Tryon Fall Dressage 2 CDI 3* and CPEDI 3* presented by Adequan® concluded Sunday at Tryon International Equestrian Center, wrapping up three days of international and national Dressage competition at the venue that simultaneously hosted the Adequan®/USEF Para Dressage National Championship. In CDI 3* competition, Karen Lipp (USA) rode to a win in Saturday’s FEI Grand Prix Freestyle CDI 3* with Whitney, while Katherine Bateson Chandler (USA) and Alcazar claimed their second FEI CDI 3* win Sunday with a 70.341% in the FEI Grand Prix Special CDI 3*. Roxanne Trunnell and Dolton secured the Adequan®/USEF Para Dressage National Championship title with a final cumulative score of 75.247%, and David Botana was named National Reserve Champion following his efforts riding Lord Locksley to a cumulative score of 74.318%.
“It feels really good [to win a National Championship], Trunnell shared. “I haven’t been with Dolton for very long. [Our] partnership is really forming.” Trunnell also relayed that one of the highlights of her tests with Dolton was “just how consistent he was. Always marching!”
Trunnell scored a 79.333% in the FEI CPEDI 3* Freestyle Grade I, earning the highest score of the weekend with the 2012 Hanoverian gelding (Danone I x Unknown) owned by Flintwood Farm LLC. “Our Freestyle music is from ‘Forrest Gump’ – it’s adorable!”
While Trunnell is hoping to be named to Team USA for the Tokyo Paralympics, she reflected that accuracy is a big focus, and that gaining experience at TIEC is a great environment to prepare for atmosphere and stiff competition going forward. “[Going forward we’ll do] just a lot of training, and working on accuracy with geometry. I think the bigger venue and more competition is more realistic of what we’ll get [in Tokyo], so it helps us mentally.”
Botana shared that his weekend with the 2001 Trakehner stallion (Unkenruf x Lida x Enrico Caruso) owned by Margaret L. Stevens, Lord Locksley, had been an “amazing” culmination of hard work over the summer: “We’ve worked all summer and learned a lot. We practiced the halt, bending, and improving precision, plus overall harmony. I think it all really came together this weekend. I think we were able to pull off some really improved balance in our turns, and stayed constant throughout the weekend with high scores. It’s been amazing; everything kind of came together, from working with my trainer and meeting to go over our test before each ride, and taking the judges comments and what I felt during each ride to transition on to the next test. [That 75] was amazing. We had a perfect ride, and it all came together.”
Botana and the big grey stallion have made strides towards harmony and Lord Locksley knows his job well despite a serious career change, Botana explained. “It’s a big transition from being a Grand Prix International stallion to being in Para Dressage Grade I, and he’s taken beautifully to it. It took us a while to get into a groove,” Botana recalled, “but now we’re in a perfect balance. He knows that as soon as I put my foot in the stirrup, we’re going to walk, and that’s it. There can be a million things going on, and he won’t bat an eye. But the second I get off and step a foot away, he’ll be back to his regular big stallion self!”
Katherine Bateson Chandler Wins FEI Grand Prix Special CDI 3* at TIEC
Chandler and the 2005 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Cantango x Polina x Ferro) owned by Jane Forbes Clark repeated their Friday win in the FEI Grand Prix CDI 3* with the top score in Sunday’s FEI Grand Prix Special CDI 3*, but Alcazar was “a bit more with me today,” she explained. “I’m a little happier with this ride, because he’s another two days down the road of being in the heat, and sort of it’s been a little tough for him. He came off a lot of atmosphere in Europe, so now he’s a little like, ‘what happened to everybody?’ This has been an amazing show and he felt a bit more with me today.”
The pair have had a busy summer and Alcazar is ready for a break, Chandler relayed, but spent their last competition before a holiday making the most of their stay. “It’s an amazing venue. This is truly a world-class venue with beautiful stabling, which always really matters to us. We’ve got fans in the stalls, which really helps with the heat.”
Chandler concluded, “The footing here is perfect, and the staff has been great. We stayed in one of the cabins here, so that was really fun. We just brought our bikes and didn’t have to worry about driving back and forth, and always had a place to eat every night, so you can’t beat that!”
Karen Lipp and Whitney Win the Grand Prix Freestyle CDI 3*
Karen Lipp and Whitney travelled down centerline to win the blue rosette in Saturday’s Grand Prix Freestyle CDI 3* with a score of 61.185%. Lipp shared that she has been working with Whitney, a 2005 Hanoverian mare (White Star x Hauptstutbuch Grace) owned by Kathleen Oldford, since she was four years old and has brought her through all of the young horse programs: “We did the four, five, and six-year-old programs. Her owner rode her a little bit and then decided to sell her, and then she didn’t like that idea, so she said, ‘You keep her and ride her.’ I’ve been showing her in the Grand Prix now for about two and a half years.
“I didn’t really have a quality horse to show in CDI for a year, so it’s been nice to have Whitney go the CDI ring because it was a long break for me out of the ring, and it’s a lot different than riding in normal shows.”
Lipp is no stranger to showing at TIEC and shared that her barn “comes to almost every single show here.” She continued, “We always get a cabin onsite. It’s so nice that you can literally pull up, park your truck and trailer, and never leave. We love that part. The footing is exceptional, and the management here is always great. We like it a lot!”
CPEDI 3* Freestyle Highlights:
Lee Garrod (CAN) claimed the FEI CPEDI 3* Freestyle Grade V, scoring a 69.542% riding her own Question, the 2008 Oldenburg gelding (Quaterback x Evita). In second, Cayla Van Der Walt (RSA) and Daturo II, her and Christine Heathman’s 2006 Andalusian gelding (Merlito XI x Daturna x Pestillo), earned a score of 67.600%.
Kate Shoemaker (USA) and her, Craig & Deena Shoemaker’s Solitaer 40 presented an FEI CPEDI 3* Freestyle Grade IV for a score of 75.917%, earning another blue aboard the 2007 Hanoverian gelding (Sandro hit x Dynastie x De niro).
Rebecca Hart (USA) scored a 69.556% to claim FEI CPEDI 3* Freestyle Grade III competition, riding her own El Corona Texel, the 2009 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Wynton x Urieta Texel x Goodtimes) owned by Rowan O’Riley. Canada’s Lauren Barwick and her and Brenda Ladd’s Engelbrecht, a 2009 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Vivaldi x Regina x Rimini), produced a score of 61.167% to receive second, while Meghan Benge (USA) and Worth The Trip claimed third, combining with her own 1998 Welsh Cross gelding by Anjershaf rocky to receive a score of 68.944%.
Canada claimed the top two spots in the FEI CPEDI 3* Freestyle Grade II competition, with Sharon Buffitt and Elektra II, her self-owned 2005 Canadian Warmblood mare (Radjah Z x Nikita x Rastar), riding to a score of 69.667% for the win. Jason Surnoski (CAN) and Phoenix, Cynthia Nugent’s 1999 Westphalian gelding, earned second on a score of 69.056%, while Erika Baitenmann Haakh (MEX) rode Fite to a score of 68.556% to receive third with her 2008 gelding.
Americans took the top four spots in the FEI CPEDI 3* Freestyle Grade I, with Trunnell in first on a score of 79.333% and Botana in second with a 74.444%. Marie Vonderheyden aboard London Swing, the 2002 Hanoverian gelding (Londonberry x Riabana x Rubensein) owned by Eleanor Brimmer, placed third, while Sydney Collier rode Going For Gold LLC’s All In One, the 2009 Hanoverian gelding (Abanos x Dauphin) to fourth place.
For full results from CDI 3* and CPEDI 3* competition, click here.
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