Dressage-News

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 18, 2022–Sweden’s Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén was the winner of the Global Dressage Festival Friday Night Stars for the first time in four years when she rode Devanto to victory in the CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle.

Yvonne Losos de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic on her Olympic and championship mount Aquamarijn placed second on 78.055% ahead of the pair’s second World Cup Final that is scheduled for Leipzig, Germany next month.

Sarah Tubman on her Pan American Games gold medal mount First Apple performing in not only the pair’s first Grand Prix Freestyle but also in the rider’s career was third on 77.115% that she described as “the best” as she and her husband Lee Tubman, a judge and her coach, have worked in developing the 12-year-old KWPN stallion for top sport.

Tinne, a seven-time Olympian for Sweden and with more than a decade competing in Florida, was riding Devanto, a 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding, for their first Friday Night Stars in warm and humid sub tropical weather before a crowd of about 2,000 spectators.

“I had a great feeling,” she said of the performance that borrowed music from Favourit. “The atmosphere had a big impact, but I felt that he was totally with me and was nice to ride. This was the first time I rode this floor plan and the first time he went on Friday night. I didn’t really know how he would react, so I’m very, very pleased today.”

Devanto was one of a string of horses including her Olympic and championship mount, Don Auriello, that she has found to be “very, very useful” to begin competition in Florida.

Floride, she said, “is the best place to be when you introduce a new horse and you try to figure out how they are. It’s been perfect with going over to the WEF (Winter Equestrian Festival) grounds, to ride here, to ride the Special and now Friday night. I’m taking small steps all the time. “

Yvonne said that the 17-year-old Aquamarijn, a KWPN mare, was a veteran but coming back after time off after the Tokyo Olympics and the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany “was a little bit like starting new.”

But with the World Cup in three weeks, “it was a perfect time to come back. She does her job in there, and she loves it in there.”

Sarah Tubman who won individual and freestyle gold on the KWPN stallion at the 2019 Pan Am Games that was at Small Tour said this Friday night “was super fun.”

“I think Apple is a horse that lights up in an atmosphere like that,” she said of the horse that is now 12 years old and moved up to Grand Prix two years ago.

“The more electric, the better for us,” she said. “In the first time trotting around the ring, I kind of didn’t know who he was. It’s a really fun feeling. We have progressed great over this season, being able to show again and again. I’m quite new to this level, especially in the international ring, as well as he is. It’s been really fun to see our partnership grow.

“Tonight, even though he was a little bit of a different horse in a positive way that I’m not used to, each test that we go down centerline I feel like we’re becoming more and more of a team and speaking the same language now. It was a super feeling.

“For me, this is the best. My husband and coach, Lee Tubman, we’ve been working together a lot on our harmony and connection. Sometimes I know we feel like that’s a very long road, but tonight I felt all of those things. The horse was so with me. He was electric also, which is something I’ve been looking for. It’s such an amazing feeling. The horse is a performer. He wants the crowd; he wants the lights. He needs that energy. I think it’s going to help him moving forward… Today for him and me, to be honest, this was really fun. We had a lot of fun tonight.”

Results:

CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle