Carol Lavell, Gordon Cadwgan, Major General Jonathan Burton (Chairman of The Dressage Foundation) presented the inaugural $25,000 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize to recipient Jan Brons  at the 2009 Palm Beach Derby
Photo by Susan Stickle

Catching up: It’s not a secret that Anky van Grunsven will not compete much longer on the highest dressage level. The Dutch dressage queen has no goal in the sport anymore, as she’s accomplished everything she wanted. Recently Anky decided not to go to Kentucky with the team, as her horse Salinero is still recovering from a little injury. She won’t have enough time to bring the horse in form again. Her second option IPS Painted Black (Gribaldi) is too unpredictable, and she doesn’t want to go with him. Anky is still planning to compete for a time; she says:  “As long as Salinero is fit, we go on. When he retires, I do the same. After my sports career I’m going to focus on teaching. For that we built the Anky Education Center at home in Esp.”

Ite O’Higgins has been jet-setting from Aiken to Palm Beach to Toronto, coaching dressage and event students...and they are winning!

And speaking of wining, those darling working students at Pati Pierucci’s barn in central VA continue to win big!A0 Ashley Burd and Elise Attwood competed at Capitol Classic in Raleigh NC with great success.

We caught up with Lily Zilo and her coach Shelley Van den Neste literally on the side of the road after the White Fences show - Riding Shelley’s horse Nacho, Lily won the PSG with a score of 67.3% which is her final qualifying score for the Asian Games. Needless to say she is all smiles— in fact she flew to Hong Kong right after the show. A0She will compete in the Asian Games in November. A0How cool is that for an amateur rider!

Congratulations to Kristine Kuchinski Broome of Gainesville, Florida on  securing her third Dover Medal class win at the Heidelberg Cup II show in March. As a result, Kristine has earned a national merit award through the United States Dressage Federation/Dover Saddlery Adult Medal program.  Congrats also to Ann Cook and Nuits St. Georges, currently first in the country at third level adult amateur.

We’re delighted to report that Robert Dover is busy with the Canadian Dressage Team and is “cleaning up” in Europe...could they possibly be on their way to the Gold at WEG? Oops - we didn’t just say that - we don’t want to jinx anyone!!

Polo players doing dressage?  Dressage riders playing POLO?  Jumpers doing who-knows-what.  You got it. The Sidelines Equestrian Triathlon is back, but this year with a new exciting twist: the event is now dubbed the quadrathlon! Can you guess what other equine discipline we might have added to the mix? This year the event will be held at the Jim Brandon Arena in West Palm on Sunday, January 31, 2011. The Quadrathon will benefit the Equestrian Aid Foundation again and we are presently looking both for teams and for sponsorship. Tickets will also go on sale soon.

It just wouldn’t be Off Centerline without a report from Stillpoint Farm, now would it? (Hint: YOU can send us your news also!) Marco Bernal and Yvonne Los Munez put on the first dressage show at Stillpoint Farm and we hear they remain nicely busy through the summer season with Lisa Wilcox, Oded Shimoni and Tuny Page very much in residence. The stable will have several stalls available as of July 1st.

Carol Cohen’sA0caring and dedicated associates at Two Swans Farm hosted a lovely and very intimate asado in honor of her birthday...beautiful evening!

Oliver Townend and Ashdale Cruise Master on who he had that horrific fall at Kentucky have solidified their partnership with a win at the Tattersalls Three Day Event in Ireland, leading from start to finish, a mere 5 weeks after that near-fatal fall.

British eventer Polly Stockton is due to give birth right after we go to press.  Keep reading next month for the baby-details!

Todd Flettrich left for Europe in June  with his grand prix mount Otto to compete in Fritzen, Austria, and the Falsterbo Horse Show CDI 5* in Sweden on July 8-11, 2010. He plans on showing at The World Equestrian Festival at CHIO Aachen on July 9-18.

A Perfect Gift! John Boomer, retiring President and CEO of The Dressage Foundation, announced a $1-million gift made by Gordon Cadwgan, father of Olympian Carol Lavell.  The Dressage Foundation will use his $1-million gift “where needed most, and as the Foundation best sees fit to carry out its Mission.”  Carol Lavell, her family, friends and donors have established “The $25,000 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize”, awarded annually to provide financial assistance for coaching and training to a talented, committed, qualified rider whose plan is to reach and excel at the elite, international standards of high performance Dressage.  Also with Carol’s “Gifted Fund” at The Dressage Foundation, nine scholarships are available annually to help adult amateurs set aside quality time in concentrated training with a horse they own, away from the daily pressures of job and family.  “Now, thanks to Dad’s gift, we can increase the dollar amounts of these annual scholarships,” said Carol.

Jochen and Sabine Schleese are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this year  and entered their 25th year of business this July. The esteemed saddle makers plan to celebrate their business anniversary next year in a big way with some sort of onsite ‘educational equine event’ at their facility in Ontario with a whole roster of associated equine professionals who will be part of a long weekend of fun and interesting presentations. Jochen knows a lot of top people in the field, including trainers, vets, riders, body workers, authors so it should be a great time for all.

Ashley Adams (whom we featured in the July issue) is going to be joining forces with fellow Four-Star eventer Will Coleman as his assistant trainer. Ashley says he is just coming off of a big win at Bromont in the CCI*** and she’s looking to taking her off the track Thoroughbred (that she brought up to the Four Star level) overseas to compete next year. They’re looking for working students and are expanding the teaching and coaching program. “Will and I are really looking forward to bringing students in to this exciting upper level event barn. We welcome any and all interest in Will Coleman Equestrian and Ashley Adams Eventing!” she says.

Ellie Scofield and the horses and riders of Galloways Farm traveled to Perry, Georgia to compete in the 2010 AHA Regional Championships. It was a long trip that was worth taking.  Quite a bit of work went into the preparation for this show.  How did it go?  The horses came back with a number of awards! One Championship, two Reserve Championships and Two Top 5s – these awards were in some of the largest classes in the Dressage and Sport Horse Divisions!

Karin Offield reports that the Dressage Tool Box Symposium at Bay Harbor Equestrian Club was a huge success. 55 participants from across Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Beth Baumert all the way from Connecticut, and the Robin Fisher family from Virginia attended! The Sunday Lessons Program was filmed, with details about that soon to be announced!

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