2014 CDI Calendar for North & South America–Update
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By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
The CDI calendar for the Americas is slightly reduced for 2014 primarily because of a revamping of the Florida circuit with six of seven CDI3*-plus shows to be staged in Wellington, but the United States still hosts more premier CDIs than any other nation.
Two CDI3*s have been added in Mexico City for the first time in years and a CDI2* listed in Colombia.
Four CDI3* events were on the calendar for Brazil, host of the 2016 Olympics, second in the number of competitions in the Americas to the United States. (An earlier version of this report did not include the Brazil competitions as they were not posted on the official FEI site at the time.)
The United States is scheduled to host 20 CDI3*-plus events in 2014, compared with 19 for Germany, 17 for France and 10 for the Netherlands as well as eight in Australia.
The prime focus of high performance dressage in 2014 will be the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France.
Within the Americas, the South American Games in Chile in March, the Central American/Caribbean Games in Mexico in November as well as the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships in Kentucky in July are highlights.
Twenty CDIs rated 3* above are designated for the United States with the greatest concentration in Florida of six in Wellington and one in neighboring Loxahatchee from January through the end of March while California stages six.
Two are scheduled for Saugerties, New York and one each in Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey Pennsylvania and Texas.
A CDI4* and a CDI5* are also scheduled for Wellington.
Two Nations Cup competitions are also listed for the United States–one in Wellington in February for the third year in a row as a test template for the 2015 Pan American Games, and a proposed inaugural team contest at Dressage at Devon in Pennsylvania along with its World Cup qualifier in September.
The calendar, posted by the International Equestrian Federation and subject to final approval by the FEI, lists six World Cup events to add to the three held in the U.S. northeast in 2013 to qualify two combinations from the North American League for the Final in Lyon, France next April.
Four will be held in Florida, three at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington and one in Loxahatchee, and two in California, one at Burbank and the other at San Juan Capistrano and both organized by Glenda McElroy’s Cornerstone Management.
Dressage Affaire, a longtime CDI staple at the Del Mar Horse Park, will not be a CDI but a national competition in 2014.
Three CDI3* events are listed for Canada–again, no World Cup qualifiers–but the lineup is expected to be modified for a newly energized dressage program.
The 2014 CDI schedule for the Americas subect to final approval by the FEI (dates are in the European format of day/month/year) as of Oct. 2:
