Tag Archives: Oldenburgs

Breeds, Championships, Dressage, FEI, JRPR

Two Six-Year-Olds from Parra’s Performance Farm to Represent the USA at Verden

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Cesar Parra and Fiderhit (Courtesy of Susan J. Stickle)

Whitehouse Station, NJ(June 30, 2014) – Piaffe Performance’s two young Oldenburgs have been rising stars throughout their careers, and now they will be going international. Fiderhit OLD and Fashion Designer OLD have been invited to represent the United States in Verden, Germany at the 2014 FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses, held August 6-10. Both horses are also eligible for an automatic invitation to the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Championships, the United States’ national championship for young horses.

Fiderhit OLD is a 6-year-old mare by Fidertanz out of a Sandro Hit mare that began her career with Piaffe Performance as a 3-year-old. Owned by Michael and Sarah Davis, she earned impressive scores during this year’s 2014 Adequan Global Dressage Festival, including an 86.2% in the FEI 6-year-old Test to win the class. Under the guidance of head rider and trainer Dr. Cesar Parra, Fiderhit OLD placed 3rd in last year’s Markel/USEF Young Horse Championships, placed second at the Dressage at Devon CDI, and finished 2nd in the 5-year-old division in the USDF Horse of the Year standings.

Fashion Designer OLD, a 6-year-old gelding by Faustinus and out of a DeNiro mare, was the Markel/USEF 5-year-old National Champion in 2013 and won the 5-year-old Division at the Dressage at Devon CDI, and was the top ranked horse in the USDF Horse of the Year standings for the 5-year-olds. Ridden by Nadine Burberl and owned by Martin Sosnoff and Dr. Cesar Parra, Fashion Designer OLD also had numerous high placings at the Global Dressage Festival this winter.

Following the Global Dressage Festival, and with both his young horses ranked first and second in the nation, Dr. Cesar Parra was quoted as saying, “Believe me, we have not seen the best from these horses yet.” It would seem his sentiment was accurate as both now are aimed at success on the international stage in Verden. “The talent in these two horses is unbelievable,” said Parra. “They demonstrated that time and again in Florida this season, and it is an honor for us to have been selected to represent the US in Verden.”

Parra and the Davis’s Van the Man were recently one of only 15 horse and rider combinations selected to compete at the 2014 US Dressage Festival of Champions at the United States Equestrian Team Headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey. With two facilties operating out of both Whitehouse Station and Jupiter, Florida, the staff at Piaffe Performance focuses on training horses and riders in classical dressage methods, as well as choosing, showing, and selling high-quality sport horses.

To find out more about Piaffe Performance and the services it provides, visit www.piaffe-performance.com, or call the New Jersey facility at (908) 534-4700 or the Florida facility at (561) 748-1472.

Contact: Dr. Cesar Parra
Piaffe-Performance Farm
(410) 977-8352
www.piaffe-performance.com

Breeds, Dressage, JRPR

Piaffe Performance’s Oldenburgs Rank First in the Nation

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Dr. Cesar Parra and Fiderhit OLD. (Photo courtesy of SusanJStickle.com)

Wellington, FL (March 25, 2014) – “Believe me; we have not seen the best from these horses yet.” That was the comment Dr. Cesar Parra, founder of Piaffe Performance, made in 2013 about two of Piaffe Performance’s talented horses — Fiderhit OLD and Fashion Designer OLD. Parra was right. At the 2014 Adequan Global Dressage Festival Week 10 National Show, the two Oldenburgs came in first and second in their class. This currently places them first and second in the United States national rankings.

The 2014 AGDF Week 10 National Show was held on March 13-16 at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Piaffe Performance’s Fiderhit OLD and Fashion Designer OLD proved to be unbeatable in the FEI 6 Year Old Test Final (Markel/USEF) on Sunday March 16. Riding for the USA, Dr. Cesar Parra of Piaffe Performance presented Fiderhit OLD, a 17.1-hand black Oldenburg mare owned by Michael and Sarah Davis. The mare scored 86.2% in the open division of the class, earning her first place.

