Monday April 7, 2003

2003 Dressage at Equestrian Estates

Much Ado’s Rocking Freestyle

After winning the Heidelberg Cup last weekend Carol Lavell and Much Ago were poised for another victory, but it took under Sunday for the pair to net another blue. The big gelding was hot and spooky on Friday and Saturday but by Friday’s Intermediaire 1 Freestyle the heat and exertion settled him down. “He didn’t light up until people clapped and whistled,” said Lavell.

Produced by Ed Iarusso and Ann Guptill’s Equestrian Arts of East Haddam, CT, Lavell’s freestyle was composed of music from the Rolling Stones. “I’m a fan from way back,” said Lavell. “It’s very cool; I have another Stones selection picked out for when he moves up, too.”

While Lavell is a contender for the Pan-Am Games team as long as she gets a CDI under her belt, which she plans to do next month in Raleigh, NC, she is taking things one step at a time. “When I rode at the Pan-Am Games they were in Franklin, Indiana and I just put my horse in the trailer and drove,” she said. Concerns with International travel and the risks to her horse keep her from getting too attached to the idea of riding at this year’s Games, to be held in the Dominican Republic. “It’s a lifetime achievement building a Grand Prix horse,” she said, and she doesn’t take that achievement lightly.