Faces of Dressage – Ben Ebeling

Ben Ebeling is the next generation of the well-known Ebeling dressage family, which includes his parents Amy and Jan, as well as farms in Wellington and California. His father Jan was on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team in London and also on the 2003 Pan American Games gold medal team and in four World Cup Finals. Ben, 21, has competed in Grand Prix classes in both dressage and show jumping, a rare accomplishment. Even more impressive is that he did so while attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He rode Behlinger at the Adequan/FEI North American Youth Championships in 2017 and 2018, winning team gold in 2017. With Behlinger, he was also part of the first-place team at the CDIY Young Riders Competition at Del Mar in 2018. He is competing this season at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, taking second place in the FEI Grand Prix Special CDI3* during Week 3, riding Illuster Van De Kampert. Last season, he rode for Team USA in the Nations Cup CDIO-U25.

More Than $1 Million Given Away  At 2021 Great Charity Challenge

What is usually the biggest night of the 12-week Winter Equestrian Festival, the Great Charity Challenge, presented by Fidelity Investments, pivoted to a blend of in-person competition for riders and virtual celebrations for charities and supporters on Saturday, Feb. 6. Those supporters cheered as equestrians and their mounts, representing local nonprofit organizations, competed for a share of more than $1 million in prize money.

The GCC is an exciting show jumping event that combines equestrian sports and philanthropy. Three riders made up each of the 23 pro-am combinations, which are paired with Palm Beach County charities. Each team was made up of junior and amateur riders competing side-by-side with top professionals.

In addition to the 23 charities that were part of the competition, an additional 24 nonprofits received funding through grants that were awarded leading up to the event. “Seeing the level of need in our community and knowing how difficult the past year has been, we realized that we couldn’t turn our backs on our most vulnerable neighbors,” GCC co-founder Mark Bellissimo said.

A moment of silence at the beginning of the event paid recognition to all of those lost to the pandemic over the past year. The event featured riders dressed up in costumes and horses adorned to match them, paying recognition to the many heroes who stepped up during the pandemic, as well as those who have inspired people to push beyond their own limits and “dream bigger.”

The winning team of riders — Lindsey Tomeu riding Bonapart, Ashley Vogel on Lucy in the Sky and Shane Sweetnam aboard Heart on Fire — sponsored by team sponsor Spy Coast and Preston, and corporate sponsor Diamante Dressage, came in the ring representing the United States Army as their heroes and finished with a time of 91.664 seconds. Their strategy and teamwork paid off for the YWCA of Palm Beach County, earning them the top prize of $100,000.

Shay Spencer, executive director of YWCA, was elated by the result.

“We have been live streaming all night, and we are so thankful to the sponsors, the supporters, the riders, everyone who livestreamed, and especially to the GCC for putting this all together. We have been supporters, and it is amazing to now be award recipients,” Spencer said. “We do have some very specific plans for the $100,000. We have an amazing new initiative called the Women’s Health Institute, which helps to target the disparities that women face in the health industry, being both women and women of color.”

Coming in second place was the team for Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches, sponsored by Lothlorien Farm and corporate sponsor La Victoria Farm. The team consisted of Edie Wetzel riding Annabelle, Charlotte McLaughlin aboard Elmo and Daniel Coyle on Essedon, who were just a single second shy of the win in 92.869 seconds, earning $90,000 for their charity.

The Center for Family Services of Palm Beach County finished third and won $80,000. The team was made up of Keira Foster on Ash Ville Rock, Olivia Markman riding Zanta Fee Van T Hofterrijckel and Zayna Rizvi aboard Chaplin W, sponsored by Peacock Ridge and corporate sponsor Rosner’s Appliances.

Visit www.greatcharitychallenge.com to learn more about the competition.

Dressage Competitor And Trainer Allison Kavey Brings A Fresh
Outlook To Riders Of All Disciplines

When Allison Kavey first made the trip to Wellington in 2002, she couldn’t have dreamed what the world’s winter equestrian capital would come to mean to her. Kavey first visited the Florida winter season with Uwe Steiner in Venice, and then came to Wellington to work with Bent Jensen the following year.

