Dressage Festival of Champions

This Robert Dover protégé proves she can hold her own in good company.

Katherine Bateson-Chandler knew winning the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Intermediaire I Championship wouldn’t be easy. A stellar class of small tour horses traded places all winter in Florida, and anyone could have emerged the champion.

But Bateson-Chandler peaked Dea II at the right moment, and despite steady rain throughout the competition, she captured her first national title at the Dressage Festival Of Champions, held June 18-21 in Gladstone, N.J.

The Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions has been Kassandra Barteau and Gabriella’s stage for the past two years. While Gabriella didn’t reclaim her starring role in this year’s competition, Barteau had a well-qualified understudy, GP Raymeister, waiting in the wings, and when the final curtain fell they rode away with Barteau’s third consecutive young rider championship.

 

“He’s wonderful,” said Barteau, Maple Park, Ill. “He’s absolutely, totally opposite from ‘Gabby,’ but he’s a wonderful learning experience and a fabulous horse.”

Jocelyn Wiese and Lamborghini proved that you don’t have to win to become a champion.

Despite a fourth-placed finish in the young rider Grand Prix test on Saturday, their high score in the Brentina Cup test (66.41%) left them wearing the championship cooler.

“The [young rider Grand Prix test] is much more difficult for me than the Brentina Cup test,” said Wiese, Keene, N.H. “It was a really good effort from my horse and myself. There were a couple little mistakes that I wish I hadn’t had, but it wasn’t the end of the world. We were still able to recover and come out on top.”

This weekend’s wet weather trend continued today, leading to a decision by the members of the ground jury to cancel the Grand Prix Special and Intermediaire I freestyle classes at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions.

Kassandra Barteau knew how to win a young rider championship before she entered the ring on GP Raymeister, and when she exited with a 72.38 percent she added a third consecutive title to her resume of accomplishments.
   
“I’m really proud of Ray,” she said of the young stallion. “He was super today. I felt like the whole test flowed together nicely. He was a little timid about some of the puddles, so I rode him carefully through it, but even with the conditions he was super.”
   

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

I’ve been sitting here at the computer for a good 10 minutes trying to start this blog entry, and that really sums it up rather tidily! Because we won the Young Rider Grand Prix today!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

OK, calming down now. A little. The rain held off long enough for me to hop on Cleo this morning, and I made it very clear to her: if you don’t feel 110%, we’re not doing this. Tacked her up, let her tool around at the walk, picked up the reins and put my leg on. She tucked her neck, shook her head and launched.

Yep! You’re fine!

A high score from the first leg of the Brentina Cup Championship worked in Jocelyn Wiese’s favor today, June 20. It was just enough to give her the championship with Lamborghini, even though her ride in the young rider Grand Prix only placed fourth (64.32%).

The two scores are averaged, and Wiese’s 66.41 percent from the Brentina Cup test put her ahead of Alyssa Eidbo and Johnny Cash. Consistency worked in Eidbo’s favor, as she placed fourth on Day 1 (64.97%) and third today (64.41%).

Adrienne Lyle spent her morning splashing in puddles with Wizard, and that paid off in spades for her when she swam to the top of the leaderboard in the Grand Prix freestyle (74.95%) on a wet and sloppy Saturday night, June 20, at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Grand Prix Championship.

Lyle, who won last year’s Brentina Cup, just edged out yesterday’s Grand Prix winner Leslie Morse on Tip Top 962 (74.25%) and Lauren Sammis on Sagacious HF (72.45%).

At 10:30 Thursday night, just as I was tucking into bed, my phone rang. It was the nighttime stable watch, and they thought Cleo was looking a little under the weather. Could I please come back to the barn? Throw on some jeans and out the door I go.

When I arrive barely 25 minutes later, Cleo is in full colic mode, a very unhappy camper. The vet arrives, makes her comfortable, and upon palpation discovers that her left ovary is, to be specific, the size of Texas. She’s ovulating something the size of a Mack truck, and clearly her body was none-too-thrilled about it.

The Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions is a familiar haunt for Leslie Morse and Tip Top 962, but now they can add a blue ribbon to their collection of rosettes from the National Grand Prix Championships.
   
Last to go in today’s Grand Prix test on June 19, the veteran pair laid down a solid and correct performance to clinch the win with 72.00 percent.