Christilot Boylen celebrated her 66th birthday during the Wellington Nations Cup weekend, while her coach Udo Lange turned 70 a day later.
She celebrated by claiming the individual gold medal after her Canada I team won bronze.
Christilot learned early the rites of royalty on her way to becoming the queen of Canadian dressage.
At the age of 10, she reigned for a year as Princess Summerfall Winterspring on the Canadian series of the pioneering Howdy Doody television show. She made enough money from the show to buy her first horse.
This season in Florida was the first since her single previous appearance 25 years ago when she won the Palm Beach Dressage Derby. The next year she moved to Germany.
Cesar Parra of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey and Van the Man produced their best performances since starting CDI Grand Prix together a year ago after the horse was trained by Dorothee Schneider of Germany.
The pair were on the USA II silver medal team and won individual silver for the combined Freestyle and Special scores that were personal bests.
Ten teams started the unique mixed Prix St. Georges and Grand Prix Nations Cup. USA I won gold, USA II silver and Canada I the bronze. The event was the second of the only non-championship Nations Cups in the Western Hemisphere.
Spain probably gave the most outward display of team spirit. The Matute family, based in Wellington, Florida, of Juan, Paula and Juan Jr. joined by Carlos Munoz wore elegant outfits, cheered each other on and produced enough flags to leave no doubt when a Spanish combination was in the arena.
To top it off, Paula won a special International Equestrian Federation (FEI) award as the hghest scoring debutante rider and received a Baccarat crystal horse head.
The Founding Partners of the Global Dressage Festival that has established itself as a premier circuit on the world’s dressage stage with $275,000 in prize money over five CDIs were honord at the season-ending Wellington Nations Cup presented by Stillpoint Farm.
