Friday’s fare at the 30th Annual Dressage At Devon CDI*** showcased the show’s normal focus on premium entertainment and competition, and proved a boon for non-American riders.

Young rider Catherine Malone, who won the Young Rider team test on Melvin (67.77%), was the only American-born rider to take a victory gallop around the Dixon Oval, Devon, Pa.

Lars Petersen rode Dansko’s Success to earn the Grand Prix for the Grand Prix Special blue ribbon. With the country’s best Grand Prix horses resting up after the Olympics, Devon’s Grand Prix classes were filled with the next crop of young and upcoming mounts.

From Denmark, Petersen has moved his training business to Florida. He won the class with a 64.45 percent. The 9-year-old Danish Warmblood is green and inexperienced but showed moments of beautiful brilliance, especially in the piaffe and passage tours. The large Dixon Oval did rattle the gray’s nerves and the pair’s score reflected those moments of tension, but Petersen is an immaculate rider and kept the lid on the pressure cooker with elegant skill.

French O-rated judge Bernard Maurel said the judges punished Petersen for the horse’s disobedience, but because moments like the passage and the piaffe were so good, Petersen won the class.

“I gave him 8s for the passage and piaffe, which were some of the best I’ve seen [in a young horse], but for sure he got a 5 for submission,” said Maurel with a smile. “But even in the tense moments, the rider was in control. The horse would be explosive and then perform the next movement well. We always prefer some expression with risk, than no risk and therefore no expression.”

On the other hand, Leslie Reid’s Grand Prix for the Grand Prix freestyle’s winning performance, showed very little tension. As she always does, Reid rode a precise, accurate test on her 2003 Pan Am individual gold medal test mount, Mark.

Showing beautiful suppleness and textbook harmony and submissiveness Reid and Mark were heads above their competition, with a score just topping 70 percent. Fellow countryman, Jacqueline Brooks was second on Gran Gesto.

Mark is a deceiving horse to watch because the expression he shows is subtle. His obedience can fool you into thinking he’s a plain bay. But his wonderful suspension and elasticity remind you what Grand Prix is all about.

“He’s just so buoyant. It was as if the ground was pushing the horse upwards,” said U.S. I-rated judge Lois Yukins. “He had more energy than balance at times, but when the balance comes his scores will get much higher.”

Colombian Cesar Parra won the Prix St. Georges (70.91%) on Pik-L, making it his second consecutive year to win a small tour ribbon at Devon on the 11-year-old Hanovarian stallion. He topped 46 competitors in the huge class, but the top three placings were a mere 0.66 percentage points apart.

Canadians Tom Dvorak on West Side Lady (70.75%) and Ashley Holzer on Gambol (70.25%), placed second and third.

Brooks also took top honors in the FEI test for 5-year-olds. The three-judge panel loved Balmoral (8.2) and waxed eloquent on his potential as a dressage prospect. Janet Brown spoke for the group and said the bay “has a spectacular walk. He’s light on his feet, he’s active and has a clear rhythm. His medium trot was light and airy and his canter work ground covering.”

The only caution she had for Brooks was that Balmoral’s neck is too long on the topside, which caused him to have some difficulty in keep his withers and shoulders in front of him. “Other than that this horse’s quality is excellent,” she said.

Elly Schobel, won the FEI 6-year-old test on Rasion d’Etre. Now a U.S. citizen, Schobel was born in Germany and resides in Williston, S.C.
Both the young horse tests were the final classes for the North American Breeders Futurity Championship. The NABF places an emphasis on the training and showing of young horses bred in North America. The NABF offered an unprecedented $20,000 in prize money. Horses qualified for the finals based on scores earned in qualifying young horse classes.

The entertainment provided by the show’s organizers was top-notch as always. From carriage driving exhibitions, a pas de deux, and the Thorncroft Mainstreamers Drill Team, spectators were kept happy all day.

The highlight of the evening’s fare was the Spanische Impressionen.

Riding her black Andulasian stallion, Capprichio, Sabine Schut-Kery and professional dancer Ana Ayromlou matched steps and strides in the Dixon Oval. As Capprichio piaffed, Ayromlou tapped out a flamenco rhythm. As Capprichio Spanish walked, Ayromlou threw her legs up in an extravagant march, the skirts of her Spanish dress swirling. The performers also used a black cape and a lance as props in their act, much to the crowd’s appreciation.