The concluding day of the third week at the 12-week 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL, hosted the first qualifiers in two developing horse tours as well as the freestyle classes in the para international held alongside the CDI5* show.

Locally based rider Kate Shoemaker (USA) took the overall para championship for her three performances on her own 10-year-old Vianne (by Vitalis), culminating in a 78.892% in the CPEDI3* Grand Prix Grade IV Freestyle, giving them a total of 222.975 points, and the title.

Photo – Wellington was host to a CPEDI3* during the third week at the 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival.  (©Centre Line Media)

Marie Vonderheyden (USA) logged three plus-70% scores on Karin Flint’s nine-year-old Fürstenball gelding Fan Tastico H in the Grade I ranks to take the reserve champion’s sash with 221.339.

Both third-placed Grade V athlete Cynthia Screnci riding For Memory 4 and fourth-placed Grade I competitor Roxanne Trunnell aboard Rumour Has It also put down a trio of plus-70% tests, underscoring the depth of U.S. para dressage talent. Shoemaker, Screnci and Vonderheyden were joined by Grade III rider Hannah Kingsley to make up the U.S. Para Dressage Team at this CPEDI3*.

Shoemaker, who suffers from muscle weakness and spasms on the right side of her body, began the show feeling ill but rallied to increase her scores as the CPEDI went on.

So Special

“The week started out a bit rough, and the first ride didn’t go very well [69.398% in the Grand Prix A Test]; I almost needed her to do the test for me,” said Shoemaker of the American-bred Vitalis daughter. “We’ve been together two years, and our partnership has gotten so close. I’ve never had a horse like this; she’s so special with the biggest heart.

“When I first rode her in Denmark, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour said she thought we were a gold medal partnership. We didn’t quite pull off the gold medal [at the Paralympics] in Paris, but we did medal in the freestyle. Since Paris, once that pressure was off, we were able to relax and just do the best training we could. Everything has really blossomed, and it’s exciting.”

Wellington was host to a CPEDI3* during the third week at the 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival. Photo ©Centre Line Media

This CPEDI was Vianne’s first international show in seven months, and Shoemaker is priming her to peak for the FEI World Championships in Aachen, Germany, in August.

Feeling the Pressure

“Everybody is starting to feel the pressure of selection, and we’ve got to get scores,” continued Shoemaker. “We’re thankful that this show was added to the schedule. It’s tough for the organizer to add it in a five-star week, but it turned out to be incredible for the horses because the atmosphere was so big.

“Even if some people didn’t have their best ride on the first day, it pays off in the end because it’s an experience you can’t replicate,” she added. “It’s good for the riders and good for the horses, as well as for the community because they get to see what it’s all about.”

U.S. Para Dressage Chef d’Equipe and Technical Advisor, Michel Assouline, said, “Everybody’s on a good path and really showing improvement. You could see that on the first day—and with it being a January show—that things are a little rusty. That’s normal. Some of them haven’t been competing for months. Here, with feedback from top international judges, it just gives the riders a guide of where they need to be.”

Click for full results from AGDF3.

Sunday’s action wraps up competition in AGDF 3. Dressage returns with a CDI4* and national rated show during AGDF 5 (February 4-8). The 2026 AGDF, which hosts seven weeks of CDI competition over three months, runs through March 29. For more information, results, and to live stream the classes in the International Arena free of charge, visit www.wellingtoninternational.com.