by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 28, 2024
In the quietest – and shortest– meeting since consideration of the controversial Wellington North and South projects began last year, the Florida village’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday night approving the compatibility of a new showgrounds with other uses in the Planned Unit Development where it will be located.
Several adjustments were suggested (PZAB is only an advisory board) to the compatibility determination passed earlier this month by the Equestrian Preserve Committee, also an advisory group. Several of the items requested by the EPC were determined to be more along the lines of an operational nature than a compatibility determination.
The Village Council, which makes the final decision, is scheduled to review everything at its next meeting March 5.
The showgrounds is being built by developer NEXUS and Wellington Lifestyle Partners, owner of the property south of the Wellington International showgrounds that is for sale by owner Global Equestrian Group.
Michael Stone, president of Wellington International, said there was no need at this time for an additional 220 permanent stalls at the new site. The EPC had voted to have the original allocation of 220 permanent stalls doubled. The remainder of the planned 1,108 stalls will be in tents.
Stone explained that 60 percent of the dressage competitors are there for national classes, and 80 to 90 percent of them haul their horses in to compete and take them home hours later, so they would not use stalls. They are charged a $45 haul-in fee.
Diagram of haul-in area at new showgrounds.
He mentioned that if there is a need for more permanent stalls, they can always be added. It was also noted that stalls at the current dressage show site, Equestrian Village, are 10 by 12, while all the stalls at the new showgrounds will be 12 by 12.
Stone doesn’t feel the showgrounds should be required to provide stall mats as EPC requested, explaining that is not a customary practice at shows around the world. He suggested that if people want stall mats, they can either bring them, rent them or buy them.
Although EPC wanted hospitality facilities to be built along the lines of the Media Center at Wellington International, WLP Vice President Paige Bellissimo Nunez said it should be done without the glass that is in the media center, because it could cause viewing issues.
Paige Bellissimo Nunez and Michael Stone.
Nunez also asked for some “wiggle room” on the original EPC request for having rings separated by 30 feet, instead citing a 25-foot minimum.
The most interesting items that came up at the meeting, which lasted less than 90 minutes, were answers to two questions posed by Dr. Kristy Lund, a member of the Equestrian Preserve Committee.
She wondered why Mark Bellissimo was listed as a manager of Wellington Lifestyle Partners II when Doug McMahon, the WLP CEO, had insisted in a statement at a Feb. 7 Council meeting that Bellisimo would have no role in management.
A number of speakers at the various meetings about the showgrounds and development on the Equestrian Preserve had expressed animosity toward Bellissimo, citing promises that had not been kept on various projects.
McMahon replied that attorneys had “erroneously” included Bellissimo’s name on WLP II, which was formed for a “future transaction.” He did not specify what that might be.
Lund also was concerned about fill being moved on a five-acre “equestrian amenity” site adjacent to the acreage designated for the new showgrounds, which will be the home not only of dressage, but also include jumpers as well, and have a grass field.
She cited environmental issues about a pond being “drained and filled in a potential wetland area,” noting there is a federally endangered species of bird there.”
WLP attorney John Fumero said all the activity on the site had been seen by the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers as recently as last month, and there is no unpermitted activity.
“We’re being looked at very carefully by every agency you can think of to make sure. It’s very stringent,” he commented.
The lawyer added that although there will be some permit modifications after final approval of the project by the Village Council, the “wetland preserve area will stay in its natural state in perpetuity.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 28, 2024
“Gladstone.” It’s a name synonymous with excellence in the horse world, the former U.S. Equestrian Team training center at Hamilton Farm in New Jersey, now the home of the USET Foundation.
For decades, Gladstone was known around the world as the base for the U.S. show jumpers who represent the country in international competition. Eventing team members were there for a number of years as well, and it became the venue for training sessions in a variety of disciplines.
As a competition site, many of its glory days in the ‘80s and ‘90s centered around the annual Gladstone Combined Driving Event, fueled by the enthusiasm of USET President Finn Caspersen. His horses were regulars in the four-in-hand competition that usually included drivers from overseas, imported by Finn.