The Wellington horse community, packed full of top-tier trainers and horses from all corners of the world, offered enormous opportunities to her in both the business and competitive sense.

“Uwe Steiner was an amazing trainer, and I’m so glad I had the chance to work with him while he was alive,” Kavey said. “Much of my [training] foundation is due to Uwe. But I needed to be exposed to a much more competitive atmosphere to learn how to really show. The horse show opportunities and the atmosphere of Wellington were so different from Venice, which was very laid back. I just love it here. It is absolutely exciting and inspiring. In this country, you just don’t have the opportunity to watch riding like this very often.”

When she was able to return to the Florida season in 2015, Kavey quickly came to realize how many unique opportunities existed in Wellington. She was especially excited about the chance to watch top professionals of other disciplines compete — all of them existing just a few minutes from each other.

“It was so cool to go to the show and watch some of the best hunters and jumpers in the country, because I also like to train young hunters and jumpers,” Kavey explained. “I work with quite a few riders of other disciplines, so it was really nice to get to see their work as well. Any good rider is somebody I want to learn from and talk to. I enjoy the specificity of the hunter question. If dressage is 26 questions in a row, all of which require extension, collection, submission and all those things, hunters have to answer one question perfectly 12 times. It’s an amazing thing, we ask these horses to make the same shape from the same step over very different obstacles. It’s a real privilege to watch the very best of equestrian sport no matter the discipline.”

Kavey’s passion for the artistry of the sport and her desire to provide the best possible care and training to the horses in her management is central to her business and training philosophy. With those principles as a driving force, Kavey and Andrea Woodner founded Rivendell Dressage Inc. in 2007, and it has since grown into a prominent dressage training and sales entity in Millbrook, N.Y., and Loxahatchee.

Kavey offers a unique training experience through her extensive teaching skills in and out of the arena and her ability to impart the foundational skills of dressage to riders of all levels and disciplines. Whether she is bringing a young horse up the levels, helping a high-level dressage rider fine-tune skills or guiding a hunter rider to improve a horse’s balance, her commitment to honesty and integrity are what drive her to help others.

Kavey has spent the last decade working with Bettina Drummond to improve her artistry and technique, which brought her to the Grand Prix ring with QueBa HM. She also works with Allison Brock and Lee Tubman to improve her ring technique and enhance her understanding of dressage sport. Citha’s Utopia, a 14-year-old KWPN mare owned by Andrea Woodner, was the Region 8 Intermediate II reserve champion last year, as well as earning fourth place in the Grand Prix freestyle at the regional championship. The mare competed in the CDI medium tour at the end of January at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, and Kavey plans to move her up to the CDI Grand Prix after gaining a bit more practice in national level tests.

Her goal this year is to qualify for the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions at the Grand Prix level. Her second top mount, Cacharel, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare also owned by Woodner, has successfully competed in the Intermediate II with an upward trajectory into Grand Prix work. Kavey also has a bright string of young horses and client horses competing in the national ring this winter.

“I’ve been based in Wellington for the winter for the last six years, and it’s amazing,” Kavey said. “Last week, I grabbed the chance to watch the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special. The quality of the horses and riding is incredible, and I only have to drive 20 minutes to see it. There are other excellent CDIs, but they only last a few days. And when I’m at the show riding, I’m focused on my horses and do not get to really focus on watching and learning from others. Because there are so many competition weeks here, I make the time to watch. Then I can really pay attention, take notes, and come home and apply it right away. It’s awesome.”

To get the best of both worlds and serve her clients appropriately, Kavey spends the winter season in Wellington and the rest of the year in Millbrook, N.Y. Conveniently located only a few miles from the AGDF facilities in Wellington and White Fences in Loxahatchee, Rivendell Dressage offers full and half-training packages, sales services, clinics and lessons at top-of-the-line stables. Kavey takes pride in her one-on-one approach to horse care and nurturing healthy and happy athletes.

