In a strategic move to fly his horse to the 2024 CDI-W Thermal on 5 - 7 January 2024 as sole competitor in the division, American Benjamin Ebeling secured his place in the 2024 World Cup Finals in Riyadh.
Low Entries at CDI-W Thermal
This 2023-2024 season North American World Cup League includes CDI-W's in Devon, Thermal, Myakka City, Ocala, and Wellington.
As the west coast shows at the beautiful Desert Horse Park in Thermal have been struggling to attract international entries, their competitions increasingly became more interesting as an easy pick-up point for World Cup points for those with the budget to (fly and) compete there.
Thermal held three World Cup qualifiers between November 2023 and January 2024. The first had two riders and was won by California based Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper, the second also had just two entries and was won by Florida based Venezuelan Patricia Ferrando, the last had a single entry, Florida based Benjamin Ebeling.
Triple World Cup Win
Ebeling and the 16-year old Danish warmblood mare Indeed (by Hofrat x De Niro) won the qualifiers in Devon in September and the one in Myakka City in October. They were 10th in the qualifier in Ocala in December, and flew to California to win Thermal at the start of the New Year, scoring 72.240% in the freestyle. He collected the maximum amount of 60 World Cup points to secure a ticket to Riyadh (KSA) in the North American League.
"I’m so proud of my girl Indy- she has shown up time after time to hopefully secure both of our first FEI World Cup outing in April. My dancing girl is on fire, i’m honored to be her dance partner," Ebeling took to Facebook.
Ebeling is coached by his father, 2012 U.S. Olympic rider Jan Ebeling, and German 2010 WEG team rider Christoph Koschel.
"Even being on the opposite side of the country, both my dad and Christoph take time to warm me up before the competition via Facetime, have discussions post ride on the positives and negatives of the tests, and of course give me pep talks on the daily," said Benjamin. "These two experienced and wise riders have spent countless hours teaching me about the daily training of a top dressage horse, and I can’t be more thankful for the time they have put in."
North American League
For the North American League the three best results achieved at a CDI-W competition count for the NAL ranking.
The three highest ranking pairs on the NAL standing qualify for the Finals in Riyad. With three wins, Ebeling has achievement the maximum of 60 points.
At the moment American Kevin Kohmann is standing second with Dünensee, while Canadian Tanya Strasser-Shostak is third with Fidelis Tyme.
Three more qualifiers will take place in Wellington in the upcoming months. Photo © Terri Miller
Related Links
Scores: 2024 CDI-W Thermal
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2024 World Cup Finals