2005 Dressage at Devon

Lars Petersen and Success Return to the Ring with Success

Danish dynamite has returned to the Grand Prix show ring with success. Former Danish Olympic team rider Lars Petersen and his Danish warmblood gelding Success (by Silver Moon x World Cup I) have teamed up again to reign in the ring since the Florida show season.

In the Grand Prix for Special, Petersen was able to keep the lid on the cooker as Success was about to explode at the beginning of the ride. The trot tour was fragile, showing little extension and the half passes were passage like. Once the piaffe and passage started, Success mellowed out and Petersen was able to ride him more. The tempi changes and zig zag were delightful showing much ground cover and scope in the changes. They pair received 68.583% from the judges, the winning score.

Since Dressage in Florida, Success has been competed by Petersen's partner Melissa Taylor for her to gain valuable Grand Prix mileage. However, the sensitive grey gelding was not shown since the Festival of Champions in June and the horse can get explosive if he doesn't have routine under his 'girth'. "He was very fresh and Lars had the qualifying points to compete him at Devon anyway, so I thought it was a better idea for him to show Success," Melissa Taylor explained.

Finishing second were Dr. Cesar Parra and Leonberg, a Zweibrucken licensed stallion by Lonely Boy xx. Leonberg was fresh, active and electric throughout the test and showed a brilliant passage, but in the canter work he was not always totally balanced and collected. Nevertheless, the horse is a real talent for the future and with 67.458% he placed second in the Grand Prix for Special at Devon.

Louisiana based Heather Blitz traveled to Devon leaving the wreckage of hurricane Katrina behind her. "I sacrificed so much because of Katrina but I was not giving up Devon," Blitz said. Because of the devastation Katrina left behind, Blitz had to keep all her Grand Prix horses out in a field where they had to drink from the pond, while the damage was being repaired. In Devon, Blitz showed her cute chestnut mare Arabella (by Rambo) to a 67.375% score which placed her third.

by Astrid Appels

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