Paragon CDI*** Off to Bright Start After Tornado Touchdowns

Don’t let anyone tell you that running a dressage show is easy! Wednesday night several tornados touched down near Denver International Airport creating a bit of havoc with our FEI Vet, Dr. Mike Tomlinson, who was diverted to Grand Junction. He finally made it back to Denver late in the evening and then arrived in Estes Park around midnight. Thursday morning, manager Janet Foy woke to several texts from judges who were delayed or cancelled due to the Wednesday's weather. Thursday morning dawned sunny and warm, with a new white cover on the Rocky Mountains.  Charlotte Jorst was riding her Nintendo early in the morning, loving the cool ‘European’ like weather. “It feels just like home, I love the open space!”Friday was the first day of CDI Competition and it started on a bright, sunny morning in Estes Park.

The excitement started early with all the talk down in the warm up arena for the Grand Prix class. Calculators were humming to see what score exactly Charlotte Jorst would need to make the Top 15 and receive an invitation to compete at the USEF/USET Festival of Champions and the selection trials for the World Equestrian Games.

Her Coach, many time Olympic USA Team member, Guenter Seidel was doing a good job keeping his nerves under control. He said, “It is so much harder to train and watch a client than it is to ride!”

Nintendo is a striking dark bay stallion with a lot of presence. As he cantered around the ring, the excitement was growing. The test had many highlights, including good piaffe, passage and canter pirouettes. Mistakes were made in the one tempi changes and there was some tension in the collected walk, but overall the performance was one with a lot of showmanship and good elasticity.

After her winning Grand Prix ride, Charlotte returned to the ring with her Vitalis, to win the FEI Prix St. Georges. Both stallions seem to shine in the cool, sunny weather!

Charlotte was all smiles when the scores were announced, and announced “now I am going to the Stanley Hotel for lunch!”

Friday Paragon CDI Results