--- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)
Twenty Grand Prix riders are entered in two big tour classes at the CDI-W Wellington on Thursday 6 February 2025 during week five of the 2025 Global Dressage Festival in Florida. A nice mix of amateur and professional riders, of experienced horses and younger talent presented itself.
After having seen all twenty rides the main conclusion was that achieving self carriage is a difficult task, as all dressage aficionados know. It's a truism, but with self carriage comes better a connection with the bridle and should result in the coveted image of harmony. Contact issues and length in frame were the challenges of the days and kept the really high scores off the board. The pros relied on their skill and reputation to crack the 70% marker today.
Lyle Aiming for Basel
In this "non-year" for North American riders, Basel is the only target of the season with grand appeal. U.S. Olympian Adrienne Lyle has clearly set her sights on riding in her second World Cup Final after finishing 7th in her first on Salvino in 2019. Lyle is almost one year into her partnership with 13-year old KWPN gelding Helix (by Apache x Jazz) and while all the Grand Prix movements are well established, consistency and length in the frame that have been her major working points. In order to control the feet and body more, the length in the neck often gets compromised and Helix gives off that hackney horse silhouette when he gets tight and tense.
In today's Grand Prix there were a few polish issues, starting with the halt at entry not fully on four feet and the collected trot almost getting passagy. The half passes were lovely although she switched early before the marker, not touching the track. He was not immobile in the halt for reinback and in the trot extensions there is plenty of energy and willingness, but a true lengthening of frame and stride barely happens. The passage was lovely as well as the first piaffe. In the extended walk he achieved enough overtrack but was not given plenty of rein to stretch the neck. In the canter work the horse got in a 4-beat rhythm at times, indicating he is not in true self carriage. One change was short behind in the two's, the one went smoothly. When he's tight in the neck, Helix dares to show tongue on the right, or even slightly stick it out in front but this happened at the short side at A, far from the judges. Helix can certainly execute small, sitting pirouettes but in the left one he lost some balance. The final centerline was very well ridden with plenty of energy and good rhythm as seen from behind.
“He’s feeling great,” enthused Lyle. “I am super excited about the work we’ve been getting at home and the trajectory Helix is on. We had some good piaffe and passage work today, and the changes felt nice. I did have a bit less horse than I was expecting though because of the heat; this is quite a temperature change from a week ago.”
“He schools about three days a week, does a lot of hacking out and a little work on the track,” said Lyle. “We try to keep him physically and mentally in a good place while continuing to be super picky on the details, including the balance and gaining strength. Tomorrow will be our second time riding at night under the lights, so I’m hoping that given that he was more relaxed in the grand prix today, that will carry over until tomorrow,” she added. "I want to give him a good experience and make it something that he looks forward to when he goes in there.”
Routinier Marek
Marek and Fayvel travelled down from Ocala, Florida, and showcased their experience at Grand Prix level. Marek rode high energy trot extensions, good regular passage work but in the first piaffe he was back-stepping a bit. The liver chestnut could have marched more in the extended walk. The canter work was very smooth and easy-going with an uphill extended canter, good two tempi changes and small pirouettes. While the contact with the bridle was very steady with Marek having quiet hands, the excessive use of fluff/sugar is not appealing to the overall image. They finished with a strong final centerline with smooth transitions. The individual judges scored her between 70.652% and 73.152%
German Presence
Eger brought three top horses to Florida: Grand Prix horses Tabledance and Gossip girl and powerhouse small tour horse Global Power. She saddled the 12-year old Oldenburg mare Tabledance (by Totilas x Rimini) for the Grand Prix for freestyle and finished third with 69.609%. The mare has bulked in muscle and looked more secure in the movements. Still the contact could be lighter overall. One of the highlights in her test was the second extended trot and the overall nice passage. There was good relaxation in the extended walk, but in the collected the mare paced. A mistake in the ones kept them from cracking the 70% marker. Earlier in the day Eger won the Prix St Georges aboard her 2024 WCYH finalist Global Power (by Grey Flanell).