“Integrity and honesty matter to me more than anything else,” Kavey said. “I like to bring a sense of humor to the ring, and if it’s something a client enjoys, I’ll use it a little more. I don’t think people have to compete. If you love competing, that’s great, but if you want to just ride your horse and learn, I’m absolutely happy to help you with that. You can love your horse and the sport all the same.”

Learn more about Allison Kavey at www.rivendelldressage.com.

Inaugural Council Members Proud Of The Village That Wellington Has Become

On March 28, 1996 — 25 years ago this month — the inaugural Wellington Village Council met for the first time. The new village’s elected leaders took the reins and set Wellington on a course of self-governance that it remains on to this day.

As amazing as it might sound today, Wellington’s incorporation was a controversial idea, and a vote to create the new village passed in November 1995 by a slim margin. Then, a total of 27 people ran for the five seats on the inaugural council. In the end, all but one of the winners had previously served on the board of Wellington’s pre-incorporation government, the Acme Improvement District. Those early voters, it seems, put a high value on proven service and experience.

On that first council were the late Paul Adams, a commercial real estate executive, and the late Michael McDonough, an attorney. However, three of those inaugural council members are still alive and have been enshrined on the Wellington Founder’s Plaque, honored as elder statesmen who were instrumental in the development of the community. They are Kathy Foster, Dr. Carmine Priore and Tom Wenham, who spoke with Wellington The Magazine regarding those early days in village history.

Foster came to Wellington in 1979 when there were just 700 people in the community. “We just loved it,” she recalled, but tragedy struck after they had been in the area for just 15 months. “My youngest son became ill and died of spinal meningitis. We had no hospitals here and had to go to Miami. The community really rallied around us.”

From this terrible experience, Foster bonded with the community that embraced her and became a leading voice among the fast-growing population of residents.

Opening K. Foster Design in 1983, she joined the newly established chamber of commerce and women’s club.

“We worked to bring a school to the community, so our children didn’t have to be bused to Greenacres,” she said. “The school board approved the first school, Wellington Elementary School, which opened in January 1981.”

In 1989, other community leaders encouraged Foster to run for a seat on the Acme Improvement District Board of Supervisors, which was switching over to being popularly elected by residents, rather than being controlled by the developers.

“I ran against an incumbent who represented a utility. When I won, he quit the night of the election. I was sworn in the next morning. At my first meeting, it was me and all men from the existing board,” Foster said. “We met in a temporary building. There was one piece of paper with a consent agenda, and I asked if we could go through it.”

Questioning the refinancing of a loan, she helped save the community $1.5 million. “And that was the first question on the first day,” Foster said.

Others elected from the young community’s residents joined Foster on the Acme board, including Priore and Wenham.

The Priores had been coming to Wellington to visit family since 1980, about the same time as the Fosters arrived. A dentist, Priore moved up from Miami after operating a successful dental practice down there.

“I moved to Wellington and opened an office by Palms West Hospital in 1985,” Priore said. “I was in my late forties. We really liked Wellington. My son was entering college, my daughter was entering high school, so we thought that was a good time [to relocate].”

The area reminded Priore and his wife Marie of Miami when they were young.

Priore remembered getting involved in his new community first through local issues, regularly attending Acme meetings.

He later joined a volunteer committee, then later serving on the Acme board, before becoming very active in the incorporation effort.

“Someone calculated that for the size and revenue being collected, it was nearly $8 million that was paid to the county,” Priore said. “We wanted to incorporate so we could start to use that money more effectively.”

Foster noted that some $700,000 was all of the money that was coming back from the county to Wellington.

Wenham, who then worked as a facilities manager coordinating stations being built by Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, remembers the situation well.

“I thought we should be doing more for the community,” he said, adding that the incorporation effort was a long time coming and that it provided many services and benefits to the residents. “We all thought that incorporation would be the best thing for the community.”

Wenham is most proud of his work on the village’s first comprehensive plan.

“The equestrian element was one of the more important things at the time, and the [limiting] of dwelling units per acre was important, too. We wanted to govern ourselves with councils that were from the community. We were closer to the constituents,” Wenham said.

Priore noted that incorporation was a years-long effort that failed the first time out.

“Incorporation was a systemic effort made by a conscious decision to have Wellington be run by the community itself,” Priore said.

