Wellington, Fla.—Feb. 12   

“I’m sitting here in the middle, and these guys are next to me! I like that,” said Mikala Gundersen as she sat down between Lars Petersen and Steffen Peters for the press conference for the CDI***** Grand Prix freestyle at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival.

Gundersen saved the best for last, as she and My Lady won the class with a 79.07 percent in front of a packed crowd under the lights.

Petersen, who won last year’s CDI***** freestyle, and Peters, who placed second last year, were somewhat disappointed in their rides, finishing second (76.60%) and third (76.42%), respectively.

“I had a really cool ride tonight,” said Gundersen. “ ‘Lady’ was already very good yesterday [in the Grand Prix, where they finished fourth,] and I planned to push a little bit more today and see if I could put her a little bit higher and a little bit more up in the neck.”

Gundersen and Janne Rumbough’s 16-year-old Danish Warmblood know each other very well, so well in fact that Lady decided she knew when it was time to go down centerline.

Mikala Gundersen and My Lady. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

“I came in, and when the music was supposed to start, it didn’t start,” she said. “So I had to make a little circle, and then the music started, and I tried to finish my circle, and Lady’s like, ‘No, no, no, wrong way.’ And she went for the centerline, and I’m like, ‘Holy moly!’ She was starting to canter, but then she hit the centerline and went into passage, like, ‘I got this, don’t worry.’ She knows her test very well.”

Gundersen said she tries to keep her cool for the Friday night freestyle at AGDF, even when the stands are packed and the crowd is five-deep at the rail.

“I don’t see them,” she said. “I noticed today when I came in tonight that there was a lot of cars, but when I ride late, I usually go home and rest, then I come just before my ride. I don’t really watch before. I just want to be able to stay calm and focused. That for me is the best preparation.

“I had no idea how many people were here, but at the end, I really felt it on the way out,” she continued. “That was the biggest applause we ever had. I know the music is really fun, and it gets people out of the chairs. I think going last with that music was a little bit, ‘OK, let’s finish this party!’ ”

Petersen had only shown Mariett, an 18-year-old Danish Warmblood mare owned by Marcia Pepper, once since last April’s FEI World Cup Final in Las Vegas, and he said he was still getting back into it.

Lars Petersen and Mariett. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

“I was pretty happy,” he said. “I showed the last CDI, but otherwise I didn’t show since April of last year, so I had a little bit of a hard time finding a rhythm, I must admit. The Grand Prix was not so good. Today I got a little better rhythm. I just felt a little rusty.”

Peters, a favorite to win every time he heads down centerline, knew from his warm-up on Four Winds Farm’s Legolas that it would be a tough ride.

The 14-year-old Westphalian gelding can get tense, especially with crowds and music.

“He started out in rising trot perfectly fine, then things started building from there. There’s usually not a whole lot I can do—canter him a little bit lower in his neck, getting him to stretch, getting him to stretch in trot. That’s how I came into the arena, hoping he would settle down. In Toronto [at the Pan American Games] he did. It can work that he settles down within a minute, but tonight that wasn’t the case,” he said. “I was sitting on not just one stick of dynamite, but a whole case of dynamite underneath me. That’s him. It can go absolutely brilliantly like it did two weeks ago when he’s relaxed, and I felt it already today in the warm-up that he was pretty keyed up. It’s of course disappointing, but we’ve dug ourselves out of this spot before, and we’ll try to do that in the future.”

Marienau Makes Her Mark

Beatrice Marienau was breathless as she sat down in the press conference after winning the CDI*** Grand Prix freestyle with Stefano 8 with a 74.30 percent.

“It’s still unreal. I can’t believe it. I think it takes a lot to really understand what happens here. It’s amazing,” she said.

Originally from Germany, Marienau calls Steamboat Springs, Colo., home, but she has been based with Lilo Fore in California for the past year. She’s spending her first winter in Florida with her own 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding.

“My expectations were that I come out here to get more show experience. They have super shows on the West Coast too, but here there are obviously so many more riders, the audience is there, so for me, it was important to get that different environment and see how I would do with that kind of pressure,” she explained. “Lilo suggested going out and seeing if we could increase the scores slowly, and move into the higher 60s, maybe up to the 70s. That’s why I’m so blown away when I heard that score! Crazy.”

Marienau described Stefano, whom she’s had for almost four years, as pretty hot, so it’s all about keeping him focused. Her freestyle featured music from the movie Burlesque and an instrumental version of Pink’s “Just Give Me A Reason.”

Beatrice Marienau and Stefano 8. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

“He was really hot already in the warm-up, so I had to figure out how I channel his energy into the right direction,” she said. “He was really strong out there. The last couple of freestyles I had problems in the beginning in the halt that he wanted to run backwards. He didn’t do that today, but he came out really strong. I was able to take his energy and let him really dance within the energy.

“I had this little hiccup in my two-time changes, and luckily I have a safety line, so I could repeat them,” she added. “Through the whole test, I just knew he was very strong, but I also know that it makes him extremely special. That’s what makes him look electric; that’s when he looks big and impressive. I was able to just let him do his job and stay a little bit out of his way.”

Shelly Francis and Danilo finished in second with a 74.17 percent. Despite a couple of “sticky spots in the beginning” and a loss of energy in the last piaffes, Francis was happy with her ride.

Her music was quite unusual, with acapella singing throughout the entire test.

“It’s definitely very different,” she admitted. “I chose that music for him because he is very sensitive if there’s a lot of booming in the music. Some music just sets him off like he’s crazed. This was the only stuff we came up with where I can turn it up pretty loud, and he isn’t afraid of it. I might change it to make the piaffe music at the end a little livelier, but we’ll see.”

Shelly Francis and Danilo. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Arlene “Tuny” Page finished third with her longtime partner Alina. Now 18, the mare just wants to keep going, according to Page.

“Two weeks ago we had just a super freestyle here, but I had a couple mishaps in the changes. Tonight I was really pleased that the changes were good. I was just a tiny, tiny bit ahead of my music, but I’m happy. Any day that mare wants to go like that is a good day for me,” she said. “Let’s face it, my mare’s 18. Every time I go down centerline is a high point as far as I’m concerned. Every time she finishes that test and she’s just ripping down centerline, I’m like, ‘OK, she still wants to be out here doing it.’ Every day I get to ride her is a great day.”

For full results, click here.