Busch, Ots, Cyprus, Wyker In the Picture at the 2015 CDI Katy

Shows

2015 CDI Katy

The annual CDI3* Katy held at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, Texas, on 23 - 26 April 2015 was a popular event and organizers had to create a waiting list for eager riders. Competition was intense and the winners came away knowing they succeeded in besting a field of talented horse and rider duos at the show.

Vicky Busch Wins Big in the Small Tour

Vicky Busch, of Folsom, Louisiana, won the Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I aboard Nell Wade's Pacifica, a 10-year-old Danish Warmblood mare (by Future Cup x Pari Lord), a half-sister to Heather Blitz's Grand Prix horse, Paragon. This was the duo's first time out at the CDI level in the three and a half years Busch has had the ride on Pacifica. With a 64.947 percent in the Prix St. Georges on Friday, April 24, and a 65.044 percent in the Intermediaire I on Saturday, April 26, her scores were consistent across the board, proving that the judges were on the same page.

"The show was just so much fun," Busch said. "They make it all look so nice and so easy. It's a pleasure for me to travel to their shows and events. Whatever they do, they have the Midas touch. Everything is just so hospitable and lovely, and so Southern."

Next, Busch plans to compete in a local show in Louisiana and hopes to qualify for the national championship show in Kentucky in November. She is schooling Pacifica in all the Grand Prix movements in preparation for the Intermediaire II, adding that the feedback from the judges at the show will help her train.

"I'm going to be very vigilant in watching what they said and studying the video and improving," she said. "It's always about improving. That's what dressage is."

Young Horse Power

At the show, Endel Ots qualified Samhitas, a 6-year-old Oldenburg gelding (by Sir Donnerhall I- Abanos) owned by Ots and Gary Vander Ploeg, for the 2015 World Young Dressage Horse Championships this summer in Verden, Germany. In only his second show ever, Samhitas earned an impressive 80.800 percent in the 6-year-old Young Horse Preliminary Test and an 85.600 percent in the 6-year-old Young Horse Final Test.

Endel Ots and Samhitas Ots has had the ride on Samhitas for a little more than a year. After trying him out, he thought the horse was of such good quality that he might be a good horse to try to qualify for the 6-year-old tests in Verden.

Ots said that after they received a good score on the first day of the show, he changed his game plan.

"On the second day, I pushed him a little bit more and rode him a little bit bigger to try to show what he could do," Ots said. "He was super!"

The rider was also impressed with the facilities at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center and how smoothly everything was run at the show. He laughed when he told how he was the closest competitor to being a foreign rider and he enjoyed being the one to help with the draw and to fill out forms.

Double Win for Young Rider Allison Cyprus

Allison Cyprus clinched the Young Rider Individual Test with a 66.754% on Saturday and the Young Rider Freestyle with a 69.833% aboard her mother's Madoc Gareth (by Sydenham Henry-Okeden Mai), a 10-year-old Welsh Cob gelding. Cyprus, 17, lives in Magnolia, Texas, right outside Houston and not too far from the show grounds in Katy.

Allison Cyprus on Madoc Gareth "The test on Saturday was a solid test with no mistakes," she said, adding that Gareth wasn't quite as expressive as he had been in the Young Rider Team Test the day before. She thought that the gelding was getting a bit weary, and in the warm-up on Sunday, she thought he just wasn't as energetic as earlier in the competition.

"The second the music came on, he got this adrenalin rush and he really came up in his back and he was a lot more forward and in front of my leg. He loooves the music!"

Cyprus plans to continue to improve Gareth's strength for the Young Rider division, a competition that requires three days of intense showing. She was excited to compete in the CDI and support the show in her area.

"I think the set-up is really nice and the stables are beautiful," she said. "It was a great show for us our first time out doing the Young Rider tests. It was a good experience for both of us from the arena to the ground crew to the ring stewards, who got everyone to the ring on time."

Ayden Uhlir on Sjapoer Another Texan who swept the competition was Ayden Uhlir. The 19-year-old is from Ft. Worth and has been in Wellington, Florida, for the winter show season working at Hampton Green Farm and competing at the Global Dressage Festival with her Dutch Warmblood gelding Sjapoer (by Contango x Wolfgang). At the Houston Dressage Society CDI show, she and Sjapoer claimed the blue ribbon in the Young Rider Team Test with a 69.158%. Ots acted as her coach while she was at the show as he had done sometimes in Wellington during the winter show season.

"I had a really clean ride on Friday that I was very happy with," she said. "I went to get the scores I needed for the Young Rider European Tour and SJ and I achieved the goal I had set for the weekend. Now we are just waiting on pins and needles to hear about the selection for the tour."

Uhlir was happy to be home and loved the atmosphere at the show.

"I had forgotten about so many of the extras of showing at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center (GSWEC)," she said. "The stalls are big and there are several covered warm-up arenas. The food is good and the smoothies are awesome! Leslie Rohrer and the Houston Dressage Society go out of their way to make the show experience great. All the way around, I may be biased but the GSWEC and the Houston Dressage Society are A-1 in my book!"