USPRE Party and High Point Winners for the Florida Dressage Classic
At the USPRE-sponsored Florida Dressage Classic and the new Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, the PREs made an impressive showing! The weekend kicked off with a wonderful exhibition on Wednesday night for an audience of over 400, featuring Riders and PRE horses at all levels and ranging from US Team members to Emerging Dressage Athletes as young as 13 years old. Pan American Team Alternate Endel Ots opened the evening with a Grand Prix Freestyle on Gorrion de Panatero, an 11 year old PRE Gelding owned by Lily C. Zilo. Following a Piaffe and Passage demonstration with Endel and Lily Zilo on Esmaltado, there was a heartwarming testimonial by Tina Konyot who talked about her father–master trainer Alex Konyot–and his love for Spanish and Portuguese horses. She told of witnessing their arrivals by ship as a very young girl, and how she grew up learning the upper level movements on several beautiful and gracious stallions. Tina then gave a short demonstration using USEF Young Horse finalist Emily Copeland on her super-impressive 7 year old Festivo. Lendon Gray directed a team of youth riders, most of whom had participated in her Emerging Dressage Athlete program, as they showcased their exceptional talent on beautiful PRE horses. Mica Mabragana and Rachel Chowanec performed exciting rides to music, and the evening closed with a Dancing Horses segment with a number of up and coming horses and riders making their debut in the lighted Stadium arena, including Nicholas Fyffe on Robert Dover’s four year old Fiero HGF.
Exhibition Riders were:
Emily Copeland with Festivo
Endel Ots with Gorrion de Penatoro
Rachel Chowanec with Embrujado
Sophie Hoffman with Kiwi
Lily Zilo with Esmaltado
Stephanie Zilo with Edil
Chelsea Reed with Kabilleno
Maddy Guthrie with Lentisco
Kerrigan Gulch with Camaron
Mica Mabragana with Cuatrero and Infanta
Nicholas Fyffe with Fiero
Beginning on Thursday, the focus turned to the real competition–where again our PREs excelled. USEF National Reserve Champion Rachel Chowanec continues to gain experience in this first year of riding the Young Riders tests, improving her marks as she and Embrujado XI become more experienced at what is essentially the Prix St. George level. They took first and second in the national Team and Individual tests respectively with scores of 68.28 and 67.1.
15 year old Kerrigan Gluch of Michigan traveled down to Wellington with her parents Tina and Brent to represent the EDAP riders in the USPRE exhibition, and to do her first Wellington show as a bonus. Having only ridden Camaron three times in the EDAP clinic in December, Kerrigan proved what her trainer Laurie Moore says are her particular strengths–showmanship and test-riding! They showed third level all weekend and received three of Camaron’s best scores at this level: 67.69, 67.94 and 68.415, just edging out Rachel for the Youth Rider High Point Award for USPRE.
The Adult Amateur award was won by Janne Rumbaugh with two scores over 69%.
Mica Mabragana is continuing to live up to her press with exceptionally high marks on the young mare Infanta HGF (by Idilio II). Owner Mary Magee of Chicago was on hand to see the pair as they easily topped their Training Level classes with scores of 71.42, 72.00, and 77.85! The judges praised the mare’s three excellent gaits and made special mention of the harmony between horse and rider (for which they received a 9 in collective marks from one judge). Mica and Infanta’s score of 77.85 was not only the Open High Point score for USPRE, but was the High Score for the entire Florida Dressage Classic show–a fitting conclusion to a weekend sponsored by the United States PRE Association!
Center Arena
Full House
Chef Frederic Boyer "Hams It Up"
Paella Galore !
Coming back for seconds !
We should have put seats at the buffet !
Feast for Kings !
Endel Ots
Tina Konyot
PRE's In Center Stage
Barron & Kogan Clan
Bob & Christiane Kohn
The " Parlez Vous " Group
Shopping for USPRE Attire
Spontaneous Visitors !
Management Team at Work
Mica Mabragana & INFANTA HGF
Ana Tillman - Anxious Moment
Nicho Meridith
Mary McGee & Cindy Ramirez Smith
Rachel Chowanec & EMBRUJADO
Linda Michelle Reed, Anne Gribbons, Maureen Sharp
Sophie Hoffman & KIWI
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner !
USPRE – True to the Pure Spanish Horse