Nadine Buberl of Germany showed Fashion Designer OLD, a 16.2-hand bay Oldenburg gelding owned by Martin Sosnoff and Dr. Cesar Parra. Buberl and Fashion Designer OLD scored 79.6% in the open division of the FEI 6 Year Old Test Final (Markel/USEF). This put them in second place in the class.

After the AGDF Week 10 National Show, senior trainer at Piaffe Performance, Katie Riley, stated, “Our young horses made quite a splash at their first show of the season; we were very proud of them.” A “splash” is certainly an understatement. Fiderhit OLD’s and Fashion Designer OLD’s outstanding show results granted Piaffe Performance the accomplishment of having not only one, but two, horses in the top dressage rankings in the United States.

Training horses to perform as well as these two Oldenburg six-year-olds is a constant goal of Piaffe Performance.  With two facilities operating out of both Whitehouse Station, New Jersey and Jupiter, Florida, the staff focuses on training horses and riders in classical dressage methods, as well as choosing, showing, and selling high-quality sport horses. Dr. Parra and his team of trainers and riders at Piaffe Performance base their training on the six-part Training Scale: Rhythm, Suppleness, Contact, Impulsion, Straightness, and Collection. Besides training, Piaffe Performance also offers lessons and assistance with selling horses in Germany and the United States.

To find out more about Piaffe Performances and the services it provides, visit www.piaffe-performance.com, or call the New Jersey facility at (908) 534-4700 or the Florida facility at (561) 748-1472.

For more information contact:
Dr. Cesar Parra
drcesarparra@msn.com
www.piaffe-performance.com
410-977-8352

Breeds, Dressage, JRPR

Piaffe Performance: Young Talent, OLD School Style

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Nadine Buberl and Fashion Designer OLD scored an 82.8% at the King Oak Dressage Days. (Photo courtesy of Piaffe Performance)

Whitehouse Station, NJ (July 17, 2013) – There’s just something about Oldenburgs that clicks with Cesar Parra.  He has had some special Oldenburgs in his riding career for sure, but the two five-year-olds that are now in the barn are showing themselves to be true future jewels of their breed: Fashion Designer OLD, co-owned by Parra and Martin Sosnoff, and Fiderhit OLD, owned by Michael and Sarah Davis.

At King Oak Dressage Days, presented by Centerline Events July 6-7 in Northampton, Massachussetts, Piaffe Performance’s Nadine Buberl and Fashion Designer OLD scored 82.80% in front of ‘S’ judges Doreen Horsey, Debby Savage and Joan Humphrey to win the FEI Five-Year-Old Qualifier for the USEF Markel Young Horse Championship, plus earned the high score of the show in their warmup class the day before.

“Nadine has been doing very well with the young horses,” says Parra. That’s almost an understatement.  At an earlier Centerline Events dressage show, June 15-16 at HITS-on-the-Hudson (NY), Buberl pulled a one-two punch in USEF First Level Test 1 in front of (r) judge Susanne Hamilton, with Fashion Designer OLD, winning the class with an 82.931%.  Their only real challenger was stablemate Fiderhit OLD, who was reserve at 80.345%.

“The next day in the Five Year-Old test,” Parra said. “Nadine and Fiderhit OLD won with an 81.8%, and Fashion Designer OLD was second, with a 79%.”

Both young horses have been consistently trading scores in the high seventies and low eighties.  At the Memorial Weekend ESDCTA Dressage Show, Buberl and Fiderhit took the win with a 79.60% in the FEI Young Horse Final Five-Year-Old class and 76.034% in the First Level Test 1, ahead of Piaffe Performance teammates Parra on Fashion Designer OLD, and Wendy Simons on Josefina.

In March, as the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI celebrated its 30th season, the two Oldenburgs showed up and out-shone the field in the FEI Young Horse Test for 5-Year-Olds. Ridden by Buberl, and in front of their trainer, Parra, Fashion Designer scored 80.8% and Fiderhit 78% on Saturday, and traded off placings on Sunday with Fiderhit scoring 81.8% and Fashion Designer 75.8%.

The results of all these shows mean that the trip to Wayne, IL in August for the USEF Markel Young Horse Championships promises to be a fun one for Piaffe Performance.  In addition to the two five-year-olds, Katie Riley will compete her nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood Zanzibar in the Developing Horse Grand Prix division.

