On the Line

It may have been all sunshine and Lamborghinis in Thermal yesterday, but in Palm Beach, dark and stormy clouds unleashed enough rain to cancel Thursday’s classes at WEF. Luckily, the highly anticipated Exquis World Dressage Masters CDI5* were beginning down the road at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center under a much appreciated covered arena.Purely a fan of dressage with no desire to ever pick it up myself (where these people find their endless tolerance for flatwork, I don’t know), I nonetheless can appreciate how very difficult it is.

And beautiful. And fluid. And when performed correctly – harmonious. Steffen Peters traveled from California to prove as much with the great Ravel, scoring miles above the 2nd place finisher with 80.87% in the Grand Prix test. We can safely say that they’re the favorites heading into today’s Grand Prix Special and Freestyle classes….dontcha think?

Photo ©Alan Fabricant

I love this photo of Steffen and Ravel in the warm up before their test. First of all, Steffen’s got his helmet on, go helmets! And his expression says it all; he is cool, calm, and focused. Cantering around on a loose contact, Ravel is totally relaxed and confident. They warmed up like this, and then went in the ring and nailed every movement of their test. Steffen said he felt better today than he did at WEG when he won two individual bronze medals. Sadly, On the Line can’t be there for the big classes today, which I hear are completely sold out. If you’re like me and will be somewhere else but still want to watch, go to USEF Network for the live online broadcast.

A few more photos from the Grand Prix:

Tina Konyot and Calecto V placed 2nd on 72.21%. Photo ©Alan Fabricant

Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven of Sweden and Favourit were second, scoring 71.34%. Photo ©Alan Fabricant

Ashley Holzer and Pop Art scored 71.06% to finish 4th. Photo ©Alan Fabricant

German rider Anja Ploenzka was sporting an interesting -blue!- shadbelly. Photo ©Alan Fabricant

Crowd favorite. Photo ©Alan Fabricant

Blowing the competition away during the Grand Prix test. Photo ©Alan Fabricant