Dressage at Devon - 2013

I could not have asked for more perfect weather for my visit to Dressage at Devon yesterday. The sun was bright, and the blue of the sky was interrupted only by a few cottony cumulus. With the temperatures cooling off at the beginning of fall, all the foliage has began to change to reds and oranges. And the show organizers took advantage of nature's new color palette, supplementing it with orange and yellow flowers around the arena (which I loved, as you might be able to tell from the photos I took!). With so much work to do for my day job, I mostly stopped by to soak up the atmosphere and check out the trade stands. I decided mostly to enjoy the lovely day, rather than engaging in intense examination of the dressage.

J. Peter Andersen & Pastorale

By the time I arrived at Devon after my own morning at the barn, the Intermediare I was halfway over—meaning I missed all of the top three rides (including Brittany Frasier's second place performance by minutes!). The first ride I saw was J. Peter Anderson and Pastorale, the first of quite a large number of greys. George Williams had quite a nice ride with the lovely, light-footed mover Cleopatra. Every movement went off cleanly and Williams rides with a lot of tact. The partnership is still developing, however. Cleopatra was not always one-hundred-percent supple or steady in the bridle.

George Williams and Cleopatra

Entering at A

Carlos Munoz also pulled off a very respectable test on Klouseau. The horse moves very well uphill in the trot work. Klouseau became a bit tight and restricted at times, limiting the elasticity of his reach in front. In extended walk, the horse stepped a bit short in the left hind. The canter pirouettes leaned slightly in the direction of turning, but Munoz rode lots of lift in the horse's front end. The frame was consistently soft and up in the bridle.

Hans Werner Dressler & Lotario

Heather Mendiburu & What Happened 

Behind the entrance at A is the trade fair. And behind that is suburban Pennsylvania!

The stabling at Devon.

Sara Spofford-Bilinski & Lagrima

After  watching five or six of the I1 rides, I wandered off to check out the trade fair. I wanted to buy quite a few smart fly bonnets and matching saddle pads as well as a couple of absolutely beautiful grey and orange coolers. But with the help of a not-very-full wallet, I resisted all the various temptations except a funnel cake. Not being from the East Coast, the sweet novelty of that fair-food staple was a necessary indulgence!

Tina Konyot schooling Calecto's piaffe.

Robert Dover training Tina Konyot

The outside ring of booths took me down a path to the warm-up arenas, where I arrived just as Tina Konyot walked out to school Calecto for the evening's Grand Prix Freestyle. After a long walk, she picked the stallion up into a short frame and stepped right into a rhythmical, sitting piaffe. Calecto has an amazing ability to close at the base in piaffe without loss of balance or regularity. Konyot sits beautifully into her horse's movement. After a few times working piaffe in and out of the walk, Konyot began working passage and the transitions in and out of piaffe. 

While in piaffe, Calecto can really sit, he has a tendency to become rather croup high in passage. The stallion has an incredible degree of spring and suspension—which made it basically impossible for me to turn my eyes away from him to watch any other horse—but even the very skilled Konyot cannot quite harness that power into creating more lift in front. Robert Dover was coaching Konyot from the sidelines, asking her to try and lift the stallion in front, unable to avoid getting rather expressive!

Calecto is an incredibly impressive horse up close!

Dong Seon Kim and Bukowski preparing for a light mid-afternoon warm-up.     

South of the Dixon Oval is the Gold Ring,
where the JR Individual competition was taking place,
with a beautiful barn and array of foliage as its backdrop.

I finished up my afternoon watching the end of the I1. The last rider was 10th placed Patrick Tigchelaar on Davidor. Although at times the rhythm became a bit hectic, Tigchelaar really rode for his scores on Davidor, showing off the horse's excellent natural uphill gaits. 

Sahar Hirosh and Coco Cavalli

 

Sahar Hirosh and the Cheenook son Coco Cavalli after finishing their ride in the I1.

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