Gladstone, NJ – The top three placings in the Intermediaire I National Dressage Championship never changed throughout the week at the 2011 Collecting Gaits Farm Dressage Festival of Championship and Steffen Peters dominated with Weltino’s Magic finishing on a three day average of 78.661%.
Riding for Jen Hlavacek, Peters owned the Dick and Jane Brown Arena this morning, and to music by Seven and Five, he showed off the 9-year-old Westphalian gelding’s strengths and was rewarded with a freestyle score of 81.250%. This was the only score over 80 in this division all weekend.
“It is fairly new,” said Peters about his Freestyle. “I’ve only done three freestyles with Magic. The music is by a group called Seven and Five, it’s not too dramatic but it’s not too much like elevator music. It was fun, there are some days where it is a little more work with Magic, but today it was fun.”
Weltino’s Magic was started by Peters’ wife Shannon, who rode him to reserve championship honors in the 2008 Markel/USEF National Young Horse Championships as a 6-year-old. He is a strong horse and Peters knows that managing that strength is a major part of his job.
“He’s a powerful horse and he can be once and a while a little strong,” said Peters. “I have to be careful that I break things up a little bit (in the freestyle)… The changes have become straighter that is why I did them down the center line and the trot work is stronger than the canter work which is why I put it at the end.”
Continue reading Weltino’s Magic Sweeps USEF National Intermediaire I Dressage Championships