Great Britain’s Susan Pape and a recently gelded Eclectisch made it two for two in the opening week of the 2025 Global Dressage Festival (GDF) in Wellington, FL, topping the 3* Grand Prix Special.
Locally-based Kevin Kohmann (USA) was runner-up riding Diamante Farms’ 14-year-old Bordeaux x Olivi mare Giulietta to 68.128%, capping a good week for the German-born rider, who finished first or second in all four of his CDI tests.
Another team Harmony Sporthorses rider, Michael Klimke (GER), finished third with 62.809%. He rode Zomancier (by Zonik x Fürst Romancier), who was bred at Paul Schockemohle’s Gestüt Lewitz and purchased by the American sponsor for 350,000 euro at the 2019 PSI Auction. The 11-year-old gelding was contesting just his second CDI and making his international big tour debut this week.
A Focused Eclectisch
Pape, who was the pathfinder in the class, was happy with the feeling that Eclectisch, a 16-year-old by Zenon x Olivi gave her in the grand prix, and noted that he is now more focused in the ring since being gelded in the summer of 2024.
“I wanted to have that same feeling again and he was a little bit spooky with the camera today—I’m not sure why,” she said. “I wanted to make sure he didn’t throw in some ones-times right after the right pirouette like in the grand prix, so I leaned to the right and that part was maybe not so pretty, but for the rest I was very satisfied. His half-passes are really good and his changes are nice and big. The weakest point is probably the piaffe, but we can live with that given the quality of the rest.
“He’s really focused now. Life is easier now that he’s a gelding; he was good before but now in the warm-up I can walk on a loose rein—before that wasn’t possible, and he’d get really tight, so it’s all much more relaxed for both of us,” explained Pape, who has been competing at AGDF for a decade. “Even in his appearance he didn’t lose anything being gelded—he still has a big neck and a big butt and a big belly! I don’t need to teach him anything, we just want to have fun.”
Team Harmony Back in Wellington
German based riders Susan Pape and Michael Klimke have been coming steadily to Wellington each year, supported by their American sponsor Lesie Malone of Harmony Sporthorses. Wellington suits Eclectisch so well that he has contested all 16 of his latest international tests there, last competing elsewhere in the Nations Cup™ at 2022 CHIO Aachen in Germany, where Pape is based.
Eclectisch was bought in November 2017. He is bred by the Andeweg family and is by Zenon, the Rousseau stallion that is owned by former British team rider Wayne Channon. The stallion disappeared from the scene when Channon moved from Belgium back to the U.K. Eclectisch was first scouted by Andreas Helgstrand at the 2012 AES Stallion Licensing and two years later sold to Sweden to Ericsbergs Sateri AB. With Ida-Linn Lundholm he won bronze at the 2014 Swedish Young Horse Championships and were 14th in the Finals for 7-year olds at the 2016 World Young Horse Championships.
Pape has two other horses to compete at the 2025 GDF: the 14-year-old Jazz mare Giulilanta, who has just one CDI grand prix under her belt, and the untested eight-year-old Shiraz (by Sezuan x San Remo), who Pape hopes to debut in the national classes.
“I’ve found that when I bring horses here for the season they learn so much in such a short period of time,” she said. “You have lots of space, the weather is great, you’re outside all the time and you spend more time with the horses. All the horses I’ve brought here over the years have improved so much in these three months.”
Young Rider Action
In the youth ranks, Kat Fuqua (USA) topped the Young Riders Individual test riding the 17-year-old Dreamgirl to 70.47%. In a field of just three competitors, Fuqua scored her second plus-70% win in as many days after heading up Friday’s Team test.
Fuqua, who is also 17, is the sole rider to move on to the freestyle on Sunday, which she xwon by 73.525%