After the first vote failed narrowly in 1990, the idea was retooled with some changes. Making the incorporation area smaller than that covered by the Acme Improvement District rid the effort of some uninterested property owners, and the measure passed the second time. “We would have home rule, make our own decisions and get our own tax revenues,” Priore said.

All three were vibrant, successful members of that inaugural council, with Foster serving as the first mayor from 1996 to 1998, when that position was decided by a vote of fellow council members. Priore served as mayor from 1998 to 2000, then Wenham took the gavel. Wenham later became the first popularly elected mayor in 2003 after a charter change.

Wenham believes that incorporation was not only the right choice then, but it has proven to be the right choice over the past 25 years.

“We had to work on that first comp plan to determine what Wellington would be today,” he said. “The councils that followed us maintained the work. We are proud to have been part of it. It is an honor and a privilege when you can give something back to the community.”

Show Jumper Lillie Keenan Enjoys Her Education,  In And Out Of The Ring

At just 24 years old, Lillie Keenan is one of the most talented show jumpers in the United States. With a maturity beyond her years that has been evident since she started riding horses, Keenan used education, both in and out of the competition ring, to advance her career. Having recently made Wellington her full-time home, the New York City-born equestrian is reaching for new heights and learning along the way.

Keenan first came to Wellington at the age of seven, when she convinced her parents to forgo a skiing trip on their winter break from school and instead travel to South Florida for her to compete on her pony Aspen Spring. They have since spent every winter traveling to the warmer climate. “That is why I still don’t know how to ski!” she noted.

The talented young rider has made a habit of convincing her parents and others of what she already knew: her passion for horses, riding and competing would always be foremost in her life. While horses take center stage, Keenan has also valued the importance of education and all of the relevant skills that come with learning.

Keenan said that her parents, Pam and Howard, were “used to sacrificing for their kids’ passion,” with her older brother being a professional hockey player and her sister a professional ballerina with the New York City Ballet. For Keenan, it meant her mother, who was a successful junior rider herself, ferrying her to ride with Andre Dignelli and Patricia Griffith at Heritage Farm and traveling to horse shows throughout the year, including to Wellington every winter. “They were incredibly supportive,” she said.

As a student at the Spence School in Manhattan, Keenan commuted every winter from ages eight to 17, her junior year at Spence. “JetBlue was like a second home to me,” she laughed. “I was in a position that my family could make that possible, so I was very lucky. I kept my grades up and was allowed to do it. [Spence] set me up for success with academics and with sport. They made it possible, but taught me discipline, and I could manage to do well in school while also jumping five star [Grand Prix classes] while still in high school.”

This sometimes required taking matters into her own hands. “When I was in eighth grade, I spoke to my head of school about missing every Friday for three months,” Keenan recalled. “She explained that anything is possible as long as I’m the one who makes it happen. I had to talk to the head of school and my teachers myself, rather than my parents. I had to be responsible for my own work and time management. If I missed anything, I had to make a plan and communicate. I was comfortable with it.”

While Keenan visited six schools for higher education, Harvard University was her first choice. “It was the one place that I had a feeling that I could be myself there,” she said. “What made Harvard different was that every person that I met there, they didn’t have to understand show jumping and horses, but they had something in their life they were passionate about, too. They were driven by something; it connected all of us.”

Keenan continued her equestrian passion through her college years.

“I don’t remember feeling like I wished I wasn’t doing both,” she explained. “I didn’t want to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the experience of moving away from home and being a college kid. I liked it, but I realized there was never a moment at a party or something that I wasn’t missing horses and the sport. Once I realized horses is what I wanted to do, I was able to commit myself better to studies and sport. At school, I was at school. When I wasn’t, I sat down and got work done.”

In a remarkable junior career that included wins in the USEF Pony Finals, the ASPCA Maclay Finals, the USEF Medal Finals, the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Finals, double gold at the North American Young Rider Championships and winning the USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals against a full slate of professionals, Keenan kept her laser focus on her goals.

