At the 2012 U.S. Developing Horse Championship in Wayne, ILL, USA, Lisa Wilcox and Anne Sparkes' Pikko del Cerro HU won the first round - the Intermediaire II - to take an early lead in the championship for rising American Grand Prix Horses. The Develop Horse Championships are supported by Hilda Gurney and Carol Lavell.
Pikko del Cerro HU (by Pik L x Rohdiamant) ridden by Wilcox cruised to the win in the Intermediaire II by nearly four percentage points. Horses Unlimited’s 9-year-old Hanoverian stallion has impressive powerful gaits but mistakes in the extended canter and the one-time changes kept them from earning higher than the 70.746% they scored.
“I’m very, very happy the mistakes were mine. He was not quite in front of my leg like I needed him to be,” said the Loxahatchee, FL resident.
Wilcox feels confident that she can fix the mistakes from today in Saturday’s test with the 2011 U.S. Developing Horse Dressage Championship. "I was very happy with my passage-piaffe tour. The extended was unfortunate and we’ll clean that up without a problem. The ones are usually good and clean, so we’ll just clean that up a bit as well for Saturday.”
Riding to second place on Thursday was Endel Ots (Wellington, FL) and Taunia Reed’s Agastrofos (by Briar x Nocturne). The 10-year-old Swedish Warmblood demonstrated expressive and powerful gaits to score 66.842%. The striking chestnut stallion was previously trained and competed by Cesar Parra and Kevin Kohmann.
Competitors in the U.S. Developing Horse Championship return to the ring Saturday to perform the U.S. Developing Grand Prix Test, counting for the remaining 60% of their championship score.
Photos © Mary Phelps - More photos on Dressagedaily.com
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