Canadian Karen Pavicic decided to swap the California winter show circuit for Florida and her choice has proven successful. Aboard her 12-year old Oldenburg bred Don Daiquiri (by Don Cardinale) she bagged the CDI 3* Grand Prix victory on Friday 21 February 2014 in a field of 13 competitors at the 2014 CDIO Wellington. Pavicic scored a winning 69.440%.
Trained by Lars Petersen and Canada's team coach Dr. Volker Moritz, Karen and Don Daiquiri rode a personal best score in Friday morning's Grand Prix class. "I'm feeling like we are just thriving here. We had a great ride and look forward to more,” Karen commented.
The coast of California is this British Columbian’s usual route for the winter CDI show season. This year, however, thanks in large part to a grant from Dressage Canada, Karen was able to send her horse to Wellington to join other Canadians in increasing competitive success and gaining more exposure from Canadian WEG selectors.
Pavicic's gorgeous bay gelding Don Daiquiri showed sweet piaffe work with the second one being more off the ground than the first. The trot half passes had much cross over, but the horse could generate more buoyancy in them. The two tempi changes swung too much behind, the ones were better. Overall Don Daquiri appeared a bit tired and needs to gain more strength from behind in order to sustain his self carriage more. The gelding often opened his mouth and was heavy in the contact, especially at the start of the ride. There is definitely much more in his tank and he's one to watch for the future.
Fellow country man Tom Dvorak rode his 2011 Pan American team horse Viva's Salieri, a 13-year-old Hanoverian stallion (sired by Viva Voltaire) owned by Augustin Walch and Christine Eppinger, to second place in the Grand Prix with 68.620%. The liver chestnut has a beautiful, well suspended passage and is a very athletic horse with incredible talent for the piaffe-passage work. The two tempi changes, however, had to be straighter in the body and the ones did not cover enough ground.
Canadian Jacqueline Brooks completed the top three with a 67.120% earning ride on her 15-year old Swedish bred D Niro (by D-Day). Issues epecially in the second piaffe in which the grey gelding snorted and lost the rhythm tampered with the overall score.
American Susan Dutta and her Oldenburg bred Currency DC (by Clintino) landed a fourth place. The small bay gelding has improved much in power and suspension in the piaffe-passage work but too many mistakes crept into the canter work. The zig zag had very little ground cover and there were several hiccups in the one tempi changes which stopped their score from going higher than 67.060%.
Text and Photos © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction allowed
Photos of the 2014 CDIO Wellington can be ordered by emailing us at info@eurodressage.com
Related Links
Scores 2014 CDIO Wellington
Team U.S.A. Takes the Spoils in 2014 CDIO Wellington Nations' Cup
USA I Proves Unbeatable at 2014 Wellington Nations Cup CDIO3*, USA II Finishes Fourth
Adrienne Lyle Takes 2014 CDIO Wellington Grand Prix
Photo Report: Sunny Vet Inspection at 2014 CDIO Wellington
USA-1 Leads After Day One of 2014 CDIO Nations Cup Competition in Wellington