Apopka, FL – In only her second competition at the Grand Prix level with Wallenstein, Canada’s Nicole Shinton won both the Intermediaire II and the Grand Prix Special at the Snowbird’s Paradise Show dressage competition held January 29-31 in Apopka, FL.
Hot off her Grand Prix debut one week earlier at the CDI Gold Coast Opener competition in Wellington, FL, Shinton returned to the Grand Prix arena to win the Intermediaire II with a score of 66.579% as well as Sunday’s Grand Prix Special with 63.41%. Shinton and Wallenstein were named the overall FEI Champions at the Snowbird’s Paradise Show.
Shinton has only been partnered with Wallenstein since importing the 11-year old Swedish Warmblood gelding sired by Warsteiner in the fall. Even more impressive is the fact that Shinton’s scores at the Snowbird’s Paradise Show, combined with the two scores earned at the CDI Gold Coast Opener, earned her a Gold Medal from the United States Dressage Federation, given in recognition of competitive excellence.
Shinton also enjoyed great success with two other horses at the Snowbird’s Paradise Show. Riding GB Marko, her 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Shinton chose to do the Intermediaire I Freestyle on both Saturday and Sunday, winning on Saturday with a score of 64.75% and placing second on Sunday with 67.625%. Her new musical freestyle programme, featuring Queen and The Beatles, is light and upbeat, which suits GB Marko’s way of going.
With O-Topia, her former eventing mount, Shinton contested Fourth Level, winning on Saturday with a score of 63.256% and on Sunday with 64.88%. O-Topia is a 14-year-old selle francais gelding by Inferno that Shinton successfully competed up to the intermediate level in eventing before a rotational fall in 2007 caused her to focus strictly on dressage.
“I won five of the six classes that I competed in, and I was really concentrating on improving my scores from Saturday to Sunday with all three horses,” said Shinton, 36, of Uxbridge, ON. “My musical freestyle with GB Marko is brand new, so I decided to do it on both days in order to really get a feel for it. With Wallenstein, I chose to do the Grand Prix Special because I had never ridden it in competition before. And given that O-Topia is new to Fourth Level, I was really happy with him. He was such a star, and we ended up being named the Reserve Fourth Level Champions.”
Shinton, who is based in Florida during the winter months, will next compete at the CDI Wellington Classic Dressage Spring Challenge from February 12-14 in Wellington, FL.
A former eventing competitor, Shinton was named the 2004 Adult Amateur Intermediate Rider of the Year by the United States Eventing Association, a remarkable feat for a Canadian in such a highly competitive division. Shinton was also named to the 2005 Canadian Eventing Team Long List with two horses, Pamela and The Grey Pony, before a rotational fall in 2007 forced her to change her focus from eventing to dressage.
She and her husband, Alan Shinton, own Greenbrier Farms, a 160 acre eventing facility in Uxbridge, ON.
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