Canadians-At-Large: Driving and Para-Dressage Wrapup

Kelly Houtappels-Bruder Opens 2022 Season with 1st-Place Finish

Canadian Kelly Houtappels-Bruder of Ariss, ON, now a resident of Steensel, NED, drove her way to first overall in the CAI 3* Horse Single Division at the FEI Driving Competition – Sélestat 2022 event held from April 20-24, 2022 in the northeastern region of France.

Making their season debut, Houtappels-Bruder and her partner Flip (Fidertanz x Carprilli), a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding, whom she co-owns with husband Frank Houtappels, finished first overall, out of 23 competitors representing seven nations.

For the dressage phase, Houtappels-Bruder performed well setting a personal best and topping the field with a score of 75.70 and only 38.92 penalty points. After the duo’s strong start in the dressage, Houtappels-Bruder drove a solid marathon with her groom Meike Paridaans, in an extremely hard combination of clay and gravel, managing around the course smoothly, and finished in seventh place with 82.07.

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“Flip can be quite unpredictable for the first couple shows, but we managed to keep him focused. All the work we put in over the winter building strength and expression really paid off and made up for a few small mistakes in the test,” said Houtappels-Bruder.

The athlete-and-horse combination ran a clear technical cones course, recording just .53 penalty points and finishing the phase in third place. “The cones were held after a day of rain, causing the course to be soggy and deep,” said Houtappels-Bruder. But, even so, once the scores were all tallied from the three phases, the pair found themselves atop the podium in the Single Horse division.

The winners are off next to Greven, Germany for a 3* in May, and aiming for the World Championships in Le Pin-au-Haras, France in September.

More information on the event here.

Bert Sheffield and Fairuza Continue European Tour

Canada’s Roberta Sheffield continued her European Tour with her second stop at the CPEDI3* in Waregem, Belgium held from April 21 – 24, 2022.

Bert and Wonky with their support crew. (Silke Rottermann photo)

Sheffield, who is based in Lincolnshire, England, and Fairuza, her 13-year-old bay Gelderlander mare, competed in the Grade III division beginning the FEI three-day event with a 71.206% in the Team Test for second place. On Saturday, the duo finished in fourth place in the FEI Individual Test with a score of 70.059%.

“We started strong with a second-place finish behind World Champion Rixt van der Horst; Fairuza felt fantastic,” said Sheffield. “On the second day, we stepped up the power, but some little mistakes were made in this very tightly bunched class.”

In Sunday’s FEI Freestyle competition, the pair executed required movements choreographed to the music Sun and Stars arranged by Avery Maude Dressage for a score of 71.100%. The Netherlands Rixt van der Horst and Eisma’s Akuna Matata won all three tests in the division.

Sheffield and her team aim to wrap up their European tour at the at CPEDI3* Mannheim, Germany, from May 2 to 5, 2022. “We are back at base in Dressurstall Volker Eubel in Cologne, where Clive Milkins will be joining us, as our team gains valuable experiences as we work towards team selection for the FEI World Championships in Herning.”

For information on the CPEDI 3* in Waregem, please click here.