The 2011 CDI Pebble Beach in Calfornia saw its CDI Grand Prix thinned out to just one rider as eight out of nine competitors withdrew due to bad footing conditions.
Large mounds of sand were being dumped on the show grounds and were spread out unevenly with heavy and unstable spots everywhere. The deep, hard and unlevel footing was a great concern on Tuesday as CDI riders started to arrive on the venue.
Talks with the show management were to little avail. According to one rider, the show manager did not arrive on the grounds until late Wednesday while the judges arrived on Thursday. After much negotiating to move the CDI to another arena with good footing, management refused to accept the riders' concerns as legitimate, which forced them to withdraw en masse.
The one remaining CDI Grand Prix competitor, Cyndi Jackson on Strauss, scored 61,723%.
Dressage News reported that the Pebble Beach CDI was restored on the calendar this year after a two-year break, in 2009 because of economic problems and in 2010 because the U.S. Open golf tournament was held at Pebble Beach.
Dressage News added that the protest was the latest in the chorus of complaints in the U.S. and Canada over the quality of footing at many horse shows in North America.
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