Combined driving involves dressage, a marathon where horses are timed as they weave in and out of obstacles (driving’s version of eventing’s cross-country phase) and concludes with the cones test. In that segment, the carriages travel around a winding layout involving pairs of road cones, trying to avoid knocking off the balls resting atop them.
The excitement of driving at the picturesque Gladstone venue culminated in the October 1993 World Pairs Championship, which drew competitors from a record 23 countries. It was the largest such competition ever held outside Europe, with 15,000 spectators watching the marathon segment.
Many of those who helped organize that competition came from the Northeast’s driving community. However, as drivers retired, died, or moved south, their ranks in the region grew thin. In recent years, driving competition continued to some extent at Gladstone, but it was low-key.
That is about to change. An invigorated Gladstone Equestrian Association Driving Committee will be putting on several competitions this year in the Pine Meadow section of Hamilton Farm. That includes a Combined Driving Trial June 29-30, as well as a Combined Test that weekend for those who don’t want to do the marathon and will stick with just dressage and cones.
Driving events have been a fixture at Gladstone for decades. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
“The place is like hallowed ground,” said John Layton, president of GEA Driving.
“The place is unbelievable, the history. It’s small compared to what it used to be, but we have the opportunity to make it great again.”
Jimmy Fairclough, who started driving at Gladstone in the 1970s, is glad the GEA group is ramping things up.
“If there is anything I can do, I’m all in for it,” Jimmy emphasized.
Jimmy Fairclough, right, with teammates Chester Weber and Misdee Wrigley Miller on the podium after winning the gold medal at the 2018 world championships. (Photo © 2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
A member of the U.S. 2018 world championships gold medal four-in-hand team, he was also part of the pairs team that won gold in the 1991 world championships. The victory gave the U.S. the right to host the 1993 championships at Gladstone.
That was during a time when Gladstone “was the heart of the sport in North America,” as Jimmy put it, with training sessions, a spring event and the Gladstone Driving Event.
Now it’s a different story.
Jimmy, who lives in Sussex County 45 minutes from Gladstone, drove his young horses there last year. He notes that competing on the winter circuit is so costly that by the time it’s finished, so are the bankrolls of many people who might otherwise enter more competitions in the north.
As a result, he pointed out, in the Northeast, “We’re struggling for shows in the summer.”
At the same time, however, the sport has changed and is more flexible than it used to be. No longer is it necessary to have a roads and tracks segment, for instance, a change which enables saving on space and labor.
“There are so many possibilities,” Jimmy suggested.
John Layton has taken advantage of that situation.
“People need an entry-level to come into combined driving without spending thousands of dollars to see if they like it or not,” he pointed out.
The resident of Juliustown in Springfield Township, part of New Jersey’s Burlington County, came up with the concept of driving derbies, one of which is set for April 7 at the Horse Park, an hour south of Gladstone, while another will be held at Gladstone Sept. 14 as part of a six-event series throughout the region.
“It’s a whole new format, an introduction to combined driving,” said John, a Horse Park board member. He noted many people intrigued by combined driving are intimidated about diving right in because a full marathon can be quite a challenge, and it’s expensive to get all the equipment needed.
In the derby, competitors try their hand at two marathon obstacles, while negotiating a series of cones before tackling the obstacles, in between them and at the end of the run.
“It really took off. It gives everybody a taste of combined driving in a one-day format,” said John, who works as a union carpenter.
That’s one answer to the big question of how to attract new drivers to the sport, enabling it to grow. Another might be a Standardbred division that debuted as an exhibition division at the Horse Park in 2022.
“In our area, harness racing is huge,” explained John, a competitive driver himself whose Eris K. was the number one-ranked Cleveland Bay driving horse in the U.S. last year.
“We have a bunch of people between 25 and 40, a lot of young women who want to do something with these horses that came off the track.”
He got permission from the U.S. Equestrian Federation for them to compete using a jog cart and quick hitch harness. Some of the obstacles were wider than regulation to allow for the size of the carts. Of the eight drivers who competed in the division, five moved up to regular combined driving classes after getting a taste of the sport.
