Wayne, Ill. – The Intermediaire I and Para Dressage divisions delivered another day of impressive rides at the 2022 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions. Combinations performed the second of three tests on their way to a national championship title. Laura Graves and SenSation HW maintained their lead atop the USEF Intermediaire I Dressage National Championship leaderboard, while Mia Rodier-Dawallo and Jayden earned top honors on Tuesday in the USEF Para Dressage National Championship.
USEF Intermediaire I Dressage National Championship
(SusanJStickle.com)
Fourteen combinations competed in the FEI Intermediate I Test for the USEF Intermediaire I Dressage National Championship. Laura Graves and SenSation HW delivered another masterful ride to win the class. Graves (Geneva, Fla.) and Carol and Scott McPhee’s 2013 Westphalian gelding, who are in the Kundrun USEF Dressage Development Program, rose to the challenge of the more difficult test and earned a score of 74.793%.
“It felt pretty good after yesterday, knowing that the judges liked the ways we were going with things,” said Graves. “It felt maybe a little bit more tense. It is a little bit more difficult of a test with things on centerline and some different transitions. [There was] a little mistake in the two-time tempis. But I think other than that, it was really a clean test.”
Kundrun USEF Dressage Development Program members Emily Miles (Paola, Kan.) and Daily Show, Leslie Waterman’s 2014 Hanoverian stallion, finished second with a score of 73.440%. Rebecca Rigdon (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.) and Iquem, her 2013 KWPN mare, were third with a score of 72.234%. Both of these combinations competed in the 2021 Markel/USEF Developing Horse Prix St. Georges Dressage National Championship and showed their continued growth over the past year.
Monday’s FEI Prix St. Georges Test counts for 40 percent of the overall score, while the FEI Intermediate I Test on Tuesday counts for 45 percent. The division will conclude on Thursday with the FEI Intermediate I Freestyle Test, which counts for 15 percent.
Overall championship standings
From the Mixed Zone:
Tell us about your test.
Graves: “Today we rode the Intermediate I. It felt pretty good after yesterday, knowing that the judges liked the ways we were going with things. It felt maybe a little bit more tense. It is a little bit more difficult of a test with things on centerline and some different transitions. [There was] a little mistake in the tempis, the two-time tempis. But I think other than that, it was really a clean test. Certain things I definitely could’ve ridden better. I missed my targets, so my letters weren’t totally accurate, so that’s on me. I think for this horse it will be the last time he rides that test, so our plan is to move him up. I think this week he is proving that he is ready for that.”
Is there anything you will work on before the freestyle?
Graves: “We’ll see. He will have tomorrow completely off. We’ll just walk him. He has been so good. For me, the freestyle has always been a finale—a real time to celebrate. Even though it is still a part of this championship and obviously I come to win, I want to enjoy it. I want him to feel like it is a little bit more free since it is a freestyle. Just have a good time and enjoy our awesome music made for us by Terry Gallo. It is music that has been made in mind with looking forward to the future, so something we can turn into a Grand Prix Freestyle. I am excited to see how he does in a bigger atmosphere with music. This is all just kind of a test run for us at this point, and it is going well.”
Is there anything else you want to add?
Graves: “Just thank you to everyone. There are so many volunteers and I have so many sponsors and the owners of this awesome horse who let me ride him every day, train him every day. So much goes into this. Often you are humbled and heartbroken [with horses] so to have a week like this is really lucky”
USEF Para Dressage National Championship
(SusanJStickle.com)
The USEF Para Dressage National Championship continued with the FEI Para Dressage Individual Test for the field of four combinations. Mia Rodier-Dawallo and Jayden had a lovely FEI Para Dressage Grade II Individual Test highlighted by powerful trot extensions. Rodier-Dawallo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and her 2014 KWPN gelding earned a score of 71.323%, a personal best score and one achieved on the national championship stage.
“I am very proud of our work. In general, I don’t chase scores and I think comparison is the thief of joy, so I do my best to not compare myself to anyone else,” said Rodier-Dawallo. “I’m very, very pleased with the work that we did today. ‘Pudding’ was amazing. I’m so proud of him; I’m so proud of us.”
Sydney Collier (Ann Arbor, Mich.) finished second with a score of 68.749% in the FEI Para Dressage Grade I Individual Test with All In One, Going for Gold, LLC and Georgina Bloomberg’s 2009 Hanoverian gelding. Deborah Stanitski (Charleston, S.C.) and Heros, her 2014 Danish mare, were third with a score of 68.332% in the FEI Para Dressage Grade I Individual Test.
Monday’s FEI Para Dressage Team Test counts for 40 percent of the overall score, while the FEI Para Dressage Individual Test on Tuesday counts for 45 percent. The division will conclude on Wednesday with the FEI Para Dressage Freestyle Test, which counts for 15 percent.
Overall championship standings
From the Mixed Zone:
Tell us about your test.
Rodier-Dawallo: “I am very proud of our work. In general, I don’t chase scores and I think comparison is the thief of joy, so I do my best to not compare myself to anyone else. I’m very, very pleased with the work that we did today. ‘Pudding’ was amazing. I’m so proud of him; I’m so proud of us. I find that it is best to not focus on the negatives of your test because if you focus on that you are going to be thinking about then that might be something that is more likely to happen. I think that it is best to focus on positives on how well you and your team do together. All of us had an amazing day today, even given the circumstances. I think doing your best is all you can do, and it just so happens that we got the highest score, which is crazy. Then, I cried and hugged my horse. That’s the way that is tends to go.”
What were some of the highlights in your test?
Rodier-Dawallo: “We always like to have fun so I would say extensions are always our favorite. We kind of rocked the extensions. I like to play songs in my head. I’m very musically driven. I have a song playing in my head that’s got a good beat to it and just fly and feel like we are going in slow motion. Some of our other favorite things are halts. They’re difficult because the halt is one finite movement that you do, so you can’t really improve it that much [in a test]. We like to make an entrance; we like to make an exit. We like to see everyone and showing up for para and we always have a smile on our face.
“Having fun, getting in the ring, and showing our stuff. We worked so, so, so hard. It feels very validating to have this expression of our hard work.”
What are you looking forward to in your freestyle?
Rodier-Dawallo: “Freestyle is my favorite, obviously. It is so much fun and I really love my freestyle. It takes you on a journey. Jessica Ash made it for me, and Julie worked with me. It is something that I like. A lot of times with freestyles, you just have to follow the rules and stay in this little box and then you have something that you don’t really like but it is something that you have to do. We have a Beyoncé mash-up. We really like to have fun. We sampled some Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who is one of my favorite intersectional feminists on the face of the Earth, and [the freestyle] takes you through a journey as you go through the test. We have a lot of really cool stuff in there that we are excited to show. We have got some half-passes in there. We have got some shoulder-in in there. It makes you feel like you are at a dance party. I feel like you should be feeling like you're dancing and everyone else should feel like they are dancing, too.”
The USEF Grand Prix Dressage National Championship and the Adequan®/USEF Young Adult Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship jogged Tuesday evening before their competition begins Wednesday.
Competition continues Wednesday in the Grand Prix Arena with the FEI Intermediate II Test of the Adequan®/USEF Young Adult Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship at 8 a.m. CT.
Watch the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions live stream this week on USEF Network.
Keep up with the 2022 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions on USA Dressage Facebook and Instagram and US Equestrian Twitter. Use #USADressage and #FestivalofChampions.