Hot competition and great awards seemed to be the dominant themes at the Woodside Summer Dressage and Breed Show (July 16-18) at the Horse Park at Woodside. This series of shows has a tradition of awarding coolers to the Markel/Cornerstone High Point Series Champions, as well as giving junior and amateur riders the opportunity to earn points to send their trainer to Maui, courtesy of the Maui Trainer Incentive.

“It was a fabulous show,” remarked show manager Glenda McElroy. “We used the new covered arena, and everyone loved it. It was hot, so having that for warm up really helped. The new seating in the Grand Prix Arena was nice, too.”

“I think they have fabulous prizes,” said rider Michele DeLuna, whose trainer Christine Rivlin won the Maui trip in 2009. “I love all the award programs.”

Michele and the rest of the group from Christine Rivlin Dressage found themselves at the top of their classes time and time again, including earning two high point coolers and three High Percentage Champion awards. “We brought 12 horses to the show,” Christine recounted. “Friday, I showed in five classes on five horses and won all five.” One of those victories was in third level aboard Vento, a Lusitano stallion that earned scores ranging from 63.333 to 66.521%. “This was his first show with me. He is a fabulous stallion, and his scores got better and better over the weekend. He won all of his classes but one.”

In the lower levels, Christine rode Mimosa (Michele Martin, owner) to Lower Level High Percentage Champion—and the highest score in the dressage show—after earning a 72.800% in training level. “Mimosa was as consistent as ever at this show,” remarked Christine. “She put in very consistent tests throughout the weekend. I am super happy she won the award, as she is not the fanciest mover. However, she reflects good training and a wonderful attitude and work ethic.” For the past two years Mimosa has produced two foals for her owner, and only went into serious training and showing this year. However, as the results demonstrated, Mimosa got right down to business.

Christine’s students demonstrated that they follow by example. Stacy Zwergel rode Valentino to a win in third level, earned two scores over 70%, and was named the Upper Level High Percentage Champion. Ellie Kennedy also got into the 70th percentile in fourth level with her horse, Sancet. “Ellie has done an amazing job with Sancet, and he is a super horse,” Christine commented.

In keeping with the strong showing Christine’s barn made at the show, Michele DeLuna and her Rapallo captured the FEI high point cooler. “I was so excited,” Michele said. “I’ve never won a cooler before. I had no idea; I went into the office and the ladies were all excited. This was my first FEI high point.” Michelle has been paired with Rapallo for seven years.

The pair was also the high percentage FEI Junior/Amateur for their impressive score of 69.474% in Intermediaire I. While this score is not uncommon for professionals, Michele is an amateur. She does all of the training on her horses herself under Christine’s guidance, taking lessons four of the five days per week that she rides. Rapallo is the first horse she has taken to this level, and after working with him for seven years Michelle said they are almost ready for Intermediaire II.

“Michele has ridden with me for four years,” stated Christine. “We grew up together, then went our own way for college, but came back together for the horses. She has done an amazing job with Rapallo and is a wonderful student to teach.” Michele left her two horses with Christine when she had hip surgery in 2006, knowing she would not be able to ride for two months. Even though Michele recovered fully and can ride more comfortably than she did before the operation, she decided to leave the horses where they were and commute just over an hour each way to ride them.

Michele was not the only rider at the show who trains her own horse. Kasey Perry purchased her Royal Windston as a two-year-old and has done all of his training herself, taking lessons with Gina Duran of Topline Dressage Training. This is Windston’s first year at third level, and Kasey won two of her classes on him with a high score of 62.674%.

Dressage is a tradition in the Perry family. Mother Diane also rides, and Kasey’s sister Holly sent her Wellissima to the show with Gina. Gina and “Bella” were FEI High Percentage Champions for their winning score of 68.158% in Prix St. Georges. “That was a nice surprise,” Gina said. “Bella’s really a powerful horse, but super sensible. She’s just exhilarating and satisfying to ride. This was only her fifth time showing Prix St. Georges, so this year is all about getting her out and getting her feet wet. I think she’s super competitive.”

Becky O’Reilly, on the other hand, has only been in dressage training for two and a half years, although she rode casually as a child. This is her first year of showing ever, and at Woodside Summer Dressage she was the Lower Level Amateur High Percentage Reserve Champion after earning 68% in first level and winning three of her classes with Limerick (Gina Duran, owner). “That was pretty darned cool,” Becky said. “Limerick was awesome. He was so much fun.”

