Photo Report: The In Between Week with a National at 2025 Global Dressage Festival

--- Text & Photos © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion)  - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED / NO SCREEN SHOTS for social media

February is the most interesting month to visit the Global Dressage Forum: you get served 3 CDI's in one month's time and a weekend of national competition peppered on top. This week it's been a quiet, national intermezzo ahead of the final rush of the Nations Cup and Palm Beach Derby before going home to the cold. 

Side Shoot

With no horse inspection on Wednesday and CDI classes in full swing on Thursday, I had a little bit of free time on my hands and decided to do a good deed for my highly esteemed colleague and friend, Belgian top photographer Dirk Caremans, to shoot a jumping class on the gorgeous derby field. "Please get me some photos of Nicola Philippaerts will you please.... and maybe also his girlfriend Jessica Springsteen....and while you are at it also the other Belgians... or any Belgian warmblood horse?!". Okidoki!

Talent Spotting

The national classes start on Friday morning 8 AM sharp but already on Thursday you can see some riders train in the arenas. I try to make the most out of my time in Wellington and photograph as many combinations as possible, professionals, amateurs, it doesn't matter. They all go into the archive and are of use at any point in time.

In search of America's Got Talent, Quinn Iverson rode Billy Davidson's 10-year old Gremlin (by Grey Flanell w Donnerschwee) in the Test of Choice Inter A and scored a 71.324% on Friday. Sarah Newman Dubois' 11-year old British bred and AES registered Damaris S (by Don Frederic x Wynton) is a bit more old fashioned looking, but has plenty of quality in store. They did an Inter I for a 66.765% score. 

Jordan Laplaca's Gold Play (by Grey Flanell out of 2011 Bundeschampionate finalist Shangri La JS (by Sir Donnerhall  x Wolkenstein II) was probably one of the most exciting horses of the weekend with an amazing piaffe-passage but still lacking in self carriage and good back usage (often gets hollow).. but that's one to watch for sure. He won the Grand Prix on Saturday with 71.196%. The pair trains with Albrecht Heidemann.

I saw many cool and talented horses with a lot of promise for Grand Prix, but whose training is not yet fine-tuned, or the rider is developing his/her skills along the way. Under 25 rider Caroline Garren has a little pi-pa machine in the 15-year old Oldenburg Quantaris (by Quaterline x Sir Donnerhall), but the walk was this weekend, not surprisingly, underwhelming on this Q-line horse. The horse is owned by Oded Shimoni.

Touch of Europe

I keep an eye on horses that are purchased in Europe and begin a new life in the States under different riders. Have they progressed? How are they doing? How do they look? There were many familiar faces this weekend, including for instance 16-year old Eye Catcher (by Vivaldi x Partout) who had several European riders before such as Kirsten Brouwer, Emma Kanerva and Alexander Helgstrand before finding a forever home on American soil.  Coached by Susan Pape, Donja KWG (by For Romance x Samarant) gave her new owner and rider Denise Steele some small tour mileage. Her husband Ken rode Pape's former CDI horse Bourani (by Belissimo x Davignon). Callie O'Connell has a good successor for Eaton in the 8-year old Franky di Fonteabeti (by Franklin x Wynton)

Dutch born American Eliane Cordia-van Reesema presented a new horse, the home bred Quivive (by Sir Weihbach x Ravel), a fiesty bay gelding with a nice trot. British born Georgian-Estonian Joanne Vaughan rode her new horse, Laurens Vanderbeeken's former international GP horse Gamin van het Waterhof, bred in Belgium by Bjorn Vileyn, but KWPN registered (by Krack C x Lancet). She makes a nice pair on him.

Kimberly Herslow presented the Oldenburg bred Feymar OLD (by Furstenball x Weltmeyer) is a lovely open frame and topped the board in one of many Prix St Georges classes held throughout the weekend. Christian Simonson won one of those aboard Zen Elite's 10-year old Danish bred Guinness MT (by Grand Galaxy Win x Romanov). The bay has a beautiful, dappled coat and reminds a bit of the type of horses Simonson has been riding in the past (Zeaball, Son of a Lady): a bit long-backed, with plenty of knee action. Guinness MT did the job, but the changes were a bit of a challenge. The horse is bred by WBFSH president Jan Pedersen and sold to the USA through Helgstrand.

Building the Archive

There were plenty of schoolmasters out there. Two of Hope Cooper's former rides, 20-year old Hot Chocolate W (by Hochadel x Pik Senior) and 19-year old Flynn (by Falsterbo x Walt Disney, came out of retirement from top level sport to serve as professors for younger riders. Canadian Ella Johnston is learning from Tina Irwin's former GP horse Fancy That (by Donnerschwee x Freiherr).

The bummer of the weekend was of course Katie Duerhammer scratching Vividus QRE (by Zaladin M x Don Charly) from their Grand Prix debut ride on U.S. soil. Vividus was Cathrine Dufour's second GP horse alongside Freestyle, but she sold it to Kylee Lourie as a 2026 WEG team hopeful. 

Check out my selection of moments that caught my eye in the image gallery below. 

- 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

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