Piaffe Performance’s Young Stars Shine at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI
Wellington, FL (March 5, 2013) – Piaffe Performance’s young Oldenburg stars continue to shine with top performances and top scores at the 30th Anniversary Palm Beach Dressage Derby this past weekend.
The two Oldenburgs, Fashion Designer OLD (Faustinus x DeNiro), and Fiderhit OLD (Fidertanz x Sandro Hit), showed up and out shined the field in the FEI Young Horse Test for 5-year-olds, with Fashion Designer scoring an 80.8% and Fiderhit nipping at his heels with a 78% on Saturday. On Sunday, Fiderhit scored an 81.8% and Fashion Designer as awarded a 75.8%. Ridden by Nadine Buberl and trained by Dr. Cesar Parra, both horses belong to Michael and Sarah Davis, and the entire team at Piaffe Performance is excited to see what the future holds for these two young stars. Parra is aiming them both at the United States Young Horse Championships this summer and then hopefully on to Germany and the World Young Horse Championships in August.
“It was not so easy for the horses showing in the Derby this year,” described Parra. “The show started very early and the temperature was only in the 40’s and it was very windy.” In spite of that, Parra explained that that these two 5 year olds were able to take top honors and impressed the judges in many ways. Fiderhit, a beautiful dark bay mare, was the highest scoring young horse of the entire show. “She was really well behaved and focused on the rider,” Parra said. “She did a fantastic job in the ring and the judges rewarded her with a 9 for her trot and an 8.5 for her canter. She has improved tremendously over the last 2 or 3 weeks, and we are very happy with her,” he smiled.
Fashion Designer, a 5-year-old gelding, also racked up impressive scores at the Derby. “Fashion Designer is a fantastic young prospect, and we can’t wait to continue his career. Our plans are to make him a little bit stronger,” Parra explained, “and maybe go to the qualifiers later in the year. But he’s doing very well right now, and we’re very happy with him!”
Katie Riley, Senior Trainer at Piaffe-Performance, was also encouraged by the team’s success at the Derby. “It’s been a really great weekend despite challenging conditions and these two young horses showed real character,” Riley said, “They were full of vigor because of the cold weather but did their rides flawlessly. I was super, super proud of them!”
Owner Michael Davis had a lot to be proud of on Derby weekend, not only did his two young horses give a glimpse of their very bright future, but Davis himself competed and took top honors in the Fourth Level Test of Choice class on Synergy’s Cincinnati with a score of 65.143. Turns out he won the class and celebrated his birthday on the same day! Two top placing young horses and a blue ribbon in Fourth Level the Palm Beach Dressage Derby that’s a pretty good way to celebrate a birthday!
Learn more at www.piaffe-performance.com
Photo 1: Fashion Designer OLD and Nadine Buberl during the 30th Annual Palm Beach Dressage Derby. (Photo courtesy of www.SusanJStickle.com)
Photo 2: Fiderhit OLD and Nadine Buberl scored an 81.8% in the Five-Year-Old class at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby. (Photo courtesy of www.SusanJStickle.com)
Contact: Dr. Cesar Parra
Piaffe-Performance Farm
(410) 977-8352