Wellington Chronicles - Part 1!

It has been just over two weeks since Jess and I descended upon Wellington, and even with one horse I still can't seem to find the time to send prompt reports on how it is going! I blame it on Jess, we can not go anywhere without people recognizing her and wanting to talk to her (very time consuming).  The kind of recognition Miley Cyrus could only dream of!

Photo Credit Susan J. Stickle

Topper has been giving us 100% here everyday and I could not be happier.  We are based out of Margaret Duprey's beautiful Cherry Knoll South, and I am incredibly greatful for all the hospitality she and Todd Flettrich have shown us while being here for the show season.

Our first show was the weekend of Feb. 9 at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival.  This was Topper's and my first CDI,  since running our last FEI event, which was a CCI*,  which seems like a lifetime ago.  Thank goodness I had Jessica here to interpret all the rules so we didn't have a TE.  So many rules!  Riding in front of a very tough European judges panel, Topper and I performed mistake free team and individual tests to take home the blue!

This past weekend we competed in our 2nd FEI, scoring a 63% on our team test (with a few mistakes and room for improvement) and a nice consistent performance in our Individual test, earning us a 66%.  These recent scores were high enough to qualify our eligibility to be Long Listed on the Canadian Dressage Team.  Next up we have our first freestyle to be performed in the show ring, and we are expecting good results!

Stay tuned!  ~ David