April 3, 2005 – Wellington, Florida – Canada’s Cheryl Meisner closed out the Florida winter season with impressive results in the Grand Prix and Prix St. Georges divisions at the Dressage at Equestrian Estates competition held April 1-3, 2005, in Loxahatchee, FL.

Meisner of Halifax, NS, earned a score of 67.875% riding Hesperos, an eleven-year-old German Trakehner gelding, to place second in Sunday’s Grand Prix Freestyle event. As a tribute to Spain where Meisner found Hesperos last fall, the pair’s freestyle music is a compilation of Spanish bullfighting music designed by Karen Robinson’s Applause Dressage of Vancouver, BC.

“Hesperos was terrific,” said Meisner, 23, of her Freestyle performance. “It was the best he has ever performed, and his piaffe is stronger than it was at the beginning of the season.”

In Saturday’s Grand Prix test, the pair’s score of 63.125% kept them out of the ribbons, but their Freestyle mark of 67.875% was the highest they have earned in their six months partnered together. Earlier this year riding Hesperos, Meisner celebrated the first Grand Prix victory of her career at the Gold Coast Opener Festival held January 21-23 in Wellington, FL.

Meisner’s success was not limited to the Grand Prix ring. In Friday’s Prix St. Georges competition, Meisner rode Lucky Strike to a score of 69.25% to place second, just fractions of a percentage off the winning score. In the Intermediaire I competition held Saturday, the pair placed fourth with a score of 65.625%.

“In the Prix St. Georges, Lucky Strike went the best that he has ever gone, he was perfect!” said Meisner of the 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Ferro that she has been riding for one year. “We received high scores for our canter changes, extended trots, final halt and his paces. He was a very difficult horse to get to know mentally, but once I got to know him, he would do anything for me. He is the horse that I have the strongest partnership with.

“I am just so happy and relieved to have Lucky Strike back again,” revealed Meisner. “He has been battling a neurological virus and was off for four months. I thought I had lost him forever. Thank goodness my veterinarian, Dr. Tim Ober, was able to properly diagnose his condition and treat him effectively. Lucky Strike has only been back in work for seven weeks, so his results are all that more impressive. I hope that his story inspires others who are having problems with their horses not to give up.”

Meisner now returns to Canada where she will be based just north of Toronto with 2003 Pan American Silver Medallist, Jacqueline Brooks. Meisner plans to compete on the Canadian World Cup qualifying circuit, and her coach, Bert Rutten of The Netherlands, will travel to Canada on a regular basis to assist in her training. Meisner spent the majority of the 2004 season based in Europe with Rutten, who is considered one of the top dressage trainers in the world.

“This was our last show in Florida, and it was also our most successful one, so it is nice to go home on a good note,” noted Meisner, who is sponsored by Lobster Point Farms.

Having only made her debut at the Olympic level of Grand Prix last season, Meisner is quickly becoming one of Canada’s top international contenders. Incredibly, Meisner has only been training in the equestrian sport of dressage for the past three years and is one of the youngest Canadian athletes competing at the grand prix level. Her goal is to be a member of the Canadian Dressage Team for the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.