Wellington, Fla.—March 23
On the opening day of the CDIO U25 Nations Cup week at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, Mathilde Blais Tetreault and Utah finished solidly in the middle of the pack individually.
That was about what the young Canadian rider had expected. Her partnership with Utah was just four months in the making, and she was up against hard-hitting longtime pairs like Spain’s Juan Matute Guimon and Don Diego Ymas and U.S. rider Anna Buffini and Sundayboy.
But on Day 2, when all was said and done, Tetreault found herself standing on top of the podium after the U25 Grand Prix with a gold medal around her neck, winning on a 68.27 percent.
“It’s a great feeling—I didn’t really expect it coming here,” Tetreault said. “It’s such a new combination, my horse and I, so I’m really, really happy that we progressed so fast.”
Tetreault saw Utah in Holland over the summer when she was training with Chris von Martels.
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“I was not looking for a new horse,” Tetreault said. “I tried him and I really liked him. He was trained by Leida Collins-Strijk and he competed at the [2016 European U25 Championships where the Dutch team won silver] with Danielle Houtvast, so he’s very experienced. I’m the rookie!”
Tetreault has been working to build a relationship with the gelding all throughout the winter season at the AGDF.
“I’m so proud of Mathilde, I mean if you had seen her from Week 1 fighting and scratching every single week with that horse,” second place finisher Anna Buffini said. “They’re such a new combination and to come out on top, I’m so proud of her.”
Buffini didn’t have as smooth a test on Sundayboy as she did yesterday in the U25 team event—a couple of errors in the canter work resulted in a 68.09 percent, a few points lower than Wednesday’s score. One would assume the weather might account for part of the issues, as rain rolled in right as Buffini started her test and kept up steadily throughout her ride, but Buffini said she doesn’t think that affected the horse, at least not negatively.
“Sunday seems to like the rain. In 2014 when he won Young Riders it was pouring rain, you couldn’t see the ring it was so wet,” Buffini said with a laugh. “Our warm-up was a tad rushed today, but thankfully he knows his job and did well.”
Third place went to U.S. rider Molly Paris aboard her mare Countess. Paris and Countess had some of the best piaffe work of the day, which is the movement that knocked Matute Guimon and Don Diego Ymas out of it when they stalled out twice.
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“We have here the three riders who did the best piaffe and passage,” said the judge at C, Evi Eisenhardt. “Sure, there were some small mistakes, but I think it was really, really high level we saw today. I was judging last year the Europeons at the U25 level, and I think this is close to them.”
Paris was thrilled with her mare’s efforts to clinch the bronze medal and a spot on the podium.
“Today was extremely awesome; my mare is awesome. She comes out every day 100 percent willing to do it all,” Paris said. “I’ve only had her for a year and we’ve just been getting better and better every day. I couldn’t be more happy with her.”
The U25 CDIO*** will conclude on Friday with the freestyle tests.
Click here for full results, and check back with the Chronicle for more from the CDIO*** Nations Cup Week at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival and make sure read more in-depth coverage in the April 17 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse!
2017 ADGF CDIO U25 Grand Prix
Ann Glavan / March 23, 2017 8:07 pm