Canadians Open 2022 Dressage Season with Good Placings

Canada’s Camille Carier Bergeron of Laval, QC, scored two victories in the first international dressage competition of the 2022 season. Bergeron won both the Under 25 (U25) Intermediate II and Grand Prix tests during the opening week of the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival held from January 13 to 16, 2022, in Wellington, FL.

Riding Acoeur, Bergeron scored 70.471% to top the U25 Intermediate II on Friday. Returning to the international ring the following day, the pair again claimed victory in the U25 Grand Prix with a score of 70.667%. Bergeron is currently number two in the U25 world rankings, which is open to athletes aged 16 to 25.

“I couldn’t ask for a better start,” said the 21-year-old Bergeron. “Both tests went really well; it feels like it’s getting easier and easier. I have been doing the U25 division for a few years now – I did the first one in 2019 – and it has become more routine. I feel more confident in both tests and Acoeur tried really hard.”

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Bergeron has been partnered with Acoeur since purchasing the now 14-year-old Baden-Württemberg gelding (Acordelli x Ricardo) in 2018. The pair made their competitive debut together in 2019 during the Florida winter season.

“We hadn’t done a CDI since last April,” explained Bergeron who trains with Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu. “We worked hard at home to make it even better, and I can see the results from both tests this weekend. Last year, I was in the 68 percent range in the first few shows. Starting this season in the 70s is a big improvement from last year. The work we put in showed up in the results.”

Bergeron will continue to compete in Wellington, FL, throughout the winter season and while she plans to campaign Acoeur at the grand prix level in the future, she has not decided how soon she’ll make the move.

“My goal is to also do the grand prix,” said Bergeron of competing at the Olympic level with Acoeur, owned by Gilles Bergeron. “I would like to try to ride in the national grand prix division in the next few shows and see how it goes. We’re currently ranked second in the world, so we’ll decide whether to stay in the U25 division since it’s going so well and try to achieve the top spot in the rankings or try moving up to the CDI grand prix level and maybe go for the world championships.

“I’d like to thank the people who support me in achieving my goals,” concluded Bergeron. “My parents, Brittany, and my groom, Laurence; they are a huge part of it. I couldn’t do it without them and all of my sponsors as well.”

Canadian Equestrian Team veteran, Shannon Dueck, also scored impressive results during the opening event of the season. Paired with As You Wish, Dueck contested the CDI1* division, earning scores of 70.647% in the Prix St. Georges and 69.647% in Saturday’s Intermediate I for second place in both classes. The close partnership between Dueck and her nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Wilkens x Contendro I) was evident throughout the competition.

“I bought him when he was three days under saddle as a sales horse but started to really like riding him,” said Dueck of the horse better known as ‘Wesley’ in the barn. “He has a super presence in the ring; he’s very supple, has huge extensions and beautiful changes. He’s super chilled and the first horse I’ve ever had that loves being in the awards ceremony. He’s really fun and a farm favourite.

“I’ve had him for four and a half years now and he’s very close to doing the grand prix,” continued Dueck. “He’s huge and he’s a really big and powerful mover, and we’re working at putting it all together. We’re starting to get the small steps, the piaffe and passage, to be a grand prix horse.”

Dueck has operated her dressage training business, Dueck Dressage, in Loxahatchee, FL, since 2004 with the support of her husband, Lorne Dueck. Originally from Langley, BC, Shannon is a regular competitor and trainer at the Global Dressage Festival, which attracts competitors from around the world to Florida each year.

“We’re so lucky to be competing in the sport with so many top horses and riders that it just raises everyone’s standards higher and higher,” said the World Championships veteran and Pan American Games individual silver medalist. “We’re also thrilled to have the spectators back this year; it makes such a difference to the whole atmosphere. Everyone is still being careful but we’re so lucky to be in a sport where we’re competing outside and socially distancing is not hard for us.”

For more information on the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival, which will host a total of six weeks of international competition sanctioned by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), visit gdf.coth.com