Observations
The total opposite, the happiest campers of the day, was amateur P.J. Rizvi, who made her come back to the international show ring after a 6-year break. She got herself a "fun horse," the 14-year old Lusitano Guarana do Sobral (by Violino do Retiro x Violino SS) previously shown by Spaniard Pedro Hernandez Triviño. She renamed him Vanilla Ice. This small, chunky grey Lusitano is a little machine with a super piaffe-passage and he wilfully does the job for his rider. They posted 68.326%.
Karen Lipp and her Developing Horse championship alumni Infinity, a 12-year old KWPN by Dream Boy x Freestyle, placed sixth with 67.044%. The black lacked parallelity in the half passes with the hindquarters trailing, but executed good pirouettes. Overall the horse needs to gain more uphill tendency in the movements. In piaffe he does not sit behind but gets wide in front at this point in his training.
Devon Kane's 13-year old Westfalian gelding Vamos (by Vivaldi x Insterburg) makes a lovely match with his rider. The tall, long legged chestnnut is a very elegant mover and his hindleg is hyper-engaged in the canter work which at times led to a rather stiff back and compromised 3-beat rhythm in the striding. Today the horse was quite tense and distracted in the arena which resulted in a few breaks in the rhythm. Nevertheless the half pass right was outstanding, the passage is super elegant and lightfooted, but he piaffed on the forehand and Kane could not get him in a good self-carriage and light contact in the test today. There is more in the tank. They tabled 65.565%
Hyatt Handles the Heat
The mare is very energetic and high energy, often given more than needed. She appears light in the contact, but could seek the bit a bit more. The excessive amount of fluff/sugar does not look very pretty. The highlight of the test was for sure the first piaffe-passage in which she showed real engagement, airtime and activity. The second piaffe was good in rhythm but more on the forehand. Ghere was a mistake in the one tempi's and the score ticked to 71.348%. Judges Joyce van Rooijen-Heuitink, Mariette Sanders-van Gansewinkel, Stephen Clarke, Debbie Rodriguez, and Knut Danzberg were not in unison with marks going from 68.152% to 73.043%
“Because she has had some time off from showing I wasn’t sure how she would react today,” Vilhelmson Silfvén stated. “The warmer, quiet weather was positive for me because I didn’t need more power—I’m happy I didn’t do the last show when it was cold. I was a bit insecure about how to warm up, how much power I wanted and how she would react when she came in, but she was good. My goal was to stay relaxed and keep her happy, with positive energy and no mistakes. We’ve been out training at lots of other arenas and over half a year she has matured. She’s maybe a bit rusty in the ring, but she feels even better than last year."
The Young Pros
Under 25 rider gone senior Erin Nichols (21) presented a different picture: a quiet seat, quiet hands, all very soft and light, but this then led to a little lack of engagement and collection from behind in her 16-year old KWPN gelding Elian Royale (by Johnson x Amidou), particularly in the trot. The half passes were lovely though and the first piaffe was very sweet. They posted 67.848%.
The 25-year old Benjamin Ebeling took over the ride on Ann Romney's 15-year old Hanoverian mare Bellena (by Belissimo M x Welser), which was previously shown by his father Jan. The chestnut mare had a 10-month break from international showing and now returned with Ben in the saddle. The pair needs more time to gel as quite a bit of errors crept into the test (zig zag, ones, loss of rhythm in the trot extensions) but the trot half passes were lovely and the first piaffe showed promise. They scored 66.587%
- Text © Eurodressage - Photos © Astrid Appels - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED / NO SCREEN SHOTS for social media
If interested in photos, please send me an email. Florida rates apply for this horse show as our colleague Sue Stickle is the official photographer
Related Links
Scores: 2025 CDI-W Wellington
Mid-Way Check-Up at the 2025 Global Dressage Festival: Come Out, Come Out Where Ever You Are
