Christilot Boylen Wins Custom Saddlery Most Valuable Rider Award and Presented With New Steffen’s Advantage Signature Saddle
Wellington, FL (April 19, 2013) – Custom Saddlery was excited to name Canadian Dressage Olympic veteran, Christilot Boylen as the Most Valuable Rider (MVR) for her ride on Dio Mio during the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival Nations Cup, and presented her with a brand new Steffen’s Advantage Signature Saddle for her outstanding performance. In the Florida heat, Boylen and Dio Mio rode to a first place gold medal in the FEI Intermediare-I CDIO 3* with a score of 73.789%. Topping off her amazing season, Boylen, who has been living in Germany for 20 years, was very happy with the win. “It’s a journey,” she explained about what it takes to be an MVR, “I started this plan quite a number of years ago. This doesn’t happen overnight! I’m very blessed to work with a great horse owner, Jill Irving, who has a super eye for a horse and who listens to me.” Boylen was Canada’s first Olympic dressage competitor at the age of 17 in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Today, after riding in five more Olympics, and also winning individual gold medals at three Pan American Games, Boylen continues to work with Irving in training and developing new horses. “We have a string of horses we’ve quietly been putting together for a few years,” she explained. “What I enjoy is training horses and bringing them along. Each one is so different, and a good rider has to show each of them to their best advantage.”
Dio Mio is one of those horses. This gorgeous 10 year old black Hanoverian gelding by De Niro is owned by Irving. Boylen explained that Dio Mio was quite successful in Germany two seasons ago, but was injured. So, this 2013 come-back victory season is all the sweeter. Boylen is excited to try out her new Custom Saddle with Dio Mio. “I’m really interested to work with the saddle that Steffen Peters helped design and see how we make out,” she stated.
