June 29, 2006 – Ottawa, Ontario – The first CDI dressage show of the season was held in Ottawa, and three female riders stood out to claim victories at the advanced level.

 

While Canada's Dressage Team has only just been named for the World Equestrian Games, everyone is already thinking ahead to the 2007 Pan American Games where, for the first time, Olympic qualification will be on the line.  While it is puzzling that the FEI would even allow countries to qualify for the Olympics given that they are held at the Grand Prix level while the Pan Am Games are only at the advanced or 'small tour' level, rules are rules and Canada will take every opportunity to ensure that it meets the qualifying criteria with a strong performance in Rio de Janeiro.

 

On the opening day of competition at the CDI3* Ottawa Summer Dressage Classic, organized by Cara Whitham and held June 22-25, hometown girl Simone Williams topped the 19-horse field in the national division of the Prix St. Georges.  Simone has only just moved her eight-year-old Hannoverian gelding up to the advanced level, having claimed the Fourth Level Championship three weeks earlier at a national show held at the Caledon Equestrian Park in Palgrave, ON.

 

With a score of 67%, Simone is on track to meet the qualifying criteria for the Pan American Games.  Her horse, Wunder Ein, is an incredibly elastic horse that appears to float over the sand in the dressage arena, and his floppy ears endear him to spectators.

 

"Developing the communication necessary to compete with a horse at the top levels of the sport is a very long process," Simone pointed out.  "I purchased Wunder Ein as a two-year-old in Germany, so it is very gratifying that our hard work and training is now paying off, and it is getting to the point where if I think something, he does it."

 

Simone was a member of Canada's Team at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg where she finished in the top ten individually with Einstein (Wunder Ein's name is a nod to her former partner).  She also represented Canada at the 1997 North American Dressage Championships with Marco, so international competition is not new to her.  A busy coach, Simone had no less than 11 students competing at the Ottawa Summer Dressage Classic including Briannon Johnson who won the FEI Young Rider Freestyle.  However, Simone's business, Queenswood Stables, is quite diversified, and her 46-stall training facility specializes in importing and training young horses both for the dressage arena and the hunter-jumper ring.  Many dressage competitors are surprised to learn that she also shows hunters at top-level competitions, including the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL.

 

Another hard working individual now realizing the fruits of her labour is Diane Creech.  She has done all the training on Wiona, a nine-year-old chestnut Hannoverian mare by Weltmeyer that is owned by Doug and Louise Leatherdale.  Now in their third season showing at the advanced level, Diane says Wiona is "more mature, and better able to understand what I am asking her to do."  The pair won both the Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I tests in the CDI3* Division with scores of 68.80% and 70.35% respectively.

 

Diane, who was born in Georgia and grew up in Germany, will depart on July 4 for Germany where she will spend two months training and competing.  She will take Wiona as well as Devon L, a chestnut Hannoverian gelding by De Niro, that was bred at Leatherdale Farms in Minnesota.  With Devon L, Diane will contest the Six-Year-Old Division of the FEI Young Horse Breeding Championships in Verden, Germany.  It is a trip that Diane is especially excited about considering that she has not been back to Germany since leaving 10 years ago.

 

"We moved to Germany when I was five, so I did grow up there and am really looking forward to going back," says Diane who is married and has two children, Patrick, 10, and Vanessa, 5.  "Of course, my main focus is on training and competing, but I do hope to find some time to visit some old friends that I have kept in touch with over the years."

 

Andrea Bresee and Raffles prevented Diane and Wiona from making a clean sweep of the advanced level by claiming the Intermediaire Freestyle.  Performing to a Celtic-inspired musical piece entitled 'Middle Earth Quest of the Dream Warrior', Andrea topped the field with a score of 71.55%.

 

For the past decade, Andrea has been training at Franklands Farm in Brockville, ON, with 1988 Olympic Team Bronze Medallist, Gina Smith.  She began riding Raffles as a four-year-old and the pair has formed a strong partnership.  The Canadian-bred mare is now 12, and has an outstanding rhythm that makes her a favourite with the judges.

 

"She's not an easy mare in her temperament, so when she gives herself to me, it is a great feeling because she is very talented," explains Andrea, 31.  A certified Level III coach who has many of her own clients, Andrea says she enjoys training with Gina because "she is wonderful in the consistency that she has, and in her attention to detail."

 

Gina and Faith Berghuis own Raffles, and are very happy to give Andrea the opportunity to compete at the higher levels with the mare.  Like Simone and Diane, Andrea's goal is also to qualify for the Pan American Games.  With over 40 entries in the national and CDI divisions of the Prix St. Georges at the Ottawa Summer Dressage Classic alone, there will be shortage of talent when the time comes to name the Canadian Team.

 

Finally, congratulations must be extended to Evi Strasser on her victories in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle.  Evi choose to support the both the Ottawa and Blainville competitions before departing for Europe where she will represent Canada at the WEG, and the show organizers appreciate her patronage of the two Canadian shows.  Evi and Quantum Tyme, an 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding that she has trained since buying him as a three-year-old at auction, proved they are in championship form, putting in a solid Freestyle performance to their trademark 'Lion King' soundtrack.  The judges were perhaps conservative in awarding her a score of 71.75%, but Evi knew that her horse had tried his absolute best for her and, in the end, that is all that matters.

 

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