Another way of adding to the driver ranks is by bringing in young people.
In 2023, the Garden State Driving Event at the Horse Park had a youth division for the first time, contested by eight exhibitors.
“Out of that came the USEF providing a driver development clinic at Gladstone for the youth that were at Garden State,” said John, who also is president of the DelMarva Driving Club and put on 12 driving events in 2023. The number he’s staging this year is 15.
The June Gladstone event will have a youth division, which John feels is a “huge” development as part of the event for the first time. But for permission to hold the division, the committee needed to be creative, because American Driving Society rules say young people need a navigator on the marathon. That was a problem for those who have VSEs (Very Small Equines), otherwise known as mini horses pulling their carriages, since they can’t haul too much weight. So permission was given to follow the VSEs with a navigator in a golf cart.
The driving committee is bringing life back to Pine Meadow, which has long been mostly idle.
“We want to have Pine Meadow used,” said Maureen Pethick, the USET Foundation’s communications and facilities coordinator. She assists with matters relating to the property, but doesn’t have a vote on the committee, which which also includes Christine Siracusa, a former member of the Garden State Driving Committee; competitive driver Amie Bauman, John and Diane Unger and longtime supporter Gayle Altenburg-Stinson. EllenMarie Ettenger is the competition organizer; her husband, Bruce Ettenger, is the course designer.
How cool are the pinneys with the name of the event displayed over the competitor number. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
Upkeep of the large Pine Meadow tract, which has many trees, is an issue. While the Foundation keeps Pine Meadow mowed it has other priorities as well, so more work needs to be done by volunteers.
The GEA members have been busy cleaning up marathon obstacles as stumps are pulled, while ruts are being smoothed out on footing and trails to make the optimum surface for carriages.
Maureen noted that horses coming to the driving event will be able to use the Foundation’s historic stables. That means the tents previously rented for stabling are no longer necessary, which saves everyone money.
“I think it’s going to be a huge help,” said Maureen.
Christine agreed, commenting, with that benefit, “Whatever we can bring in with sponsorship, donations and entries, we can continue to put back into the grounds.” In two or three years, she said, that could lead to staging a full combined driving event over three days.
“I’m hoping that with some of the things we’re doing this year, people are going to come and love what we’re doing and going to want to come back,” said Christine, a Clinton Township resident whose 14-year-old daughter, Kate, competes in driving with a Welsh cob.
“I’m excited that some new young blood is coming into the sport,” said Christine, who works for a pharmaceutical company.
Support from others in the community is key for the event. She noted, for instance, that veterinarian Christina Wilson and former driving competitor Sharon Chesson (a member of the 1991 gold medal pairs team) will be housing officials, Purina Equine Nutrition is sponsoring the competition’s briefing dinner and Bruce Apgar, who has competed in driving, is helping with refurbishing Pine Meadow using his excavating equipment.
This year, in addition to the competitions, drivers can also take advantage of training days at Gladstone May18, Aug. 24 and Oct. 19, which gives them an opportunity to experience the facility.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 19, 2024
A panel of voters from the horse industry has selected Francisco “Pancho” Lopez and the Holsteiner gelding Cedric, a regular on the U.S. Nations Cup teams, for induction into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame March 3 in Wellington, Fla.
The once-in-a-lifetime partner of rider Laura Kraut, Cedric made his FEI debut in 2006 and, despite being quirky and only 15.2-hands, the gray gelding bred in Belgium quickly became a powerhouse on the international show jumping circuit. His partnership with Laura spanned 11 years, producing 81 clear and 45 double-clear rounds in competitions offering $100,000 or more. The pair helped the U.S. win a team gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong.
It was 1998 when Cedric became a pillar of the U.S. team. He was originally owned in the U.S. by Peter Wetherill and Happy Hill Farm. After Peter passed away in 2010, his brother, Cortie, assumed ownership with Laura before Margaret Duprey of Cherry Knoll Farm became Cedric’s final owner in 2012, keeping him in Laura’s barn.
