Andrea Woodard Rides 9YO Kaliber to Victory in Wellington’s Inaugural 2024 Lövsta Future Challenge Intermediate II, Caroline Roffman on 8YO Libertee 2nd
9 months ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Andrea Woodard Rides 9YO Kaliber to Victory in Wellington’s Inaugural 2024 Lövsta Future Challenge Intermediate II, Caroline Roffman on 8YO Libertee 2nd
By ILSE SCHWARZ
WELLINGTON, Florida, Jan. 26, 2024–Andrea Woodard rode the nine-year-old Kaliber to victory in the inaugural 2024 Lövsta Future Challenge Intermediate II Friday, kicking off a new format for developing Grand Prix horses aged eight to 11. Caroline Roffman on the eight-year-old Libertee placed second to also qualify for the final the last week of the winter-long Global Dressage Festival.
The revised format for this class, including extending the age limit to 11 years old, helped to ensure a strong group of five youngsters, the largest number for any of the qualifiers during the history of the Lövsta Future Challenge in Wellington.
The first two placegetters, both by the stallion Franklin, looked remarkably similar in their profiles and mechanics and showed their greatest strengths in the piaffe and passage, the two movements that really separate a small tour horse from the Grand Prix.
They both also lowered beautifully in the pirouettes, whilst maintaining the canter jump. They also kept their cool in the international arena, with few marks being lost to tension, which was wonderful to see so early in the season. In the end, Kaliber had a better extended walk and no mistakes through the canter tour which kept him and Andrea Woodard in first place.
The third placed horse Quintessential, ridden by Ellese Gunderson, also showed beautiful piaffe, passage and trot extensions but was easily distracted by everything and, of course, the work and score reflected this.
The beauty of the Lovsta Future Challenge is that horses can compete in as many of the qualifiers as they want–with no entry fee this year–so they have a wonderfully low pressure chance to show the horse the arena and help them develop confidence in this environment over the course of the season.
Results:
| Rank | Competitor | Score | E | H | C | M | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Andrea Woodard (USA) Kaliber | 70.647% | 74.412 | 69.118 | 71.029 | 70.294 | 68.382 |
| 2. | Caroline Roffman (USA) Libertee | 69.706% | 69.265 | 70.882 | 68.971 | 70.147 | 69.265 |
| 3. | Ellesse Gundersen (USA) Quintessential 4 | 65.353% | 65.735 | 64.559 | 66.471 | 64.853 | 65.147 |
| 4. | Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu (CAN) Jaccardo | 63.265% | 57.941 | 61.618 | 62.941 | 66.765 | 67.059 |
| 5. | Catherine Haddad-Staller (LBN) Beach Boy 59 | 57.912% | 56.029 | 55.735 | 59.706 | 60.147 | 57.941 |
 Find details on Equestrian Hub |
