Wellington, Fla. – Jan. 24, 2018 – All horses passed the jog inspection on Wednesday morning for the CDI-W competition in the third week of the 2018 Adequan Global Dressage Festival (AGDF). With both the CDI3* and the CDI-W competition taking place this weekend, the roster of eager horse-and-rider combinations was not lacking.
For Ariana Chia and her 19-year-old KWPN gelding Teo, the second World Cup qualifier of the season is very exciting. Since last year was the pair’s first season competing together, they returned home to Winnipeg, Canada, and took the necessary time to become better acquainted with each other and prepare for the 2018 Wellington season over the summer.
“Teo really knows his job,” Chia said. “He’s been doing the Grand Prix for a while, but when I got him last year, I only had him for about two months before doing my first Grand Prix. We spent the summer really getting to know each other and improving our communication. I came down in November just to have a little time to prepare for our first season to do these big qualifiers.”
Week Two was my first ever CDI-W,” she continued. “Just to be able to push forward and do the night class was great. The atmosphere is unlike anything else. He was so good in there, I couldn’t be happier.”
Chia explained her excitement to be competing in the CDI-W with such an impressive line-up of horses and riders.
“It’s a really big field,” Chia said. “It’s amazing to see how many Grand Prix horses there are. To be riding with the best riders in the world is a really good experience. That’s how it always is in Wellington. Teo is feeling pretty good so I’m excited for this show. We’re going to go in there and try to have a clean test tomorrow.”
Competition at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival will begin Thursday, Jan. 25, at 8 a.m. with the FEI Grand Prix CDI3* class. Still to come over the weekend is the FEI Grand Prix Freestyle CDI-W class, which will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26, while the FEI Grand Prix Special CDI3* will take place at 2:55 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27.