Laura Kraut and Cedric in Hong Kong at the Beijing Olympics, 2008. (Photo © 2008 by Nancy Jaffer)
Cedric’s successful career also included being on the U.S. team at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games and numerous Nations Cup appearances, including Aachen, Barcelona, Dublin, La Baule, Rome, Rotterdam, St. Gallen and Wellington. He and Laura also won the Grand Prix at four Longines Global Champions Tour (GCT) events, and they were the first horse-and-rider combination to win back-to-back events, claiming top honors in 2010 at Chantilly and then Valkenswaard just two weeks later. Cedric and Laura also won GCT events in Lausanne (2012) and Wiesbaden (2013).
A naturally careful and competitive horse, Cedric was one of the nation’s leading money winners, amassing well over $2 million in prize money. He was formally retired at age 19 during a moving ceremony in Wellington in 2017.
“Cedric became something we never expected he could be,” Laura said in an interview, explaining why he was so special.
“He was so small and so difficult. He had always the most tremendous amount of jump; but he was afraid, and it never really entered my mind that he would become what he did. He was this unbelievable horse that when it was important, he had to know, because he never let me down.
“The few times I failed was never when it was a life-or-death moment,” she pointed out.
“I always used to figure that he thought I was getting too cocky; then he would throw me off. He was quite something. He was such a personable horse. He could have lived in the house.”
Laura and her partner, Nick Skelton, are based on a farm in Pielbergen, Netherlands from mid-April to December, and Cedric is nearby with his buddy, Quick Study (Lauren Hough’s former rider), on another farm.
“If I put him in Pennsylvania at Margaret’s farm, I’d never see him again,” said Laura, who wants to be near him. “He’s like family, Now I’m going to see him a lot because he’s five minutes down the road.”
The other Hall inductee, Pancho, was born in Mexico and joined his father in Los Angeles as a teenager. On one of his first days in the U.S., he walked several racehorses at the Del Mar racetrack where his family worked, and immediately fell in love with horses. He took his first grooming job at age 15 at Blakiston Ranch, not far from Los Angeles. He moved on five years later to work for Grand Prix rider Jimmy Kohn, and then joined George Morris at Hunterdon Inc. in New Jersey, where he worked for six years.
It was at Hunterdon that Pancho met Katie Monahan Prudent, the international champion with whom he is most identified. He became her barn manager and coordinated everything to keep the horses and the business in top shape.
He cared for such horses as The Jones Boy (second-place finisher in the inaugural FEI World Cup™ Final in 1979), Noren (1982 American Grandprix Association Horse of the Year), The Governor (1986 AGA Horse of the Year), Amadia (team Gold medalist in the 1986 FEI World Championships) and Special Envoy (1986 AGA Horse of the Year). Pancho is unable to attend the Hall ceremony at the Wanderer’s Club, so Katie will accept for him.
Starting in 1996, Pancho worked at Willowcreek Ranch in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He spent many years with Elise Haas, whose family established in his honor the “Francisco ‘Pancho’ Lopez Scholarship” at the University of California’s Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. It was fitting, as he had had started veterinary school when he was young but was not able to complete his education due to family obligations
Pancho had a remarkable “feel” for each horse and somehow knew when something wasn’t right. He was always ready to share his experience with others and passed on his knowledge to a host of grooms and barn managers. He has also shared his more than 50 years’ worth of knowledge with riders and horses as a clinician, joining Katie and other top professionals in educational settings.
Another trophy at the gala will go to Rodrigo Pessoa, the Brazilian who is an Olympic and world championships gold medalist, as well as a three-time winner of the FEI World Cup Finals.. He will receive the Hall’s international award, being presented for the second time. The honor was inaugurated last year when it went to Ian Millar, Captain Canada.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 16, 2024
Some crucial questions about the expanded Wellington, Fla., showgrounds finally were answered Thursday night at a meeting of the Equestrian Preserve Committee.
Although the session, which ran more than five and one-half hours, was held to insure the project met compatibility standards under the Village’s land development regulations, the items approved by a 4-1 vote in that context were less interesting than what was revealed about the showgrounds project itself during the session.
