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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Dressage In California

Day Three of the Cornerstone Event Management's Festival of the Horse CDI*** is a Good One for Steffen Peters

For Steffen Peters, the third day of competition in the Cornerstone Event Management's Festival of the Horse CDI*** was a good one. With Montango, he beat out a field of more than two dozen competitors to take the blue in the CDI Intermediaire I. He and Montango scored 69.25 percent. Second went to Elizabeth Ball and De La Frontera with a score of 65.917.

Third place went to the teenage Amanda Harlan and the 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Liberte with a score of 65.083 percent. The high school student is competing against more seasoned adults in her quest to make it to this year's National Dressage Championships for the Intermediaire levels. Her third place at the Festival of the Horse puts her closes to that goal. "I'm just so happy to be here competing in the CDI. It's more than I could ask for," she said.  

In addition to his CDI Intermediaire I win, Peters rode Prince, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Hemmingway, in an Open Grand Prix Special class as a test to see if he had resolved the problem that led him to withdraw Prince in the middle of their CDI Grand Prix test on Friday. Peters had said that after getting stuck in the piaffe twice on Friday, he decided it was best to leave the ring and head to the warm-up ring to address the problem. That decision paid off when Prince scored a 68.467 on Saturday in his Open Grand Prix Special class.

"He was very good. The piaffe was very honest. In fact, two of the piaffes earned a nine," Peters said. "We wish that would have happened yesterday, but at the end of the day, I need to blame myself a bit because yesterday, I rode him a little bit with that trust I would have for Ravel. And I can count a little bit more on Ravel and I had ridden Prince that way. Today, I rode better and it paid off."

Peters was just as proud of Montango, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Contango and owned by James and Mary Keenan. Peters and Montango have only been together since December. "It's been a short partnership," Peters said. He admitted that their Intermediaire ride was not flawless. "There was one little mistake in the zig-zag half-passes. The first change was not clean, but the rest of the test was very solid."

Among the up-and-coming stars, U II was clearly the shining star, taking first place in the USEF/Qualifying Developing Horse competition. The seven-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Jazz and owned by Dick and Jane Brown, scored a 68.283 to take first place. Second in the young horse competition was taken by Leslie Reid and Twan with a score of 66.768. Third went to Jo Moran and Charisma with a score of 65.253.