Canadian dressage and para-dressage athletes made their presence felt down south with strong showings during the third week of competition at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, held Jan. 22-26, 2020, in Wellington, FL.
Lauren Barwick, a resident of Reddick, FL, made two trips to the CPEDI 3* Grade III winner’s circle with Lee Garrod’s Sandrino – a feat made doubly impressive considering the Canadian Paralympian has only had the ride on the eight-year-old gelding since the end of November 2019. On Jan. 22, Barwick and Sandrino started strong with 69.461% for first in the Team Test. A score of 69.412% put them in third for Jan. 24’s Individual Test, but they were back on top the next day in the Freestyle with their highest score yet, 75.133%.
“I am very pleased with what we were able to accomplish in a short period of time,” said Barwick of her success with Sandrino. “I am optimistically looking forward to the next few months leading into our next international shows. I have a super group of people behind me supporting this horse and rider combination.”
In addition to watching Sandrino excel in Barwick’s hands, Garrod, a Canadian residing in Kensington, NH, was able to enjoy success as a CPEDI 3* competitor herself. Riding her 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Question (Quaterback x Le Figaro), Garrod began by scoring 65.736% for second in the Grade V Team Test on Jan. 22. She then collected consecutive wins in Jan. 24’s Grade V Individual Test and Jan. 25’s Grade V Freestyle, scoring 66.151% and 71.208%, respectively.
Also earning a top three CPEDI 3* placing was Jason Surnoski of Whitby, ON, and Cynthia Nugent’s Phoenix, a 21-year-old Westphalian gelding sired by Postdam. The pair collected a third place finish on Jan. 22 with 65.505% in the Grade II Team Test.
In the quest for qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Team Canada – comprised of Barwick, Garrod, Winona Hartvikson of Langley, BC, and Jody Schloss of Toronto, ON – earned 416.313 points. Team USA finished first with 434.358 points.
Canadians continued to make waves in the CDI competition, with Lindsay Kellock finding success in front of a hometown crowd aboard Sebastien (Sandro Hit x Fidermark), the 14-year-old Rheinlander gelding she co-owns with Enterprise Farm, LLC. The duo scored 70.087% for second in Jan. 23’s CDI-W Grand Prix, but their real achievement of the weekend came in the next day’s CDI-W Grand Prix Freestyle. There, Lindsay and Sebastien placed third again, this time on a score of 75.880% – a personal best for the pair that made their international debut during AGDF 3 in 2019.
“I am always aiming to have a personal best score each time I enter the arena, so I am very happy to have received that score early on in the season,” said Kellock. “Sebastien loves to perform in front of a crowd and the atmosphere at AGDF is so electric, it’s very motivating for us! This was the first time we have ever run through that pattern. I changed my choreography to make my floor plan more difficult and he rose to the challenge and tried his very best. I couldn’t be happier with his progress.”
In the CDI 3* Grand Prix Special, Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu of Saint-Bruno, QC, danced to a score of 72.064% for third with All In (Tango x Damiro), the 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding she co-owns with her father, Craig Fraser and husband, Marc-Andre Beaulieu.
Beatrice Boucher of Saint-Dominique, QC, emerged as the Canadian to watch in the small tour with Louxor de Lys (Licotus x Weltmeyer), a nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Lynda Tétreault. They started off with 67.451% for third place in the CDI 3* Prix St. Georges on Jan. 23. Then they rose to the occasion, earning first in the Jan. 25 CDI 3* Intermediate I with 68.059%, and in the Jan. 26 CDI 3* Intermediate Freestyle with 69.800%.
Camille Carier Bergeron of Mascouche, QC, who was Boucher’s teammate on the gold medal Canadian Young Riders team at the 2018 North American Youth Championships, saw success in the CDI-Y division. She rode Sound of Silence 4 (San Amour I x Limes), Gilles Bergeron’s 12-year-old Westphalian gelding, to second in the CDI-Y Team Test (68.480%) on Jan. 24 before coming back on Jan. 25 to claim first in the CDI-Y Individual Test (71.226%).
In the CDI-Am division, Sheri Doornekamp of Odessa, ON, debuted a new FEI level mount, her 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding named Axel (Sandreo x Vincent). They scored 65.882% for third in the Prix St. Georges on Jan. 25 and returned the next day to win the Intermediate I with 68.431%.
To conclude the weekend, Corine Smith, a Canadian residing in Chulouta, FL, leapt onto the scene, making a splash in her first FEI appearance showing Anne Gribbons’ Oldenburg gelding, Amperio (Ampere x Rotspon). The pair posted impressive scores in the CDI-YH division for six-year-old horses, earning 77.800% in the Preliminary Test on Jan. 25 and 81.000% in the Final Test on Jan. 26.
Competition continues at AGDF until late March, with the next CDI competition taking place Jan. 23-26. For more information and results, click here.
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