Over nine months of hearings, equestrians made it clear that the Wellington International showgrounds for hunters and jumpers, set up in 1978 as the home of the Winter Equestrian Festival at its current location off Pierson Road, needed massive improvement and more space. The situation was complicated when its owner, Global Equestrian Group (part of Waterland Private Equity) put the venue up for sale last year.
The entrance to the International Arena at Wellington International.
On Tuesday, according to Wellington International President Michael Stone, a “number” of entities (he declined to be more specific) started the process of bidding for that property.
Meanwhile, Wellington Lifestyle Partners was approved by the Village Council in a 4-1 vote to build a high-end golf club community at Wellington North on Equestrian Village where the Global Dressage Festival (no relation to Global Equestrian Group) has been held since 2012. The property, more than 96 acres, was part of the Equestrian Preserve that spreads across 9,000 acres in the municipality.
There was much opposition to taking it out of the Preserve, a designation created to prevent high-density development and insure continuation of the equestrian lifestyle. The EPC unanimously voted against dong that, but it is only an advisory group; the Village Council is the deciding body.
The fear has been that the Wellington North decision sets a precedent for removing land from other parts of the Preserve, a category that includes bridle trails, arenas, stables and pastures (but allows certain types of low-intensity development.)
In the fallout over the controversy, the Village Council removed the EPC’s chairman, Jane Cleveland, and another member of the panel, Carlos Arrellano, at the request of WLP. Both were critical of WLP’s plans. Replacing them were dressage rider Judith Sloan, secretary-treasurer of the U.S. Equestrian Federation and Annabelle Garrett, a former polo player and show jumper who had served previously on the committee. Elected as the new chairman was Glen Fleischer, whose wife, Karen Long Dwight of Take the High Road LLC, is a prominent horse show exhibitor.
In making its deal with the Village, WLP agreed to build what amounts to an expansion of the showgrounds on Pod F at the northeast corner of Gene Mische Way and Gracida, land it owns at Wellington South, adjacent to Wellington International. Until that work is finished, dressage will continue at Equestrian Village and WLP is not allowed to start constructing homes at Wellington North. The deadline for completing the expansion is 2028, but during the EPC meeting, it was revealed that the majority of the work now is expected to take less than two years.
While it’s “always a possibility” that whoever buys Wellington International would also want to buy Pod F,” it won’t be for sale until it’s built out,” said Stone. However, he said “they’d (the new owners of Wellington International) be pretty crazy” not to want to buy Pod F because a deed restriction means it must remain a showgrounds for 50 years, so it cannot be converted to housing or other uses in the next half-century.
{For your convenience in reading this story, here is an acronym glossary: WEP (Wellington Equestrian Partners); GEG (Global Equestrian Group); WEF (Winter Equestrian Festival); EPC (Equestrian Preserve Committee); WLP (Wellington Lifestyle Partners}
Although originally the expanded section of the showgrounds was slated to be quite elaborate, with a stadium seating 7,000 and a hospitality area accommodating 4,000, that has been scaled back.
“The cost of building the sort of stadium (originally presented), it just isn’t viable to build it that size,” said Stone, explaining “everything has to be practical and realistic.”
Attorney Leonard Feiwus, who represents the Equestrian Club Estates development bordering the showgrounds, compared the grandiose first proposed arena to “the Meadowlands in Secaucus.”
Lights and noise have been a concern of neighbors, but the issues are being worked out with berms and landscaping.
“This is going to be constructed in a way that a future buyer, if he wants to build a more fancy stadium and he wants to do more permanent structures, he’s able to do it,” said Stone.
Michael Stone
The site will now have a capacity of 6,000, with an arena seating 3,000 (the arena at Equestrian Village seats 1,500), a 1,500-seat VIP hospitality area, a 1,000-seat special events pavilion, and a 210-seat restaurant, in addition to areas for retail, offices and other facilities. The circulation and safety of horses, golf carts and service vehicles will be improved from the current status at Wellington International, which will increase safety.
