Tuny Page and Dr. House 2
Wellington, Fla. — Feb. 25, 2017 — American rider Tuny Page and her 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding Dr. House 2 won the CDI-W Grand Prix Special class in the seventh week of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, sponsored by The Axel Johnson Group. In only their first Grand Prix Special together, and their CDI debut, Page and Dr. House 2 earned a score of 71.629 percent.
“You have to like it when you ride a good clean test, and I’m discovering how honest my horse is,” Page said. “He’s not in any way looking to avoid doing his job, so what you see in the ring is a very honest reflection of where he’s at with his training. This horse loves to horse show.”
“It was a good feeling that I could count on him to do what he knows and offer to help,” Page continued. “That’s the key thing. I deliberately rode a very short warm up because of the heat — I was really proud of the fact that he handled that with ease and still had gas in the tank to finish, so that made me really happy.”
Tuny Page aboard Dr. House 2 with coaches David Marcus and Nicholas Fyffe
Page purchased the talented gelding by Don Schufro in 2015 and began developing his Grand Prix training in Europe with Arnd Erven. Based out of Stillpoint Farm in Wellington for the majority of the year, Page works with David Marcus and Nicholas Fyffe of Marcus Fyffe Dressage. Coming into their CDI debut, she has been working on channeling “Hausie’s” energy correctly and keeping every aspect of his training in appropriate balance.
“For this horse, it’s all a question of having super energy but having him interpret the energy in a good way,” she explained. “That’s always the challenge, probably with every horse, and certainly with Housie as well.”
Dr. House 2, along with her other mount Woodstock, will accompany Page to Europe later this spring to develop more consistency with hopes of becoming contenders for the U.S. team, including the World Equestrian Games in 2018.
Tuny Page and Dr. House 2
“No one is making the team in this country unless you’re over 74 percent,” Page explained. “My goal is to be knocking on the door of 75 percent by the end of the year, and to get both my horses consistent so they are contenders instead of on the fringe.”
American rider Katie Poag and her 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Zonnekoning took second place in the class with a 71.294 percent. Poag was thrilled with her ride, and expressed her excitement for future possibilities with Zonnekoning.
Katie Poag and Zonnekoning
“I was extremely pleased,” Poag said. “I had one mistake in the canter depart from the passage, but it’s just something with time that he’ll mature and get stronger and I can set him up more.”
“I still feel like he’s very green at this and he has a lot of potential,” she explained. “Today was one of those rides where I felt more things come together and it was just better balanced, the timing was better, it was just more fun.”
Rounding out the top three was Canadian rider Jill Irving and Arthur, her own 12-year-old KWPN gelding, earning 68.059 percent.
CDI-W Grand Prix Special Results
Rider/Country/Horse/Total Score
1. Tuny Page/USA/Dr. House 2/71.629
2. Katie Poag/USA/Zonnekoning/71.294
3. Jill Irving/CAN/Arthur/68.059
4. Suzan Pape/GBR/Harmony’s Fiorano/67.765
5. Devon Kane/USA/Sir Galanto/66.216
6. Karen Lipp/USA/Whitney/65.902
7. Charlotte Jorst/USA/Kastel’s Akeem Foldager/65.333
8. Michael Klimke/GER/Djamba Djokiba/64.98
9. Dawn White O’Connor/USA/Aristo/64.882
10. Christilot Boylen/CAN/Drentano/63.941
11. Nora Batchelder/USA/Bahai/63.824
12. Kathy Priest/USA/Wild Dancer/60.98
Tuny Page and Dr. House 2
Katie Poag and Zonnekoning
Jill Irving and Arthur
Katie Poag and Zonnekoning