Wellington, FL (November 12, 2010) – International dressage rider Dr. Cesar Parra, well known for his positive outlook on life and his winning ways in the dressage ring, is currently in Europe training with Hubertus Schmidt. Parra, a superstar dressage rider from Colombia who became an American citizen in December 2008 and now proudly rides for the United States, wowed dressage crowds from Wellington to Devon with his success during 2010.
“I feel very blessed to be training with Hubertus Schmidt,” Parra said. “He has such a fantastic way with the horses and we have a really good relationship working together. We are staying at his barn for a couple of months and hope to fine tune the horses, as well as myself, for the Florida competition season.”
Parra said he is excited about the progress the horses are making in Europe. Parra said Grandioso, a nine-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Michael and Sarah Davis, are working toward making his Grand Prix debut. “I have been showing Grandioso at Intermediaire 2 and am looking forward to his Grand Prix debut. We have been carefully developing Grandioso with the goal of the Olympics in London in 2012. Also with me in Europe is Stonefire, an 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding owned by Taunia and David Reed of Wellington Farm,” Parra said. “Stonefire and I have competed at Prix St. Georges; he is very talented with piaffe and passage and is schooling all of the Grand Prix movements. I am excited to see his continued development.”
While Parra has working hard bringing along the FEI horses in his barn, he has a new young talent that will be joining his stable. “We have an exciting young horse that has been in Europe and will be coming back to the United States with me in time for Florida. He will be six next year and should be very interesting for the Young Horse Championships,” he said. We bought him from our friends Mathieu Beckmann and Arnd Erben, so a lot of people are excited to see him succeed.
Parra, who owns and operates Piaffe-Performance with facilities in New Jersey and Florida, said the horses that are with him in Europe will fly directly to Florida in December. “It should be another exciting season, with Pan Am qualifications for Olympia, the new young horse and with Grandioso and Stonefire getting ready for Grand Prix,” Parra said. “We also have found a couple of very nice horses that we will have for sale in Florida. So it should be a really fun season!”
Parra was a successful dentist in South America before becoming one of Colombia’s top international riders. As a Colombian rider, Parra competed in the Olympics, the World Equestrian Games, and was named the Colombian National Champion multiple times. In 2010, Parra competed in his first National Championship for the United States, winning the National Intermediaire I Championship aboard Lori Washton’s Olympia at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions in Gladstone. Parra hopes to compete Olympia in the Pan Am Games.
For more information on Parra or Piaffe-Performance, visit their website at www.piaffe-performance.com.
For more information contact:
Dr. Cesar Parra
410-977-8352
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