The project is described by WLP as being “horse-centric.”
Showjumping was to have been the highlight on the expanded venue, with dressage sharing the current showgrounds with the hunters. Now dressage will be on the expanded portion, but the large number of arenas and a grass field there means jumpers and hunters can show at that site as well. While dressage runs only 13 weeks, the hunters and jumpers compete nearly all year in Wellington.
Unlike Equestrian Village, where the VIP area is very close to the ring and horses can hear the “clank” of silverware, as Sloan put it, there will be a greater setback for the dressage arenas, which should cut down on horse distraction.
Parking has been an issue at Wellington International. The new site will have 1,500 paved parking spaces and 1,500 for overflow. Dressage riders competing in the national division often like to haul in their horses, compete, load them back in the trailer and go home. That’s the advantage of owning a farm in Wellington, instead of having to travel approximately three hours to compete at TerraNova near Sarasota or World Equestrian Center in Ocala.
There will be 20 haul-in parking spaces, which Stone believes is sufficient because dressage riders who haul in leave after they compete. That is unlike show jumpers and hunters, who use the stabling and also take advantage of vendors and food purveyors, which he said the dressage people competing in national classes for the most part do not do, since their stay on the property is short.
The recommendations passed by the EPC include:
- Adding another 220 permanent stalls added to the 220 stalls available “Day One” among the 1,204 12 by 12 stalls planned (the difference is made up by tent stalls);
- Requiring hospitality tents to be at least commensurate in quality with the media center tent at Wellington International;
- Providing adequate fencing between barns and adjacent parking areas to contain horses;
- Insuring that the 78,000-square foot covered arena will be constructed at the showgrounds and not on “an adjacent property;”
- Requiring mats in all stalls;
- Providing schooling hours with lighting to start at 6:30 a.m.
- Having 30 feet in between the show rings.
Writing on social media the day after the meeting, EPC member Dr. Kristy Lund explained, “ If we did not pass the motion, some of our important recommendations, like making sure the covered is built on the showgrounds and not an adjacent property and safety fences and distance between rings for safety .. would not be heard by council.
“So yes, we could have voted a symbolic no for the project but that would not have changed anything.. the deal still moves forward. By voting ye, we ensure council gets to see our recommendations and hopefully, they will act on some of them and make the horse show better.”
The compatibility issues go to the Planning Zoning and Adjustment board Feb. 28. On March 5, the Village Council is slated to look at them before work can get under way on the expansion.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 14, 2024
Olympic and world championships dressage medalist Adrienne Lyle is off to the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla., with two new horses this week. The trio is still in a period of adjustment with each other, since the horses arrived from Europe at her base in Wellington, Fla., last month. That means they won’t be competing at WEC this time. It’s more of a get-acquainted trip.
“I’ve never had horses who were trained to grand prix, so it’s different,” said Adrienne, who usually brings her mounts to that level herself.
“There’s more language to learn from each other. There’s more intricate things I have to figure out. First of all, what it means to them before you try to change it to the way you want it. They’re both trying really hard, so it’s been fun.”
The horses, purchased by Zen Elite Equestrian Center owner Heidi Humphries, are 12-year-old Helix (Apache X Broere Jazz), a Dutchbred, and Lars van de Hoenderheide (Negro X Layout), a 13-year-old Belgian warmblood previously ridden by world champion Lottie Fry.
Adrienne needs qualifying scores with an eye toward making the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics this summer. The pressure never ends, and it’s particularly intense because she has not yet shown the horses, and doesn’t have the luxury of lots of time to achieve her goal.
“I will be less prepared than I would like to be going in the ring,” she acknowledged.
“You can’t work them harder or expect more of them because you’re on a timeline. I would love to have a year to play around with them, but we don’t have that. We’ll do the best we can with our normal training program.”
When a rider has a history with a horse, Adrienne pointed out, “You know how to prepare the balance. You know what they need help in, what you need to ride a little bit lighter, softer, stronger. It’s getting to know them. All the little subtle nuances to make it look seamless.
“Like a horse you’ve been riding for a long time—even though you haven’t.”
