelievable. The star-studded event included German champion Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) and many of Europe’s top riders.
Results can be found here: http://www.horses-and-dreams.de/en/sports/starting-result-list/

Another group of U.S. jumping riders was in France at CSI2* Fontainbleau and Brianne Goutal won the CSI Grand Prix CWD with Voilette. Goutal outran Laurent Guillett from France by three-tenths of a second in the jump-off, there were 86 starters in this CSI1* class.

Results are available here: www.jump-results.com

Andrew Ramsay was the lone American representative at the CSI 3* Ebreichsdorf-Magna Racino in Austria. But he made his presence felt, winning the Thursday 1.45m Diamond Tour class with Julia des Brumes. He was third with Virginia in the Gold Tour 1.40m class the same day, fourth with another mare, Felicity VD Bisschop in the Six-Year-Old Risohorse Younghorse Challenge - out of 44 starters. He capped off the week with another victory for Virginia in Saturday’s 1.45m and was second in the Finale Diamond Tour with Julia des Brumes behind legendary Hugo Simon.

More information about Ramsay’s winning ways in Austria is available here: http://www.horseshows-magnaracino.at/

The first Nations Cup of the 2011 FEI Nations Cup Series kicks off on Friday at CSIO La Baule. Watch U.S. riders Charlie Jayne, Christine McCrea, Margie Engle, Rich Fellers and Ashlee Bond on www.feitv.com. The event website is www.labaule-cheval.com and blogs, photos and more information will be available on www.usefnetwork.com.