The Perrigo U.S. Para Dressage Team finished a superb week at the Mannhiem CPEDI3*, finishing atop the podium in team competition and securing several individual honors as well. The team completed the competition on a final score of 452.199, while Germany finished in second on 443.622. Austria rounded out the top three placings with a team score of 433.696. The Perrigo U.S. Para Dressage Team was led by Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline and featured the athlete-and-horse combinations of Beatrice de Lavalette and Sixth Sense, Rebecca Hart with Floratina, Fiona Howard aboard Diamond Dunes, and Kate Shoemaker and Vianne.

Photo – Perrigo U.S. Dressage Team (©StefanLafrentz)

“We won a strong Nations’ Cup here at Mannheim ahead of some incredibly talented teams with our largest-ever team score and an average indivdual percentage of 75.35,” said Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline. “We can’t rest on our laurels and don’t want to peak too early either. Careful planning is going into this ahead of our next international in Hagen, Germany, next month.”

Team veterans, Rebecca Hart and Kate Shoemaker, led the team with excellent scores in both the FEI Para Grand Prix Test A and FEI Para Grand Prix Test B for the team, marking their second consecutive international competition with scores above the 75 percent mark. Hart (Loxahatchee, Fla.) aboard Floratina topped both classes in Grade III competition, earning a 75.111 percent in the FEI Para Grand Prix Test A, followed by a 75 percent in the FEI Para Grand Prix Test B. Shoemaker (Wellington, Fla.) and Vianne, who she only debuted earlier this year, topped both Grade IV classes for the team, earning a 76.574 percent, and personal best, in the FEI Para Grand Prix Test A, followed by a 75.541 percent in the FEI Para Grand Prix Test B.

Welcome Addition

Fiona Howard (Boston, Mass.) has been a welcomed addition to the U.S. Para Dressage program, first representing the U.S. in para dressage in 2022. Aboard Diamond Dunes in Grade II, Howard took first in the large class contesting the FEI Para Grand Prix Test A on Saturday, with the pair earning a 75.111 percent from the judging panel, before returning to finish with a 74.778 percent in the FEI Para Grand Prix Test B for the team. Also competing in Grade II, Beatrice de Lavalette (Loxahatchee, Fla.) rode her 2022 FEI Para Dressage World Championship partner, Sixth Sense, to a 65.402 percent on the first day of competition, and received a 69.944 percent in the FEI Para Grand Prix Test B for the team.

Aboard Floratina, a 2008 Hanoverian mare owned by Rowan O’Riley and Chloe Gasiorowski and cared for by Mackenzie Young, Hart rode one of their best freestyles together, impressing the judges, and earning some marks above 80 percent, to finish the weekend with a 78.844 percent in the freestyle to finish the weekend with a win in Grade III.

Howard and Diamond Dunes, a 2013 Hanoverian gelding owned by Dressage Family LLC & Hof Kasselmann and cared for by Jessica Martin Legg, finished third in the FEI Para Grand Prix Freestyle Grade II with a 75.611 percent, while teammate de Lavalette and Sixth Sense, a 2010 Oldenburg gelding owned by Elizabeth & Nicolas de Lavalette and cared for by Marie Thollon, earned fifth place with a 72.878 percent.

Shoemaker and Vianne, 2016 American Hanoverian mare owned by NorCordia USA and cared for by Jessica Martin Legg, finished out their tremendous week for the program with a third place in the FEI Para Grand Prix Freestyle Grade IV, earning a 73.583 percent.

Results