Hannigan Steps Closer To Her Goals At Wellington CDI-W

She hopes her scores will help her qualify for a grant to compete in Europe.

Jane Hannigan is riding toward one of her ultimate goals with her longtime partner Maksymilian: competing at the Aachen CHIO.

She got one step closer at the Winter Equestrian Festival Dressage Classic CDI-W, March 11-14 in Wellington, Fla., after she and “Mak” won the Grand Prix Special. Her score helped her into sixth place on the list of riders hoping to receive a grant for travel to Europe to compete in a CDI and then on to Aachen, Germany, for one of the biggest dressage competitions in the world.

In Wellington, Hannigan and Mak, her partner of nine years, received a 67.23 percent to win the Grand Prix for the Special qualifier over Karen Lipp and Latino. Hannigan went on to win the Grand Prix Special (68.08%), again over Lipp.

Although Hannigan, of Harvard, Mass., was originally entered in the Grand Prix freestyle, she changed to the Special when she was told she still needed a score to qualify for the grant.

“Jamie Irwin had to pull out,” Hannigan explained, “which is the only reason I got into the Special. I owe Jamie Irwin a big thank you. Otherwise, I couldn’t have gone to Aachen.”

Hannigan, who comes from a family of riders, started riding in Pony Club and did eventing and jumpers before focusing on dressage full time when she was 15. She rode with trainers from the Spanish Riding School for six years and said that she still reverts to their basics.

Mak came into Hannigan’s life nine years ago when he was doing third level classes and “couldn’t even do a single flying change very well,” Hannigan said with a laugh. “He kind of bolted. He’s come a long way, and he and I are like an old married couple at this point.”

Hannigan, a teaching professional, said dressage is her life 24/7. “I’m obsessed with trying to figure out and break down the system to the point where it actually makes sense,” she said.

She noted that changes in the new Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special tests have made things confusing.

Mak’s nickname is Zoolander, named after a male model in a movie who can only turn one way. Hannigan said with a smile, “He knows one test, one direction, one way. It’s really hard to switch tests. You get the new test and everything is reversed, like a mirror image. It’s really confusing for the horses. In the new Grand Prix, they put in a halt reinback at C, and in the Special, you have to passage at C. He kept trying to halt reinback for the whole passage. Mak doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore!”

Despite the confusion, Hannigan was proud of her old partner, a 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood by Elcaro. The pair competed at last year’s FEI World Cup Final in the Netherlands.