Although she lacks mileage with the horses, their character is evident. Before she got in the saddle for a limbering walk around prior to shipping Helix to Ocala, she characterized him as “a super trying horse.
Adrienne takes Helix out for a stroll. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
“He always wants to do the right thing. He’s very sensitive to ride and very supple, but has a lot of power. He’s very talented. He always wants to figure out what you want to do. His piaffe/passage tour is going to be really phenomenal,” said Adrienne.
That reminds her of Salvino, her Olympic and championships medal ride, who is back in work now.
Lars, meanwhile, “has a fair amount of experience, he’s been there and done that. So I think he’s got a lot of confidence in himself. It’s just kind of changing a little bit the shape to the way that I ride. Every rider has a slightly different way they want them to go. He does his job well so we’re just trying to mold him to make him a bit more my ride.”
His former rider, Lottie, is short, while Adrienne is tall.
“I think the leg aids are a little bit different, because my legs hit him much lower than hers. Helix’s rider was rather tall, about my height. So I think in those terms, the aids click a little bit quicker on him.”
Both horses had been in work and are fit.
As a result, their rider pointed out, “We’re not trying to build up their strength, it’s more about building up our communication.”
Adrienne soon will return to Ocala for competition, as well as showing in Wellington and at TerraNova Equestrian Center outside Sarasota. All the venues are approximately three hours from each other.
Unlike the situation that existed for years, when Wellington was the only place in Florida where the top dressage horses performed, variety helps with the training. Horses previously would get so used to Wellington that switching to other venues after the winter season could be difficult.
Adrienne with Lars and Helix. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
In Ocala this time, Adrienne will be schooling the horses and caring for them herself, even taking them out to graze, as well as riding, to get to know them better. She’s treating the situation as if she’s competing, so the horses can learn her routine.
Meanwhile, she’ll be having a reunion in Ocala with her 2018 World Equestrian Games silver medal teammates Laura Graves and Kasey Perry Glass, both young mothers like herself. Debbie McDonald, Adrienne’s mentor and the former U.S. technical advisor, also will be on hand to help. How does the saying go? They’re getting the band back together!
One young lady who won’t be there is Adrienne’s daughter, Bailey, who was born last autumn. The baby is staying at home in Wellington so her mother can focus as much as possible on the horses.
But Adrienne has other responsibilities as well. Having aged out of the under-25 ranks, her protégé, Quinn Iverson, will be making her senior Grand Prix debut in the National ring with Beckham. And Adrienne also will be working with a teammate from the 2022 world championships, Katie Duerrhammer, who rides Paxton.
Adrienne is grateful to those who have helped her.
“I want to thank everyone involved; thank Heidi for this chance and Debbie for always being there for me. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
But she cautions, with the horses, “The most important thing is you take it on their time frame and you never push them. However far we get this year, there’s a lot more in the future. Either way, it’s going to be the start of a really fun journey.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 18, 2024
It’s fun to see fresh faces at the top of U.S. dressage classes.
For a long time, the USA’s familiar names have been leading competition in America and elsewhere, but now there’s a changing of the guard, so to speak. A perennial team member, the much-decorated Steffen Peters, is still competing on the West Coast with his longtime partner, Suppenkasper and pointing for the 2024 Paris Olympics. But such well-known riders as Kasey Perry-Glass and Adrienne Lyle, both of whom earned Olympic and World Championships medals, are among those working with new horses this winter.
What’s really interesting is that two of this month’s big winners who are just taking their place on the stage have a real connection.
Anna Marek, the individual bronze medalist at the 2023 Pan American Games on Fire Fly, won the Grand Prix with a 72.826 percent personal best score and the Freestyle with another personal best of 78.457 on the 14-year-old Fayvel at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival earlier in February. She went on to take the top prize in the Grand Prix for the Special with 70.369 percent at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala over this past weekend.