She jumped in her first Nations Cup at the age of 17 in Bratislava, Slovakia, and turned professional in 2015 during her freshman year at Harvard. In 2017, she was a part of the first all-female team to win the Aga Khan Trophy in the Nations Cup at the Dublin Horse Show. She has remained not only one of the best Under 25 riders in the world but is also consistently one of the top 10 riders in the country.

Keenan has fond memories of growing up wintering in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival, watching the Grand Prix classes under the lights at 10 years old and feeling that she would never jump that high, and then four years later being anxious to try. She rode in her first Saturday Night Lights with Pumped Up Kicks at 17 years old.

“The crowd there is a different experience than a lot of shows,” Keenan said. “The atmosphere is electric. The crowd definitely raises you up.”

After graduating from Harvard, Keenan turned her commitment full-time to horses and show jumping. “After 15 years or so, my focus was on one thing,” she explained. “I really looked forward to it; I never had that other than in the summers.”

Keenan has now made Wellington her permanent residence with Chansonette Farm, and a bonus of being in one place so much is the chance to go to the local Pilates Rocks every day.

“It has really become home,” she said. “It’s the only time in my life where I have lived where my horses are and had that constant every day, where I can wake up and go and ride. I love having other [equestrian] disciplines at such a high level so close to home. I enjoy watching dressage and learning from seeing that. I think it’s a very unique community that you don’t find anywhere else in the world.”

Keenan’s current string includes top horses Fasther, Skyhorse and Agana van het Gerendal Z, along with promising nine-year-olds El Balou OLD and Cazaan, as well as Ann Thompson’s eight-year-old Delta de la Rasse. It’s a family affair, as her mother Pam helps pick out young horses and develop them for the future.

“From the very beginning, one thing my mom never pushed to try was riding,” Keenan said. “When she stopped riding, it was hard to give up; it was her entire life. This sport is so up and down, and you lose a lot more than you win. You need support and people around you to understand how much commitment it takes. Horses are always going to be the priority. I’m very lucky that I get to share that with my mom.”

While it has been two years since she graduated, Keenan’s love of learning continues. Six months after she left school, she was tutoring high school students. “I love learning, and there are parts of school that I really enjoyed. I think that will be true for life,” Keenan said. “That’s why I started my own business with designing show jackets, and I push myself in new ways, in more than just sport. It makes me a better rider and a better person.”

International Show Jumping Family The Beerbaums Enjoy Spending Time In Wellington, Their Winter Home

When equestrian Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum first set foot in Wellington in the late 1980s, she used it as a stepping-stone to one of the most successful careers in the equestrian sport of show jumping. More than 30 years later, she is a regular winter visitor with her husband, Markus Beerbaum, a top rider and trainer, and her 10-year-old daughter, Brianne.

While studying political science at Princeton University, the Californian won her first big Grand Prix in 1989 at the age of 19 in Wellington riding Quick Star. At that time, the Winter Equestrian Festival was based at the old polo stadium grounds, currently home to Equestrian Village and the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. Flying down on the weekends to compete, Meredith balanced riding and school like many junior and young amateur riders do to this day.

Two years later, in 1991, Meredith moved to Germany to work for legendary trainer Paul Schockemöhle, and when she met Markus, she stayed. The couple started their own riding and training business in 1994. After marrying in 1998, Meredith became a German citizen and was the first woman to ever earn a spot on the German national team when she competed at the 1999 European Championships.

While Meredith was focused on her career and competing in Europe — which led to three victories at the FEI World Cup Jumping Finals, Olympic team bronze, three World Championship medals and six European Championship medals — Markus, who has won team gold medals at the European Championships and World Championships himself, was traveling to Wellington annually to ride and train students such as Alison Firestone, who was the alternate for the U.S. show jumping team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Athens.

“He was doing more of the Wellington circuit than I was,” Meredith remembered. “It’s a bit of a contradiction! I would commute a little bit back and forth; he was based in Wellington doing the full-time WEF circuit.”

