Last year, Canadian Ashley Holzer and Pop Art dominated the small tour during the winter dressage circuit in Florida. And at the Gold Coast Opener CDI***, they showed they’re ready to do the same at Grand Prix. Holzer and the flashy chestnut gelding won both the FEI Grand Prix freestyle and the Grand Prix CDI.

The Gold Coast Opener, West Palm Beach, Fla., was almost a no-show for this year after a December outbreak of EHV-1 caused barns to be quarantined and Florida shows to be cancelled, among them the Gold Coast Opener. It was originally scheduled for Jan. 26-28, and was to have been an important qualifying competition for the Pan American Games and the FEI World Cup Final.

The riders were very inter-ested in having the show rescheduled. The organizers of the event, members of the Gold Coast Dressage Association, already had a schooling show planned for the weekend of Feb. 17-18 and therefore had the show grounds reserved. As a result, the GCDA was able to use its schooling show dates to hold the rescheduled CDI at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center in West Palm Beach.

And despite some windy, chilly and wet weather, the show went off without a hitch, especially for Holzer and Pop Art. Their Grand Prix freestyle (76.05%) and Grand Prix (70.25%) scores were quite an accomplishment for a horse that just had his Grand Prix debut this last fall.

The 10-year-old Dutch gelding (by Amsterdam) won his very first Grand Prix freestyle at the Washington (D.C.) International Horse Show with a score of 72.56 percent. Holzer didn’t want to rest on those laurels, however.

“It was totally new music and a new choreography,” she said of the freestyle she performed at the Gold Coast Opener. “It was extremely different from what we did at the Washington International.”

And it’ll be changing again–not much, but it will be slightly revised before the pair compete again at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby on March 1-4. She’s already been working through some changes with her freestyle designer, Karen Robinson of Applause Dressage.

Pop Art is owned by Holzer, who lives in New York City, and her father, Ian Nicoll. “Special” is the word Holzer uses to describe the horse that she said has come into her life at just the right time.

“I’m at a stage in my life where I really appreciate the good ones. He’s very apprec-iated, and I think he knows it,” she said.


Off To A Good Start
Arlene Page knows what it’s like to treasure a gifted horse. She’s got a special relationship with Wild One, and the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding (by Wanderer) emerged from a long rest energized and ready to go.

Wild One and Page finished second in the Grand Prix freestyle with a score of 73.70 percent. The pair last performed their freestyle together in late summer at a CDI in Saugerties, N.Y. After winning there, Page gave Wild One some much-deserved time off.

“During our down time, I did a lot of homework and then regrouped,” she said.

One of the things she did was modify her freestyle to make it a bit more difficult because she believes that Wild One is now stronger and capable of doing more. She also reduced the number of transitions in her music after getting the sense that there were a few too many musical tastes to suit the judges.

In Friday’s Grand Prix CDI, Page and Wild One finished fourth with a score of 65.54 percent. She credits Lars Petersen and Klaus Balkenhol for helping her improve between Friday’s outing and Sunday’s Grand Prix freestyle.

“Their advice was to have the half-halts come more quickly and be released more quickly–letting the horse be freer in the movements,” Page said.

Another pair that drew a lot of attention over the course of the competition were Courtney King and Mythilus, winners of the Intermediaire I CDI with a score of 73.55 percent and the Prix St. Georges CDI with a score of 70.50 percent.

Mythilus is a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (by Ferro) owned by Richard Malloch. King said he’s been a difficult ride at times because he’s so strong. Because Mythilus has run through her hands a few times, King said she tended to ride him rather conservatively in the past.

“It’s taken awhile to develop a relationship with him and to feel that he’ll let me ride him,” she said. “But we’re more together now and we have a more concrete relationship, and I feel now that I can go for it more.”

King has only shown Mythilus twice. The first time was at the Cosequin Wellington Dressage (Fla.) the week before, where the pair won the Intermediaire I. She believes the good experience of that show helped boost Mythilus’ confidence and made him even better at the Gold Coast Opener.

“I’m so happy. I really felt like I was able to take the judges comments from the Prix St. Georges and put them in play and therefore take more risks, especially in the extensions,” King said.

King and Mythilus are aiming for a spot on the U.S. team for the Pan American Games, and with two successful shows in a row, they’re off to a good start. But King is cautious when talking about their chances. “There are many good combinations going for a spot on the team, so it’s not in the bag,” King said.


International Goals
Among young riders, 18-year-old Jocelyn Wiese added to her wins over the weekend. The veteran dressage competitor rode Lamborghini to first place in the FEI Young Rider Prix St. Georges (69.85%), the FEI Young Rider Team Test (68.88%) and the FEI Young Rider freestyle (70.85%).

“Pretty psyched” is how the teenager described her feelings about her wins. This is the third season showing for Wiese and Lamborghini (by Michellino), whom Wiese calls “Zoom.”

And while Lamborghini is schooling Grand Prix, Wiese said it will be some time before he moves up to that level. The pair might compete at Intermediaire in the fall, but more likely will wait until next winter.

Wiese trains with Pam Goodrich, from whom she bought Lamborghini. Although a native of New Hampshire, Wiese is now a Florida transplant. She arrived last August to attend Lynn University in Boca Raton. Despite her young age, Wiese is a well-known competitor, especially in her native Northeast. In her early teen years she was a familiar face in the winner’s circle with her partner Chopin. She and Lamborghini helped the Region 3 team earn bronze at the 2006 CN North American Junior and Young Riders Championships (Va.).

Cesar Parra drew some attention at the lower levels after riding Donavan to the show’s high score, a 77.22 percent in first level, test 2. Earning high score honors is becoming a habit for the 5-year-old Oldenburg that is co-owned and ridden by Parra.

“The horse is unbelievable,” Parra said. “He’s shown five times and he’s won each time. Four of those times he was the high score of the show.”

Donavan (by Diamond Hit) was a cham-pion before he even set foot in the United States. He won the 5-year-old division at last year’s Budeschampionate (German Federal Young Horse Championships).

“This guy is really, really special,” Parra said. “He’s got this really special movement and he’s the kindest horse I’ve ever ridden in my life. Last week at Wellington we were 27 minutes away from the warm-up ring. You can imagine what you encounter at Wellington when you’ve got a 20-minute walk across the show grounds–bolting horses, trucks, golf carts, motorcycles, people, everything. And the guy just walks like a soldier to the test.”

Parra, who is working on getting his U.S. citizenship, has hopes of one day riding Donavan on a U.S. dressage team. “We’re trying our very best. My dream is to be on the winning American team, and I know the only way to do it is through hard work and riding well. It’s a long way, but we’re planning to work really, really hard,” he said.

In the near future, Parra hopes to compete Donavan in the Young Horse Championships and if he makes it, the horse will represent the United States. Donavan has a U.S. passport, and that’s what matters for the Young Horse Championships.

Since his separation with former owners Horses Unlimited, Parra has focused his attention on his own horses, and along with Donavan, which is still co-owned with Anne Whitten of Horses Unlimited, Parra has been busy training and competing his Prix St. Georges horse, Furst Fabio.


Lyndee Kemmet