Anna Marek and Fayvel. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
Anna keeps approximately 30 of the horses she trains on the premises of Crown View Dressage, the Ocala farm of Jessica Howington. At WEC, the Special itself went to Jessica on her new horse, Serenade MF, with a mark of 68.915 percent in only their second show together, while Anna was right behind her on Fayvel with a 68.277.
Although WEC was just the second show and the first CDI for Jessica with Shrimp, as her mare is known around the barn, it was hardly the first time she and Anna have been in the same competitions. And there are never any hard feelings, no matter who gets the top prize.
“I love Anna. We’re super-friendly,” said Jessica, who was second in the Grand Prix for the Special with 68.152 percent.
“We have competed against each other now for a long time and I think we’ve won and lost against each other so many times, there’s nothing awkward at all.”
Jessica added, “It’s funny, because even though she trains here on the farm, we are so incredibly busy, I almost never see her.” That’s except if they are warming up for the same class, of course.
Although the bulk of the horses with which Anna is involved are at Jessica’s farm, Fayvel and Fire Fly live on Anna’s own 20-acre property in Dunnellon, outside Ocala.
Anna made headlines at the Pan Am Games, where she was a member of the U.S. gold medal team and faced a real challenge “because it was the first major stage I’d ever been on,” she said.
She and Fire Fly “made our way up very quickly,” she noted, saying there weren’t too many expectations for them coming into the Pan American Games year.
“We just kept getting better and better,” said the mother of two, who relies on family for help with her children as she balances her riding with taking care of the youngsters.
Fayvel used to be ridden primarily by his owner, Christina Davila, who imported the Dutchbred gelding as a seven-year-old sales horse, but decided to keep him after realizing he was everything she wanted. However, when she hurt her neck in a non-horse related accident, she suggested to Anna, “Why don’t you show him and see what happens?”
What happened is that she has qualified for the FEI World Cup Finals, to be held this spring in Saudi Arabia. She’s also hoping to be named to the group that will gain experience on a European tour before the Paris Olympics. Anna has never competed in Europe, and who knows what will happen in that regard?
“Olympics or not, it’s a perfect opportunity,” she said.
For Jessica, doing a CDI as her second show with Shrimp was a bit of a risk. Despite the fact that she started riding the mare only at the end of December, less than two months ago, the two have meshed.
Jessica Howington and Serenade MF (Photo © Andrew Ryback 2024)
“I feel like every single day, we click more and more, she becomes more my horse and my ride,” said Jessica, who works as a nurse practitioner in addition to training horses.
“I feel like especially over the last two weeks, our relationship has really improved. I was over the moon happy,” Jessica commented about her victory.
“She’s such a special horse, I really love her.”
At the same time, she pointed out, “It’s not easy taking on someone else’s horse who has been trained to Grand Prix. It doesn’t matter how amazing the previous rider or trainer was, it’s just styles are different.”
So not everything has been perfect in getting to know Shrimp, who was trained by Alice Tarjan.
Although the first time Jessica sat on Shrimp, when she knew immediately the mare was her kind of ride, “it took me four weeks at least, maybe five weeks, of having her before I could get the one-tempis on her. So many different things in dressage–movements are so personal. That was one of the things we really struggled with. With horses, it’s always a roller-coaster.”
Nothing comes quickly in the discipline, no matter how perfect a partnership has the potential to be. So it was exciting when things came together in the Special.
“Even though we had a couple of bobbles, Shrimp really let me ride her and I was able to learn so much about her,” Jessica pointed out.
“Now I know where there are moments I can push her. I want to get the extended trot bigger and the piaffes more on the spot. I’m really hopeful for the future and and looking forward to continuing building the relationship with her. She’s so awesome,” Jessica said of the 11-year-old Hanoverian mare, who was bred in America by Maryanna Haymon.
Shrimp “gets very fired-up and very nervous at shows, so sometimes, that turns into her being really fiery, and other times, it turns and almost makes her shut down. I have to figure out what’s going to be best for her and how I need to ride her in those moments.”
While she would be “thrilled and completely honored” to be selected for a trip to Europe, Jessica commented, “I think I definitely would have to get a few more really good and improved scores under my belt, but I would not turn down that opportunity.”
