Friday: Grand Prix Freestyle
A new personal best of 75.465% elevated Devon Kane (USA) to the top of the podium in the KB2 Construction CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday, April 3, at TerraNova Equestrian Center in Myakka City, Florida. Two judges rewarded Kane and the energetic 14-year-old Vamos — whose name means ‘Let’s go’ in Spanish — with scores over 77% to bag their first-ever international win in their 35 CDI starts together.
Canada’s Olympic duo of Camille Carier Bergeron and her family’s 16-year-old Fidertanz x Donnerhall mare Finnländerin finished second by a whisker to an upbeat disco soundtrack. Last to go in the class of six, they recorded 75.385%, a difference of just 0.08 percentage points. Claire Darnell (USA) and her own 14-year-old Harrold S (by Vivaldi x Fidermark), whom she has produced to top level, bagged third place with a 74.365%, their second highest score since stepping up to grand prix in late 2022.
Kane was full of praise for the show at TerraNova, saying, “The atmosphere is always absolutely amazing, and the showgrounds are so horse friendly. The feeling you get in the stadium with the flags over the lake, the pavilion, and all the fans cheering, is quite different than anywhere else I’ve shown, and it’s special. It’s particularly special for me with this being our first CDI win.”
Camile Carier Bergeron added a second blue ribbon to MSJ Valentia Roma’s collection, recording their second win in as many days in the CDI1* Intermediate I. In their seventh CDI small tour test together they recorded a huge new personal best of 72.206%. They topped their previous I1 high score of 68.853%, achieved in February 2026, by a significant margin, and led the class with a winning margin of almost five percentage points. The nine-year-old Vitalis x Donnerhall mare was the unanimous choice for all five judges, attracting a high score of 73.382% from Janet Foy (USA) at M.
The team element of the CPEDI competition concluded on Friday, with the U.S. team once again producing impressive performances to secure the win. Paralympic gold medalist Roxanne Trunnell’s 72.847% was the highest score across all grades on Friday, with the performance earning Trunnell and Furstenson MR the CPEDI3* Para Grand Prix B Grade I win in a hot class and relegating the previous day’s Grand Prix A winner, Marie Vonderheyden, to second. Canadian three-time Paralympic athlete Jody Schloss was just fractions behind, rounding out the podium with 71.319% on her own 17-year-old gelding El Colorado, by San Remo.
Saturday: Grand Prix Special
Olympic medalist Kasey Perry-Glass headed up an all-American podium with 71.255% on Diane Perry’s Heartbeat WP in the Bridleberry Leather Tack Co. CDI3* Grand Prix Special on Saturday, April 4. The top three were tightly bunched, with the grand prix winner, Katie Duerrhammer, slotting into the runner-up spot in the Special with 70.298% aboard Kylee Lourie’s talented 11-year-old gelding Vividus QRE (by Zaladin MI x Don Charly). Lars Peterson rode Kim Aikens’s charming 14-year-old mare Sang Real (by Sir Donnerhall x Lauries Crusador xx) into third with 70.127% — a huge new personal best for the pair competing at just their second CDI.
Perry-Glass and Heartbeat had a glitch in the first line of one-time changes, but the powerful, rhythmic Charmeur x Ferro gelding’s high quality piaffe/passage tour brought the mark back up to the top of the leaderboard in the class of 11 starters. They collected 10 eights on the final centerline alone.
“The Special suits him very well because his passage is his highlight and it sets him up for everything else in the collection work,” said the rider from Wellington, Florida. “The pattern of the Special is perfect for him, and we usually gain big points in our trot, piaffe, and passage, then we roll it over into the canter work. The changes were a little tricky today, but you’ve got to ride the horse you have on the day. ‘Heart’ is such a showman and he shows up. We complement each other really well.”
Two Canadians rounded out the top five: David Marcus was 4th riding Qosmo (68.723%) and Alexandra Duncan and Hitmaker were 5th (68.191%).
Equine veterinarian Kate Shoemaker (USA) was awarded the overall para championship title after her 75.4% ride — the highest score in all grades — in the CPEDI3* Para Grand Prix Freestyle Grade IV on her own Bojengel x Tuschinski gelding, Ghandi. Shoemaker, who suffers from white matter lesions which cause motor control dysfunction, muscle weakness, and spasms on her right side, bought the 15-year-old Ghandi four-and-a-half years ago in the Netherlands.
“I was looking for a school master that I could learn the upper-level work with,” said the double Paralympic medalist. “That was his original intended purpose, but he’s so much fun to ride, and it’s so nice having a horse who will do anything you ask — and always gently. He never pulls on me and he’s so happy to do the job, which makes him a joy. He and Vianne [Shoemaker’s top horse] have that in common.
“As we get closer to the Aachen World Championships, I thought it would be nice to have Ghandi as a back-up,” reasoned Shoemaker. “It’s a way to keep the pressure off. We thought this would be a great show to bring him to and see how the judges liked him and go from there. It went lovely, so he’s definitely going to go to Tryon for the final selection event.”
Marie Vonderheyden (USA) scooped the reserve champion’s title after topping the Grade I Freestyle with 74.656% on Karin Flint’s nine-year-old Fan Tastico H. Three-time Canadian Paralympian Jody Schloss scooped second place with a 69.3% ride on her own spotted San Remo gelding, El Colorado. Fellow Canadian Madison Lawson took the Grade V Freestyle with a personal best score of 68.908% riding Laguna.
Click here for full results from TerraNova’s April CDI and CPEDI.
~ with files from TerraNova Equestrian Center
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