Wellington, Fla. – Feb. 21, 2018 – On a breezy day in Wellington, Florida, 94 horse-and-rider combinations made their way down the inspection track in preparation for the CDI classes during Week Seven of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (AGDF).
International rider Eiren Crawford has been coming to Wellington for the winter season for four years and is looking forward to competing Warello, a 15-year-old Canadian Warmblood gelding, this week.
“I’m loving it here as always,” Crawford explained. “We’ve just been working on keeping Warello fit and healthy — we had to withdraw the first CDI due to a skin condition so we’ve been working on managing that and keeping him healthy with the right level of energy. We’ll see if it all comes together. I would like to do another CDI or two in March with him.
“I also have some super young horses that I’m showing in the national classes,” Crawford continued. “I’m going to try the developing Prix St. Georges with one of my young horses that I’ve had for three years so I’m really excited about that. We’re just trying to get as much show experience as we can while we’re here. We show here, then we get to go home and have a little break. It’s nice to relax a little before the summer season starts up.”
Crawford and Warello will compete in the CDI-W Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle on Thursday and Friday.
Annie Klepper of Ohio is also competing her pony HB Virginia, a 14-year-old German Riding Pony, this weeked in the CDI Pony division.
“This is my first CDI!” Klepper exclaimed. “I’m super excited and a little bit nervous — it’s my first time showing in the big international ring so that’s kind of nerve wracking. We got to go in there and walk around yesterday. It was crazy because I’ve never seen it from that perspective before.
“This is my second season here,” continued Klepper. “Last year, we just did some Training Level shows here so it’s been really fun to do the FEI ponies now. I’ve been working really hard on test movements and just trying to figure out how to put them together because they always come up faster when you’re riding the test! We’ve been working on schooling a little bit of shoulder-in and half-passes — it’s a lot different once you put it all together in the tests!”
Klepper and “GiGi” are competing in the FEI Pony Team test and the FEI Pony Individual test on Friday and Saturday. The team test is set to start at 8:50 a.m Friday morning, with the individual test starting at 1:15 p.m on Saturday afternoon.
The AGDF Week Seven CDI will start Thursday at 8 a.m. with the CDI 1* Prix. St. Georges and end with the CDI-W Grand Prix at 6:15 p.m. Friday’s classes will start with the CDI 6-year-old Preliminary test at 8 a.m., and will conclude with the CDI-W Grand Prix Freestyle at 7 p.m. Saturday will start off with the CDI 1* Intermediate I and end with the CDI 3* Grand Prix Special at 2:55 p.m. The final day of competition will kick-off with the CDI 6-year-old Final test at 8 a.m. and will end with the CDI Amateur Grand Prix at 2:59 p.m.
