Canadian Warmblood Horse Breeders Association - Carol Gee - In Memorium
 




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: July 30, 2007
Contact: Barbara Daley
905.726.2057
barbara_daley@equineconcepts.com

Cornerstone Farms host to Eastern Zone Dressage Futurity


Malawi
Winner of Five-Year-Old Class
 Photo by ActionPix

Palgrave, Ontario – For the second year running, John Taylor and Barbara Mitchell of Cornerstone Farms were the gracious hosts to Canadian Performance Futurity’s Eastern Zone Dressage. Like the first year, a class for four-year-olds was held again in 2007. This second year however, an additional class for five-year-olds was also added. 

The classes were open to registered horses, bred in Canada. While the program was originally the brainchild of volunteers from Canadian Warmblood, these classes saw entrants from Hanoverian and Canadian Sport Horse as well. All were vying for their share of the $2,000 purse offered in each class.

2007 also embraced a format change, based on the feedback from last year’s participants. The four-year-old class was now run under the FEI Young Horse Test. In doing so, breeders and owners are able to demonstrate that their horses are truly competitive with those being imported from Europe, which was in keeping with the program’s mission statement, which is: to offer a competition program which increases the demand for Canadian bred horses, directly from the breeder, at an early age.

Winner of the Five-Year-Old class was a striking black horse presented by Chris Von Gartzen by the name of Malawi. Awarded a score of 67.20 by dressage judges Janet Foy and Liselotte Fore, Chris was particularly proud of this accomplishment. She is the breeder, owner, trainer and now rider of Malawi who is registered Hanoverian. 'I pulled this horse from her dam,' Chris said when commenting with pride on her achievement. Malawi is by Maurice and out of Picarda, a Pik Bube mare.

Runner up in the Five-Year-Old class was a chestnut stallion by the name of Flipping Hot Tobasco, ridden by Keith Reid. This Canadian Sport Horse is by Flipper out of Shania.


Rio’s Donatello W
Winner of Four-Year-Old Class
 Photo by ActionPix

The win of the Four-Year-Old class, which was also run under an FEI Young Horse Test, was awarded to Rio’s Donatello W with a score of 70.6. The Canadian Sport Horse gelding who was bred and owned by Augustin Walch did not show any sign of a handicap, having only one eye, as his rider Maria Stecher rode him through a very accurate test. He is by the late Rio Grande and out of Donata, a Dimitrij daughter.

Second in line was Willow (pictured at left), a Canadian Warmblood mare bred by Aaross Farm and owned by rider Annie Baird. Willow is by Rasputin and out of Rowena by Gribaldi. As the top Canadian Warmblood in the class, Annie will also be the beneficiary of a special breed bonus awarded by the Canadian Warmblood Horse Breeders Association.

It is interesting to note that all but one of the four-year-old entries were bred by Augustine Walch of W Charlot Farms. Christine Walch said that initially they were not going to participate in the special classes for young horses, as the professional rider they would normally enlist, Tom Dvorak, was competing in the Pan Am Games in Brazil. 'We decided it would be a nice reward for the horses' day-to-day riders to get a chance to compete,' said Christine. Certainly they appeared to enjoy the opportunity to participate first hand in their efforts, despite the rain that offered an additional challenge in the later tests.

There will be two more rounds of Dressage for the Canadian Performance Futurity in 2007. The Prairie Zone classes will be held at Amberlea Meadows in August 3-5, and the Pacific Zone classes will be held at Thunderbird Show Park on August 17. Hunter and Jumper classes will also be held in all three zones.

The Canadian Performance Futurity, which is open to registered and Canadian bred horses, is funded in part by the Canadian Breeders' Initiative Fund (CBIF). CBIF supports Canadian breeders of horses for the FEI disciplines, providing financial assistance to initiatives which profile multiple breed registries, with a preference to Canadian organizations. The CBIF is administered by Equine Canada and funded with charitable donations made through the Banyan Tree Foundation.

More on the program, including information for nominating horses, can be found at www.CanadianPerformanceFuturity.com

DRESSAGE PLACINGS
4-Year-Old 

Placing

Horse

Rider

Owner

Breeder

Breed

Sire

Dam

Dam Sire

1

Rio’s Donatello W

Maria Stecher

Augustin Walch

Augustin Walch

CSHA

Rio Grande

Donata

Dimitrij

2

Willow

Annie Baird

Annie Baird

Aaross Farm Inc

CWHBA

Rasputin

Rowena

Gribaldi

3

Viva’s Romina W

Audrey Morissette

Augustin Walch

Augustin Walch

CWHBA

Viva Voltaire

Romina

Ritual

4

Rio’s Lovestory W

Inga Walch-Allard

Augustin Walch

Augustin Walch

CWHBA

Rio Grande

Lavinia

Lavall I

5

Rio’s Showman W

Stephanie Inglis

Aubrie de Sylva

Augustin Walch

CSHA

Rio Grande

Sonett

Dimitrij

DRESSAGE PLACINGS
5-Year-Old

Placing

Horse

Rider

Owner

Breeder

Breed

Sire

Dam

Dam Sire

1

Malawi

Chris Von Gartzen

Chris Von Gartzen

Chris Von Gartzen

Hanoverian

Maurice

Picarda

Pik Bube

2

Flippin Hot Tobasco

Keith Reid

Soo & Lee Olafsen

Soo & Lee Olafsen

CSHA

Flipper

Shania

Unknown

Added: August 7, 2007