Follow the progress of Piaffe Performance’s favorite young OLD pair and learn about other sale horses and prospects at www.piaffe-performance.com.

For more information contact:
Dr. Cesar Parra
drcesarparra@msn.com
www.piaffe-performance.com
410-977-8352

Breeds, Dressage, Training/Clinics

Cesar Parra’s Newest Oldenburgs Honored with a Visit from the German Oldenburg Verband

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Cesar Parra (left) with Holly Simenson, Thomas Rhinow, Nadine Burberl (mounted), and Fiderhit OLD. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)

Wellington, FL (February 28, 2013) – Let it not be said Dr. Cesar Parra doesn’t have an eye for a good horse. Dr. Parra rode Galant du Serein for Colombia in the 2004 Olympics before becoming an American citizen in 2008 and riding Grandioso to team Gold with the U.S. on the 2011 Pan American Games team. Parra’s eye for talent — or diamonds in the rough if you will – recently led Michael and Sarah Davis, owners of Dr. Parra’s 2012 U.S. Olympic Dressage hopeful, Van The Man, to acquire two five-year-old Oldenburgs for the Piaffe-Performance Farm team:  a mare, Fiderhit OLD, and a gelding, Fashion Designer OLD.

At the Florida Dressage Classic CDI during the 2013 Adequan Global Dressage Festival, Thomas Rhinow and Holly Simenson of the Oldenburg Verband in Germany visited the Fiderhit and Fashion Designer and elaborated on the OLD designation that was bestowed upon both horses.  It seems ‘OLD’ doesn’t designate just any Oldenburg, but only the best of the best.

Fashion Designer (Faustinus x De Niro) was one of the four-year-old mares and geldings nominated by the Oldenburg society to represent the breed at the 2012 Bundeschampionate in Warendorf (Germany); Fiderhit qualified for the Brilliant Ring of the Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede (Germany). Out of hundreds of three- and four-year old mares inspected by the Oldenburg Verband in Germany every year, only a select group are invited to go on to a Mare Performance Test. Out of those, roughly 100 earn the States Premium Candidate title, and out of the States Premium Candidates, approximately 60 are invited to the Elite Mare Show.

Oldenburgs hold a special place for Parra. “Oldenburgs have brought me wins and great support.  The quality of the breed’s bloodline speaks for itself. You don’t just read a pedigree, you see it in the horses,” said Parra.  In 2007, Parra faced tests more challenging than any dressage arena.  That July, he lost his best horse, a six-year-old licensed Oldenburg stallion, Donovan, to colic.  Two months later, he suffered a stroke, while on a business trip in Germany.  “It was a really difficult year.  Lots of tears and frustration, but luckily I had a strong team of family and friends I could rely on. You have to leave adversity behind and keep going.”  And Parra is definitely moving forward as he and Van the Man won three national Grand Prix classes with scores in the high sixties during the CDI.

“The Oldenburg breed crosses the best horses from the best associations with strong dam lines, without being limited to state studs or stallions. These breeders are clear about creating a modern riding horse with a good mind,” said Thomas Rhinow during his recent visit. Holly Simensen, Director of the North American Oldenburg Verband, agreed: “The Oldenburg Verband history is about being open minded and looking to future improvement.”  For Fiderhit and Fashion Designer, the future could be brilliant in the good hands of Dr. Parra and the Piaffe-Performance team.

Cesar Parra, DDS, MScD, operates Piaffe Performance in Jupiter, FL and Whitehouse Station, NJ and was born in Colombia, where he began riding cattle horses in the Andes Mountains of his grandparents’ farm. An international trainer and rider with more than 300 FEI wins to his credit, Dr. Parra has worked with the best in dressage, including Herbert Rehbein, Siegfried “Bimbo” Peilicke, Hans Rueben, Herbert Kuckluck and Hubertus Schmidt.  He also competed in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, 2005 Las Vegas Dressage World Cup, and 2006 Aachen World Equestrian Games.  Learn more at www.piaffe-performance.com.

For more information contact:
Dr. Cesar Parra
drcesarparra@msn.com
www.piaffe-performance.com
410-977-8352