When the Beerbaums gained new sponsors who lived in Florida and were interested in having their horses compete in Wellington, Meredith joined Markus in more regular trips to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Meredith brought two young, talented horses, Jim and Nancy Clark’s Shutterfly and Checkmate, to give them experience. Those two horses would turn into her most successful mounts with seven championship medals between them. Shutterfly took Meredith to the top of the podium three times at the World Cup Finals in 2005, 2008 and 2009. Checkmate returned to WEF in his late competition years, until he was 19, to compete in Wellington.

Since 2012, Meredith and Markus have spent winters in Wellington, with horses owned by Jim and his wife Kristy Clark of Artemis Farm, and working with students such as Saer and Audrey Coulter, Lucy Davis and Chloe Reid.

The Beerbaums’ daughter Brianne was born in 2010, and the family trade has been passed down.

“She started in the walk-trot classes in the South Ring, and now she’s out there on Pony Island,” Markus said. “She adores it and has a great time, and she established a network of friends.”

Brianne trains with Patricia Griffith of Heritage Farm, and she attended school at Binks Forest Elementary School for the semester they live in Florida. With COVID-19 making schools virtual, Brianne will continue with her German online school in 2021, working with Upper Echelon Academy in Wellington, which was founded by equestrian Clementine Goutal.

Markus and Meredith will be primarily training students this winter, but they have brought one pony for Brianne to compete.

There are many facets of life in Wellington and at the Winter Equestrian Festival that make it an ideal place for the Beerbaums in the winter, both professionally and personally.

“The weather is fabulous, and we get to ride outside. You can’t ride [outside] very many places in the world [in the winter], particularly in Germany,” said Meredith, who is based the rest of the year at the Beerbaums’ stable in Thedinghausen. “The [PBIEC] show grounds has everything in one location, which is so attractive for a family like us. I can help Brianne in the pony ring, then go and ride in the Grand Prix without traveling to another show. In Europe, that is not possible because the big shows don’t have [classes] for kids.”

Markus also enjoys his winters in Wellington.

“We have a lovely life as a family in Wellington, and we get to all share and enjoy our time together,” he said. “We have a normal time schedule, having dinner in the evening, and are able to sit around the pool and throw steaks on the grill. We have a really comfortable, nice family life and still ride our best horses, compete at the top level of the sport, plus watch our daughter shine in the pony ring. It’s a win-win-win for us. It’s a wonderful time to be together and enjoy what we all love to do, but in the same place for a good length of time.”

While the whole of Palm Beach County has much to offer residents and visitors, the Beerbaums tend to stay closer to home in Wellington, usually enjoying restaurants and shopping. “I think the Village of Wellington offers so many things,” Meredith said. “It’s really convenient. You can get whatever you need: Pilates, golf, a tennis lesson, all next to the stable or where your kid goes to school.”

Competition at WEF in 2021 will be as tough as ever, with top riders from around the world coming to Wellington to compete. More European riders are making the trip across the Atlantic as well, realizing something that Markus and Meredith saw years ago.

“It’s vital to point out that this is the top of the sport,” Markus said. “For years, before Europeans came, they knew [WEF had the] best American riders, but they didn’t realize how good the sport is. Now in the last few years, Europeans have come and seen how difficult the competition is, how the course designing is top, the facilities are great and the prize money is outstanding. It’s not only the best Americans, but there is a European and international flair. That brings a lot to Wellington and makes it one of the best places to compete, particularly this time of the year.”

Joining thousands who attend the Winter Equestrian Festival every year, the Beerbaums are happy to have made Wellington their winter home.

Learn more about the Beerbaums at www.michaelsbeerbaum.com.

 

Faces of WEF

The world-renowned Winter Equestrian Festival has returned to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, bringing 13 weeks of top hunter, jumper and equitation competition. The 2021 WEF opened last month and continues through April 4 featuring the best riders from across the nation and around the world. Although this year will look different due to COVID-19 rules and guidelines, with very limited spectators, that does not mean that the quality of the sport will be any less impressive. Show jumping riders will have 12 weeks of FEI competition, including four CSI5* events. Highlights will include the popular Great Charity Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 6, which will provide $1 million to local nonprofit organizations. As we do every year, our Faces of WEF pictorial feature puts a spotlight on just a few of many amazing riders competing at WEF this year.