Weather wise, it’s not the steamy season in Wellington, Florida. That would be summer.

However, this winter will see plenty of steaming hot performance in the show ring and in the barn as the 2021 Adequan Global Dressage Festival unfurls over the next several weeks.

After the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, the Festival is underway with lots at stake. Qualifications are on the line for everything from summer Olympic consideration to national championships. Extra time to train at home will likely translate to heated competition at all levels.

As for steaming temperatures in the barns, that’s attributable to Haygain high temperature hay steamers. An unprecedented number of top dressage horsemen consider it critical to their horses’ health and performance.

These include four-time Olympian Steffen Peters and his 2012 teammate Jan Ebeling. Another four-time Olympian, Ashley Holzer, is a devoted hay steamer and 2018 WEG team rider Katherine Bateson-Chandler is a new fan. Top U25 Grand Prix contender Sara Hassler and her father and prominent coach and trainer, Scott Hassler, are long time steamers, while Grand Prix rider Melissa Taylor has newly embraced it.