Para-Dressage Riders Peavy, Brimmer, and Jordan Finish a Successful 2014 Competition Year
By: Lindsay Y. McCall
Lexington, KY – November 26, 2014 – The 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) concluded on August 29, and within two weeks Individual U.S. WEG Para-Dressage Grade III rider Annie Peavy of Avon, Connecticut, headed to Saugerties, NY, for the Great American Insurance Group/ United States Dressage Federation Region 8 Championships presented by New England Dressage Association (NEDA). The Championships were held September 18-21. Also riding at the Region 8 Championships in
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Annie Peavy and Lancelot Warrior at the 2014 Adequan Global Dressage Festival CPEDI3*
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Saugerties was Grade IV athlete Mary Jordan of Wells, Maine, and Rubicon 75 (Royal-Hit x Edelkarin/Absinthe), owned by Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center of Loxahatchee, Florida. Rubicon 75 was formally owned and ridden by Catherine Haddad Staller of International Dressage. Peavy, a Grade III Para-Dressage Junior rode her WEG partner eight-year-old Trakehner gelding Ozzy Cooper (Hibiskus x Okka – Arrak) and 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding Lancelot Warrior (Londonderry x Waroness – Warkant). Both horses were qualified for WEG but Ozzy Cooper had to replace Lancelot Warrior just before heading to France. Peavy became the Region 8 FEI Junior Reserve Champion riding Ozzy Cooper and tied with Lancelot Warrior on a score of 66.35%. Peavy, 18, trains with Heathe
r Blitz at Cutler Farm. Mary Jordan and Rubicon 75 won the 3rd Level Championship out of a field of 23 competitors. Rubicon also placed 5th in the 2nd Level Region 8 Championship. Her championship accolade earned her an invitation to the second U.S. Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® held November 6-9, in Lexington, KY. Unprecedented, Jordan and Rubicon 75 became the first horse and rider combination as the only Para-Equestrian Dressage duo to win an able-bodied Regional Championship to go to the Finals. Jordan trains with Jim Koford. Also at the Lexington Finals was U.S. Para-Dressage Grade III rider Ellie Brimmer’s horse London Swing ridden by trainer Roz Kinstler.
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Individual U.S. para-equestrian dressage competitor Angela Peavy with Ozzy Cooper in the Grade III team test at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France. Photo copyright SusanJStickle.com
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Annie Peavy rode two exceptional tests while in France at the WEG. It was a great endeavor with a wonderful outcome to fly back to the U.S. and show at Region 8 Championships within weeks. Peavy explained, “I showed both Lance and Ozzy in the Region 8 FEI Junior Team Championship Test. My rides on both of them were very smooth. I was extremely happy with them. They went into the ring confident and did everything I asked of them. It was a bit of a rush getting home from France and going straight to Saugerties, but worth it. Ozzy traveled extremely well and was ready to compete again. Overall I was extremely proud of our partnerships.” Peavy plans on continuing to show Internationally as an able-bodied and Para-Equestrian Dressage Junior athlete in 2015.
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| Mary Jordan and Rubicon 75 at the Great American Insurance Group/ United States Dressage Federation Region 8 Championships presented by New England Dressage Association (NEDA) September 18-21, 2014 ©Amy E. Riley/STUDIO EQUUS |
Mary Jordan headed back to Maine after the Saugerties Region 8 Championships then on to the Kentucky Horse Park in November. “Rubicon qualified for NEDA Fall and Regionals at one show in August 2014, our first stateside competition,” recalled Jordan. “I rode four tests at 2nd and 3rd level over two days and got my qualifying scores at Vermont Dressage Days in Essex Junction, VT. There, Rubicon earned high score of the show and won the Blue Seal Amateur Cup on a score of 69+%. His scores in Saugerties went up to 72.9%. Rubicon is our hopeful for Rio 2016.”
Jordan continued, “I was incredibly excited to compete in Kentucky with this extremely wonderful horse along with the nation’s best riders and horses from around the country. A sincere thanks to my family, friends, Coach James Koford, Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center, Catherine Haddad Staller, and sponsors for their support and encouragement with our new partnership.” Jordan like Ellie Brimmer will head South for the winter to train and compete in Wellington, FL.
Brimmer’s partnership was also new in 2014 with their debut ride in Wellington, FL, in Spring 2014. The duo has been enjoying solidifying their partnership while competing in both able-bodied and Para-Dressage competition. Brimmer noted, “The USDF Dressage Finals was not a planned goal for us this year, though I had attended the Finals last year as a volunteer and greatly enjoyed seeing all the quality horses and riders compete head to head from across the country. This summer I had an injury to my hand so my trainer Rosalind Kinstler took over the ride on my International Para-Dressage horse London Swing “Louie” to give him some more miles as he was only shown lightly in Germany. Roz did an excellent job presenting him at the Region Two Finals for the Third Level Open Championship where he placed fourth and earned a wild card for Nationals. At the Kentucky Finals he held his own winning the warm up class for 3-3 Open on Thursday , placing fourth in the Finals Championship class with a total score of 69.359%. I’m so happy for Roz and Louie and I think this journey to the Finals will only help me as I continue to pursue International Para-Dressage competition.”
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Ellie Brimmer and London Swing at the 2014 Adequan Global Dressage Festival. Photo by Lindsay Y. McCall
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It is at these larger Dressage Championships where the parallel lines are crossed in the Dressage world. Brimmer explained, “I think what made having a horse in the Finals so special was that I got to see Para-Equestrian friends from all over the country, I was stabled across the aisle from Heather Blitz from Massachusetts who coaches my fellow Grade III rider Annie Peavy and the next aisle over was Michelle Folden and her husband David. Michelle is from South Carolina and coaches Grade II rider Debbie Stanitski. I was also able to cheer on Grade IV rider Mary Jordan from Maine in the Amateur Third Level Championship and see her exciting new Para-Dressage prospect Rubicon 75. In the future I would like to return to the finals to ride my own horse and I hope this event becomes a long standing tradition.”Spectators can expect to see these three and many more Para-Dressage athletes in Wellington, FL, in January at the first 2015 CPEDI3* which is a qualifier for the 2012 Rio Paralympics.