Before taking lessons from Gina, Becky had been away from riding for over 20 years. She hadn’t thought of getting back into the saddle until Gina suggested it, but she’s glad she did. “This is a dream!” she added. In just six shows, she has qualified herself and Limerick for the Regional Adult Amateur Clinic, the Woodside Series Championship and the California Dressage Society Championships. She plans to go to all three.

“Woodside was so professionally put together,” Becky reported. “Everything was ready when we got there, which was really nice, and the ring stewards were very nice and helpful. Three of my rides were at the same time Gina was riding, so she wasn’t able to help me get ready. I felt really good about the fact that I was prepared enough to get my horse ready and get ourselves in the ring and have good rides.”

Two other amateurs from Topline were Jaclyn Vazquez, who earned scores in the high 60s with her Legend Woods Zia, and Parker House, who earned 67.105% in second level with her 19-year-old Kodiak. This show was only Kodiak’s third show at this level.

Helle Rasmussen was another top amateur at the show, winning the amateur high point cooler and earning the Lower Level Amateur High Percentage award with her Mr. Donneroy. The pair scored 70.476% in second level, plus scores in the high 60s in first level. Shelby Lorenzi won the Junior/Young Rider high point cooler and the Lower Level Junior/Young Rider high percentage award, riding An Elegant Image to a 70% in training level.

Another tradition at the Woodside Summer Dressage show is the breed show, which offers sport horse in hand and dressage suitability classes. “Breeding for sport horse is an important part of dressage,” explained Glenda. “We try to support the breeders by having qualifying shows for the regional championships. There are a lot of breeders in Northern California and not a lot of shows for them to qualify.”

In the breed show ring, Kevin Reinig won the high point cooler with Winnifer (JoAnn Thomas, owner and breeder). The three-year-old Hanoverian mare by Wolkentanz was the champion filly. “She was a little excited in her class, but she was relaxed and showed well in the final ring, and I think that’s what secured the championship,” Kevin recalled. “We started campaigning her as a two-year-old, and I’m really happy with how she’s matured. JoAnn was thrilled.” Kevin plans to get Winnifer going under saddle soon so she can do the Mare Performance Test next year.

JoAnn was also thrilled when her Lucette, a four-year-old mare by Londonderry, was named champion mare. She completed her Mare Performance Test on Friday before the show, and Ericka Reinig showed her to a score of 8.16 there. Kevin said, “We were extremely happy with that. She is a very promising young dressage horse. She is competing at Training Level, as well as the futurity, materiale and breed show in-hand classes. Dale and JoAnn Thomas have been breeding horses for years, and finally they are keeping these two (Winnifer and Lucette) to enjoy for themselves.”

Kevin and Ericka run KEFA Performance Horses at Lucchetti Ranch, where they also serve as breeding managers. Two entries bred by Lucchetti represented them well at the show. Their yearling filly Doma Delinda was reserve champion filly behind Winnifer. “This was only her second show,” Kevin explained. “We were extremely proud of her and how she showed.” Caley Morrison captured third and fourth place in the filly championship with Rubi Bella (Dara Rip, owner) and Carissima (Ada Koransky).

Lucchetti also bred the Domiro son Donaldo (Amy Bidwell, owner), which Kevin showed to a championship in the colts and geldings section. Kevin remarked, “He’s a super athletic young gelding, and he showed very well. I was very happy that he was relaxed and showed so well. We sold him to Amy as her future riding horse.”

The Reserve Champion Colt was Bravos First Class (Roxanne Rainwater, owner) with Roxanne at the lead. This colt is sired by the Oldenburg stallion Bravo.

The breed show is a natural addition to the dressage show, as Kevin will attest. “I think the breed shows are very important to give the breeders a chance to showcase their young horses. Having them in conjunction with the dressage show, gives the riders a chance to see the up-and-coming horses. Some of them find it a little inconvenient to have the wild babies jumping around, but management did a good job of controlling it and keeping it separate. It’s important to get these horses into the show ring at a young age so that when they go out under saddle, they’ve already been there and are ahead of the game.”

Young horses and seasoned campaigners alike will have one more chance to get into the Woodside show ring at the Woodside Autumn Dressage and Breed Show September 17-19, featuring the Woodside Series Championships.

For more information and complete results of the Woodside Summer Dressage and Breed Show, visit the website at http://www.cornerstonedressage.com/show_results.asp.

For more information on Langer Equestrian Group, visit www.langershows.com.