Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 28, 2024–Endel Ots on Zen Elite’s Bohemian topped the debut of three new U.S. team prospects to win the Global Dressage Festival CDI3* Grand Prix Thursday with Adrienne Lyle on Helix and Lars van de Hoenderheide next in the finishing lineup to breathe new life into America’s Olympic team.

Endel, a rookie at Big Tour after two decades of competing through the levels, and the 14-year-old Westfalen gelding that he began riding just this year were awarded 72.761% for the victory.

“Bohemian,” Endel said, “has the biggest heart I’ve ever felt in a horse. I’m worried about riding other horses in the future because he’s so great. He’s just got such a really wonderful personality… it’s something so special and you know the media was right like he is really such a really beautiful soul like a little silly in certain ways, of course, but it’s just a really, really fun experience.”

Bohemian, ridden by Danish star Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 European Championships, was bought late last year by Heidi Humphries’ Zen Elite Equestrian Center of Ft. Lauderdale near Wellington. Heidi also bought Helix and Lars van de Hoenderheide, both also making their debuts in the same CDI3* ridden by Adrienne.

Although it was the first Big Tour outing for the partnership of Endel and Bohemian, and the first ever for Endel, the score was behind only five-time Olympian Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper and Anna Marek on the 2023 Pan American Games gold medal team horse Fire Fly in the U.S. Paris Olympics rankings.

Endel with Bohemian and Adrienne with Helix and Lars plan on completing qualifications for a European tour ahead of the Olympics at the end of July by competing in CDI competitions at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida and Terra Nova near Sarasota.

He said he called Catherine after the ride where he had mistakes in the two-tempi changes to ask her if Bohemian had become ring wise after his extensive experience at top sport.

Cathrine’s advice: “He’s not that guy. Just do less warm-up. Wth paffe/passage in the warm-up just touch the beginning of it and then that’s it. Don’t let your insecurities on yourself on doing the things because he’ll still try for you. All you’ve got to do is less warm-up. Five minutes you can go in. I mean, of course, we would do more walking around but she said all you have to do is get your mind in the right spot and he will just take you through it.”

Adrienne, a two-time Olympian including silver medalist in Tokyo and at the 2018 World Equestrian Games, rode the 12-year-old KWPN gelding Helix to a score of 71.065%. The horse was ridden previously by Sweden’s Marina Mattson.

On Lars van de Hoenderheide, 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding that like Helix is also one of the Zen Elite squad, Adrienne came third on 70.652%.

The Grand Prix Special that is a required score for selection consideration is schedued for Saturday.

“I was super happy with both horses and the efforts they put in,” Adrienne told dressage-news.com. “With Lars we had a very unfortunate mistake in the one-tempi changes which was too bad because he can get big scores on those, but that was totally rider error.

“Overall he felt more energetic and secure in the piaffe/passage than our first show together last month so I was very pleased with that. It’s a good feeling for the future.”

“Helix handled the atmosphere like a champ as well, and I was thrilled with how focused he was and how hard he tried. He put in a beautiful test with no mistakes and I think the scores will only go up from here as he gets more experience and exposure.

“A huge thank you to Heidi Humphries and the Zen Elite team for giving me the chance to work with these incredible horses. To have both scores over 70% in their first international grand prix is a good starting point, with how new these partnerships are, and I look forward to what is to come over the next months and years as we get to know each other more.

“Thank you Debbie McDonald for your always amazing coaching and guidance on these and all my horses. I am very lucky to have such a great team around me.”

Results:

CDI3* Grand Prix (Qual. for GPS)

Rank	Competitor	Score	E	H	C	M	B
1.	Endel Ots (USA) Zen Elite’s Bohemian	72.761%	72.717	73.261	72.935	71.957	72.935
2.	Adrienne Lyle (USA) Helix	71.065%	69.130	72.391	73.370	69.783	70.652
3.	Adrienne Lyle (USA) Lars van de Hoenderheide	70.652%	71.413	69.348	71.522	69.239	71.739
4.	Kasey Perry-Glass (USA) Heartbeat W.P.	70.000%	69.674	70.109	68.913	70.109	71.196
5.	Ashley Holzer (USA) Hansel	69.891%	71.196	69.022	70.543	69.348	69.348
6.	Callie O’Connell (USA) Eaton H	67.935%	67.391	67.609	68.370	67.391	68.913
7.	James Irwin (CAN) Simsalabim	67.130%	63.587	69.239	67.174	68.152	67.500
8.	Camille Carier Bergeron (CAN) Sound of Silence 4	66.457%	66.630	66.087	65.870	66.957	66.739
9.	Geñay Vaughn (USA) Gino	66.217%	67.174	66.630	66.196	64.783	66.304
10.	Jill Irving (CAN) Genesis	66.044%	65.870	65.543	68.587	64.348	65.870
11.	Nicholia Clarke (USA) Sir Amour	64.957%	64.674	66.848	64.891	65.000	63.370
12.	Chris von Martels (CAN) Londoncrown	64.500%	64.130	65.543	65.761	63.261	63.804
13.	Marcus Orlob (USA) Jane	64.478%	62.826	64.565	66.739	62.500	65.761
14.	Micah Deligdish (ISR) Santos	63.413%	62.609	65.109	62.391	64.565	62.391
15.	Luuk Mourits (NED) Harmony’s Don’t Stop The Feeling	63.326%	65.326	61.413	66.196	59.674	64.022
16.	Barbara Bertschinger (SUI) Sonnenbergs Solisco CH	61.739%	62.391	61.957	63.696	59.783	60.870
17.	Holger Bechtloff (USA) Ferrari	59.218%	60.326	59.457	59.022	58.696	58.587
18.	Sahar Daniel Hirosh (ISR) Bialik	57.609%	60.978	56.087	56.848	57.065	57.065
19.	Adriane Alvord (USA) Selfmade	57.065%	55.109	58.587	58.696	53.696	59.239
20.	Joanne Vaughan (GEO) Hero V.D.T.	56.326%	54.022	57.283	55.543	55.652	59.130
21.	Caleb Scroggins (USA) Villanelle	53.761%	53.370	50.978	53.261	52.283	58.913
EL	Lindsay Kellock (CAN) Tu le Merite	eliminated
EL	Codi Harrison (USA) Katholt’s Bossco	eliminated
Find details on Equestrian Hub