Dressage-News

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 7, 2015–Steffen Peters and Rosamunde performed their second international Grand Prix, taking the Adequan Global Dressage Festival Special so convincingly that the rider described her as “sensational.”

Steffen and the Rhinelander mare, whose real eighth birthday is not until May, scored 73.745 per cent for the victory two days after winning their debut Grand Prix at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center’s Stadium complex. Legolas, the stablemate of Rosamunde, came for the CDI5* but did not fare as well, placing second in the big money Grand Prix Freestyle and seventh in the Grand Prix.

Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Kastel’s Nintendo placed second on 69.608 per cent with Shelly Francis of Loxahatchee, Florida on Danilo were third on 69.137 per cent.

A video of the ride by Steffen and Rosamunde can be seen here.

The first appearance on Florida’s winter circuit, came after Rosamunde’s inaugural year at small tour during which they won seven of eight starts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rosamunde (Rock Forever x Fidermark) was bought by Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang in September, 2013 as a successor to Ravel and Legolas that they also own. Based at Steffen’s training center in San Diego, California the partnership is considered of such high championship quality, but there was reluctance to move to Grand Prix because of the age of the horse.

Now,  after the first CDI Grand Prix the pair will do the two competitions at San Juan Capistrano, California and both Rosamunde and Legolas may be selected to go to Europe on the squad of about eight Big and Small Tour combinations to determine the team for the Pan American Games in Toronto in July.

“When we get home,” Steffen said, “I would like to improve the transition from piaffe to passage. The passage to piaffe is pretty good right now and improving the straightness in the changes. Otherwise I’m perfectly happy and it is just sensational for an eight-year old horse.

“You know it all seems to work out at the end. We’re going to do the San Juan Capistrano series. She handled this show and environment beautifully. I’m pretty sure that Robert (Dover, U.S. chef d’equipe) would like to take her to Europe and at the end of the day the horse with the higher score should go to the Pan American Games if they qualify.”

Since Rosamunde arrived at his stables, “never since I’ve had her has she taken a wrong step, she’s never said ‘no.’ It’s just that type of attitude. The best way I can describe it is that she reminds me an awful lot of Ravel. She has the power and this beautiful soft connection you know with the huge canter and the way she sits in the piaffe and the canter pirouettes that feeling is very similar.

“When we retired Ravel I didn’t think I would ever get that feeling in the show arena again. It is a true honor to ride a horse like that every single day. Not just in the show arena but to get on a horse like that every single day at home is truly an honor.

Kathleen Raine who was in Wellington with Breanna on their way from a lengthy trip in Europe to their home in Murietta, California made the stopover worthwhile

The pair won the CDI5* Grand Prix Special with a personal best Special score of 73.922 per cent and the winner’s check of $11,000 over Sweden’s Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfvén on Divertimento on 73.725 per cent with Jill Irving of Canada on Degas third on 69.412 per cent.

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