Barbançon and Bolero are Best in Fair Sky Farm AGDF 10 Grand Prix CDI3*
Week 10 of the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) is well underway in Wellington, FL, with the second day of competition welcoming a robust line-up of twenty horse-and-rider combinations into the Stadium at Equestrian Village to contest the Fair Sky Farm Grand Prix CDI3* for Special. France’s Morgan Barbançon brought victory home on her own Bolero. AGDF 2023, which hosts seven weeks of CDI competition over three months, runs through April 2.
Barbançon and the 17-year-old KWPN gelding (Glock’s Johnson TN x Vincent) rode to a score of 71.152%, the only pair to touch 70% in the class, and the last combination to go.
“Today, the piaffe was really good,” said the French Olympian. “The pirouettes, too. Everything was good today, the two tempis could have been straighter, but everything else was solid and he put in a solid test. I’m so proud of him. He carried me through that test today. I was really not mentally on my game based on my other rides I’ve had this week, so I’m super proud of him.”
Barbançon and Bolero are no strangers to the international ring together, marking over 50 CDI starts despite an injury that sidelined the gelding for two years. “Bolero had a long-time injury,” Barbançon explained. “But he is back in shape now and feeling great, and he proved that again today. He’s a very solid, consistent horse, I know that he’s not always a high scorer, but he is always there to do his job and is very consistent. He gives me the mileage and show experience which is really important.”
Barbançon, who is based in Switzerland, is having a successful first season in Wellington with several mounts. “I’m super happy with my season,” she noted. “The horses have improved tons. The horses that I have now are not indoor horses, they are sensitive horses, so I am happy to be competing outside, and we are now going to be ready for the outdoor season; the horses will already be in the mood for the shows. I don’t need to show them so much in Europe to get ready for the Europeans, because they are getting their mileage and experience now.”
Second place in the Fair Sky Farm Grand Prix CDI3* for Special went to Dong Seon Kim (KOR) and Sportpferde Galleria’s 13-year-old Westphalian gelding Galleria’s Bohemian (Bordeaux 28 x Samarant) with 69.978%. Third place was awarded to the USA’s Susan Dutta riding her and Tim Dutta’s own 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Der Designer x Sir Donnerhall) Don Design DC to a 68.739%.
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