At 2008 Wellington Classic Dressage Lisa Wilcox Shows that Naomi is a World-Class Competitor

For Lisa Wilcox, the most important thing about her 2008 Florida show season debut at Saturday’s Wellington Classic Dressage Challenge with the 12-year-old Naomi was the pair’s Grand Prix score of 71.80 percent. Passing the 70 percent mark makes clear that Naomi has what it takes to compete among the best, Wilcox said. “ I wouldn’t have had the owners pay for three months in Germany if I didn’t think this was a horse with international potential and she’s proving us correct. I really think we have a good shot at the Olympics.”

Wilcox and Naomi returned from Germany in early December and it’s been a successful homecoming. “Since we returned from Europe, she’s just gotten better and better and everything is now more automatic and consistent,” Wilcox said. “Now she understands that you can go from passage to piaffe and not always into halt and then to piaffe. She’s gotten very comfortable and secure in the movements.”

Considering how few years of training the mare actually has under her and her limited show experience, Wilcox could not have been more pleased with her Grand Prix finish at the Wellington Classic. “She did a beautiful, harmonious, quiet, fluid, confident test. I can brush up on the piaffe and get more expression. But for me, right now, the most important thing is evenness. We had no rhythm mistakes and that’s what I’m building on.”

The pair’s only real mistake was in the two-tempi changes where Naomi slipped in a one-tempi at the end of the line. Based on the smiles on judges’ faces and the comments Wilcox received after her ride, it’s clear that Naomi will be quite an attraction on the Florida show circuit this winter. “Lots of people came up afterward and told me she did a beautiful test,” Wilcox said.  Hilda Gurney, the judge at C commented that Naomi was a "lovely elegant mare, and a horse for the future." Wilcox who rode early in a large class of twenty two Grand Prix tests at the first show of the Florida 2008 season rode what Gurney described as a "solid test".

Spectators aren’t the only ones impressed with Naomi. It’s clear that Wilcox is rather impressed herself. “She’s phenomenal. She has an immense amount of expression. She has three top gaits. She’s elastic. She has extension. She’s light and elegant in her frame. She’s beautiful in her halts. And, she has presence. That’s everything that you’re looking for in the international arena.”

When asked if Naomi has any weaknesses, Wilcox struggles to find one and the most she can come up with is that the mare “needs more strength so that the piaffe and passage has more expression.  She’s got beautiful one-tempis, beautiful pirouettes. She’s just dead on when she does her stuff,” Wilcox said. “And where the strength is concerned, we’ve got plenty of time to work on that in the next months.”

After this weekend’s Wellington Classic, Naomi’s next outing will be the Gold Coast Opener CDI-W at the end of January. Wilcox said she’s now working on a musical freestyle for Naomi, but it will probably be at least March before the mare’s freestyle debut.

FEI Grand de Dressage Open GAIG/USDF Qualify
(C) Gurney,

Results: Wellington Classic Dressage I - Saturday, January 12, 2008