Swedish Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven and Don Auriello topped the Grand Prix with a winning score of 77.670% during the first day of competition of the 2014 Dressage in Florida international show season in Wellington, Florida, on Thursday 9 January 2014. Danish riders filled out the top three for the class, with Lars Petersen and Mariett finishing second with a 72.880% and Mikala Munter Gundersen taking home third place with a score of 69.600% on My Lady.
Vilhelmson-Silfven, who recently climbed to fifth in the FEI World Individual Dressage Rankings thanks to a series of high-profile victories in Europe with Don Auriello, was again thrilled with the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding's performance during Friday's competition.
"He competed quite a lot this autumn. I made three World Cup qualifications in Europe before I left. He's been doing all of those very well. He's in really good shape," Vilhelmson-Silfven commented. "Today, I was really happy with my feeling. The piaffe-passage tour is the one that I sometimes don't have him on my aids 100%, but I felt like today I could do exactly what I wanted. He usually does it very well anyways, but today it was a feeling more that I could really control," she continued.
Vilhelmson-Silfven feels she's gotten to the point with Don Auriello that she can scale back his competition schedule without losing her edge. Following Thursday's win, Vilhelmson-Silfven will work with a trainer for several weeks before bringing Don Auriello back out for the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W.
"[Don Auriello] has reached the level now that I want to be more restrictive with competing. I don't need to compete so much I think. He's going to have a good training session now. I really enjoy having that in this climate, being able to train a lot," she explained.
After arriving in Florida shortly before Christmas, Vilhelmson-Silfven is looking forward to a season far from the harsh Swedish winter.
"It's super to be able to train them and ride them [in the Florida weather]. How they feel in their body, in their muscles, is so different when it's very cold. [The horses that compete in Florida] are in much better shape than the ones that stayed under the winter in Europe-in Sweden anyway," Vilhelmson-Silfven described.
Text by Laura Cardon, edited by Eurodressage
Photo © Sue Stickle
Related Link
Scores: 2014 CDI-W Wellington
