'On the Canadian Scene'............ with Jennifer Ward

June 29, 2006

---

Ottawa, Ontario --- The first CDI dressage show of the

season was held in Ottawa, and three female riders stood out to claim

victories at the advanced level.

While Canada's Dressage Team has only just been named for the World

Equestrian Games, everyone is already thinking ahead to the 2007 Pan

American Games where, for the first time, Olympic qualification will be

on the line. While it is puzzling that the FEI would even allow

countries to qualify for the Olympics given that they are held at the

Grand Prix level while the Pan Am Games are only at the advanced or

'small tour' level, rules are rules and Canada will take every

opportunity to ensure that it meets the qualifying criteria with a

strong performance in Rio de Janeiro.

On the opening day of competition at the CDI3* Ottawa Summer Dressage

Classic, organized by Cara Whitham and held June 22-25, hometown girl

Simone Williams topped the 19-horse field in the national division of

the Prix St. Georges. Simone has only just moved her eight-year-old

Hannoverian gelding up to the advanced level, having claimed the Fourth

Level Championship three weeks earlier at a national show held at the

Caledon Equestrian Park in Palgrave, ON.

With a score of 67%, Simone is on track to meet the qualifying criteria

for the Pan American Games. Her horse, Wunder Ein, is an incredibly

elastic horse that appears to float over the sand in the dressage arena,

and his floppy ears endear him to spectators.

"Developing the communication necessary to compete with a horse at the

top levels of the sport is a very long process," Simone pointed out. "I

purchased Wunder Ein as a two-year-old in Germany, so it is very

gratifying that our hard work and training is now paying off, and it is

getting to the point where if I think something, he does it."

Simone was a member of Canada's Team at the 1999 Pan American Games in

Winnipeg where she finished in the top ten individually with Einstein

(Wunder Ein's name is a nod to her former partner). She also

represented Canada at the 1997 North American Dressage Championships

with Marco, so international competition is not new to her. A busy

coach, Simone had no less than 11 students competing at the Ottawa

Summer Dressage Classic including Briannon Johnson who won the FEI Young

Rider Freestyle. However, Simone's business, Queenswood Stables, is

quite diversified, and her 46-stall training facility specializes in

importing and training young horses both for the dressage arena and the

hunter-jumper ring. Many dressage competitors are surprised to learn

that she also shows hunters at top-level competitions, including the

Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL.

Another hard working individual now realizing the fruits of her labour

is Diane Creech. She has done all the training on Wiona, a

nine-year-old chestnut Hannoverian mare by Weltmeyer that is owned by

Doug and Louise Leatherdale. Now in their third season showing at the

advanced level, Diane says Wiona is "more mature, and better able to

understand what I am asking her to do." The pair won both the Prix St.

Georges and Intermediaire I tests in the CDI3* Division with scores of

68.80% and 70.35% respectively.

Diane, who was born in Georgia and grew up in Germany, will depart on

July 4 for Germany where she will spend two months training and

competing. She will take Wiona as well as Devon L, a chestnut

Hannoverian gelding by De Niro, that was bred at Leatherdale Farms in

Minnesota. With Devon L, Diane will contest the Six-Year-Old Division

of the FEI Young Horse Breeding Championships in Verden, Germany. It is

a trip that Diane is especially excited about considering that she has

not been back to Germany since leaving 10 years ago.

"We moved to Germany when I was five, so I did grow up there and am

really looking forward to going back," says Diane who is married and has

two children, Patrick, 10, and Vanessa, 5. "Of course, my main focus is

on training and competing, but I do hope to find some time to visit some

old friends that I have kept in touch with over the years."

Andrea Bresee and Raffles prevented Diane and Wiona from making a clean

sweep of the advanced level by claiming the Intermediaire Freestyle.

Performing to a Celtic-inspired musical piece entitled 'Middle Earth

Quest of the Dream Warrior', Andrea topped the field with a score of

71.55%.

For the past decade, Andrea has been training at Franklands Farm in

Brockville, ON, with 1988 Olympic Team Bronze Medallist, Gina Smith.

She began riding Raffles as a four-year-old and the pair has formed a

strong partnership. The Canadian-bred mare is now 12, and has an

outstanding rhythm that makes her a favourite with the judges.

"She's not an easy mare in her temperament, so when she gives herself to

me, it is a great feeling because she is very talented," explains

Andrea, 31. A certified Level III coach who has many of her own

clients, Andrea says she enjoys training with Gina because "she is

wonderful in the consistency that she has, and in her attention to

detail."

Gina and Faith Berghuis own Raffles, and are very happy to give Andrea

the opportunity to compete at the higher levels with the mare. Like

Simone and Diane, Andrea's goal is also to qualify for the Pan American

Games. With over 40 entries in the national and CDI divisions of the

Prix St. Georges at the Ottawa Summer Dressage Classic alone, there will

be shortage of talent when the time comes to name the Canadian Team.

Finally, congratulations must be extended to Evi Strasser on her

victories in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle. Evi choose to

support the both the Ottawa and Blainville competitions before departing

for Europe where she will represent Canada at the WEG, and the show

organizers appreciate her patronage of the two Canadian shows. Evi and

Quantum Tyme, an 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding that she has trained

since buying him as a three-year-old at auction, proved they are in

championship form, putting in a solid Freestyle performance to their

trademark 'Lion King' soundtrack. The judges were perhaps conservative

in awarding her a score of 71.75%, but Evi knew that her horse had tried

his absolute best for her and, in the end, that is all that matters.

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