Sweden's Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven continued her hot streak in Wellington on Thursday afternoon, winning the Grand Prix with Divertimento at the 2014 CDI-W Wellington on 23 January 2014. Vilhelmson-Silfven took home two first place prizes with Don Auriello during the first two week of competition in Florida and started off week three with equal success.
Vilhelmson-Silfven and Lövsta Stuteri's 12-year-old Westfalian gelding topped the class with a score of 75.000%. The top three was rounded out by Danish riders Lars Petersen, who rode Mariett to second place with a 73.320%, and Mikala Munter Gundersen and My Lady, who were third with a 71.640%. Megan Lane of Canada was fourth with a score of 71.020% on Caravella. The top placing American rider was Adrienne Lyle, who finished fifth with Wizard on a score of 70.100%.
Divertimento had a break from the show ring while traveling with other grand prix mount Don Auriello, and Vilhelmson-Silfven was thrilled with the gelding's first outing in some time. Divertimento occasionally suffers from a bit of performance anxiety, so Vilhelmson-Silfven was happy to feel him relax during their test.
"The best feeling I had was in the canter. He relaxed a little bit more once I got going. It was a bit tense starting, but he felt better and better. I was very pleased with the canter work because that's not always the easiest on him. I was happy with the pirouettes and the zig-zags, but overall I was happy he was so good in his mind and so relaxed," Vilhelmson-Silfven commented.
Vilhelmson-Silfven opted out of any freestyle competitions with Divertimento to concentrate on helping the horse mature, a decision that has clearly paid off. "He feels much more mature. I took a break from freestyles just to get him more focused and trained a bit instead. I think I felt today that it was the best thing to do to give him a little bit of a competition break and get more mature and more ready for what he should do," Vilhelmson-Silfven remarked.
When asked if Wellington was a good luck charm for Vilhelmson-Silfven, who has had three CDI victories in her first three outings, she smiled, "It must be! It's been a great thing for me these years, traveling here and being able to compete her in the wintertime, when everything actually stops a bit [in Europe]. It's been good for these horses."
Adrienne Lyle was the highest placed American rider after a fifth place finish with Peggy Thomas' Wizard, another horse back in the show ring after some time off. "It's been a year since we've been in the ring. We did a national show in preparation for this and I thought today he felt much better, so hopefully we're going in the right direction," Lyle detailed. "I worked just on my technical parts of the test today, making sure I get back in test-riding mode. Riding the corners, riding the preparations. We had a couple losses of balance coming into the piaffe, it was not so good, and then a couple little issues that I think we can get better, but really just trying to get back from training mode," she continued.
Petersen, Munder Gundersen, and Vilhelmson-Silfven all agreed that a class as large as Thursday's was quite similar to numbers seen in Europe, which provides riders with top tier competition. "I think it's great. This feeling that we could look a little bit in the morning and get ready and warm up. That's kind of the way we can sometimes do it in Europe. I really liked that today, the possibility of seeing somebody else ride (in the Grand Prix class). And great rides this morning as well," Vilhelmson-Silfven described. "You don't get many chances to watch Grand Prix all day, at least I don't," Lyle commented. "Not in Idaho!"
Photos © Sue Stickle
Related Link
Scores 2014 CDI-W Wellington