“Dressage” comes from a French term often translated as “to train a horse to high collection.” The strength, training and development of the top dressage horses often take as long as five years. Top horse and rider pairs are expected to perform a series of predetermined movements in front of a panel of three to five judges placed at different places around the arena, memorized from one of the FEI Grand Prix tests. Wellington attracts quite a few of the top riders in the sport; athletes who use the warm climate to build confidence and strength in their horses to prepare for big championships like the Olympics, the World Equestrian Games and the annual indoor World Cup competitions. 2018 is a big year for dressage riders who seek to qualify to represent their country at September’s World Equestrian Games. On the following pages, we highlight a few of the Faces of Dressage who compete here in Wellington.
Laura Graves and her horse Verdades have a strong bond of harmony and talent clear to all who watch the pair master the sport of dressage. Graves and her mother bought the horse as a foal from Holland, and she set to work to master each step of the training. In 2014, she blew the judges away at the U.S. Dressage Championships in Gladstone, N.J. She not only placed second overall, she also received one of the highest scores of any American rider and qualified for the 2014 World Equestrian Games. That summer, her first time in Europe to compete, the pair impressed the judges at the CHIO Aachen 5* and then at the WEG in Normandy, France. In 2015, at the FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, she finished fourth. Later that year, she competed at the Pan American Games in Toronto, where she won the team gold medal and the individual silver medal. In 2016, Graves competed at her first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She won the bronze medal in the team competition and earned the fourth position individually. So far in 2018, she scored an 84.675 percent in CDI-World Cup Qualifier FEI Grand Prix Freestyle, in which she has her first of two qualifying scores to be invited to the FEI World Cup to be held in April in Paris.
Tuny Page is a champion for the sport of dressage on two levels, first as a top competitor for the United States and second as an advocate for others. She has long been a champion of the Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center and also one of the founding members in building the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. A true perfectionist, Page works to refine her mindset about how to ride in a competition with high results. Her philosophies, in her own words, include, “Riding dressage is about trusting in the process and concentrating on the moment. It is developing habits so that I always subconsciously and naturally do things in a consistent way.” Page credits Vincente Guilloteau for allowing her to develop a great partnership with her world-class partner, Woodstock. She, and many other Wellington sponsors, spent years volunteering their time in finding ways to make a winter series come to fruition for all riders competing in dressage. Every year, the final competition in the 12-week series includes the CDIO Nations Cup, which is sponsored by Page’s Stillpoint Farm.
Christoph Koschel comes from the best in Germany, as his father recently retired from running one of the top training facilities in the world. After graduating as a lawyer, Christoph joined his father at their training stables. Koschel competed at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and the 2011 European Dressage Championship, winning top medals. He has had the most success with the gelding Donnperignon, placing sixth at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington with the bronze-medal-winning German team. Koschel is known as a great coach. He coaches a lengthy roster of international riders, including his niece, Felicitas Hendricks, a top German Junior Division Rider, and all of the Japanese dressage team riders, including Kiichi Harada here in Wellington. He coached Harada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Koschel is a master of focus in the international arena, and many of the riders associated with him achieve great results.
Kasey Perry-Glass represented the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics, winning the team bronze medal with Laura Graves, Steffen Peters and Allison Brock. Perry-Glass and her remarkable Grand Prix horse, 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Goerklintgaards Dublet, continue to wow the sport. The daughter of Robert and Diane Perry, she has five siblings. In 2016, she married Dana Glass, a Wellington-based trainer of young horses. The entire family — known as “Team Believe” — is tight-knit. For example, one of her sisters travels with her to help look after her horses. Perry-Glass works closely with Olympian Debbie McDonald at their Wellington winter base. She began training with McDonald during the 2015 European tour and continues to soar high in the Wellington competition series. In 2017, at the Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions in Gladstone, N.J., Perry-Glass and Dublet placed first the first day to best the field of seven in the FEI Grand Prix Test with 73.700 percent. The second day, they placed fifth in the Grand Prix Special with 68.529 percent. On the third day, in the FEI Grand Prix Freestyle, they placed second with a score of 73.325 percent. Their scores assured them the overall 2017 Grand Prix National Championship.
Katherine Bateson-Chandler, born in Great Britain, moved to New Jersey when she was 13. Starting at age 16, she worked for American dressage star Robert Dover for 16 years until his retirement in 2007. She tacked up and assembled horses for his business, at home, as well as traveled with the horses to international competitions. Based in Wellington, Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar compete at the Grand Prix level and hope to qualify for upcoming championships. She has enjoyed exceptional success in the U.S. and Europe with the support of Jane Forbes Clark, owner of Alcazar. Currently, Bateson-Chandler trains each summer in Europe with Olympian Carl Hester and gains international exposure competing abroad. In 2017, Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar won over the crowd and the judges with a sensational first-place performance in the CDI 4* Grand Prix Freestyle at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. They went on to compete for the U.S. alongside the country’s top riders in the 2017 Uggerhalne, Denmark CDIO Nations Cup, and then helped Team USA claim the bronze at the 2017 Hickstead FEI CDIO3* Nations Cup. Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar recently won the Grand Prix Special during week five of this year’s AGDF.
Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfvén of Sweden is one of the greatest dressage riders of all time. The seven-time Olympian is a master of riding and training young horses into being some of the best in the world. In this, her eighth year coming to Florida for competition, she brings a handful of her top horses for only a couple of months to build confidence and compete in the warmer climate. She expressed gratitude for the opportunity. “I’ve found coming to Florida to be a super opportunity,” she said. “To be able to go back to the same ring for many weekends allows me to have the chance to explain to my horses that it’s OK. This is how international competition looks. The entire international atmosphere is here, but going time and time again, weekend after weekend, gives me a chance to try to ride with less power to give them confidence.” Vilhelmson-Silfvén has also competed at five World Equestrian Games and 10 European Dressage Championships. She has won three bronze medals in team competitions at European championships, and also competed at six editions of the Dressage World Cup finals. She has already qualified for her seventh World Cup Final, to be held this April in Paris.
Juan Matute Guimon Jr. is a dressage rider from Spain who has lived more than half his life in Wellington. With three-time Olympian Juan Matute Sr. as his father, coach and trainer, Matute Jr. continues to make an international name for himself. Sponsored by Yeguada de Ymas, the young rider continuously proves he can ride with the best in the world. He works six to seven horses a day, six days a week, and each gain the correct basic training for a strong career ahead. Training and competing in Wellington is the precursor to the Spanish National Championships held each May, where Matute Jr. works to qualify to represent his country at upcoming championships. His three main competition horses for 2018 are Quantico Ymas, Don Diego Ymas and Copernico Ymas. He arrived back in Wellington after a successful 2017 summer with key European wins on the Under 25 circuit. He is a perfectionist by nature in a sport where timing and discipline mean everything. He works to present a performance that looks as easy as possible. Organization plays a role in helping Matute Jr. handle those moments of pressure, and he sticks to his routine on competition days. A superstar of a rider and young man, Matute Jr. one to watch in 2018.
An international dressage star who has spent almost two decades in top-level competition, Shelly Francis is a gifted rider and trainer of top dressage horses. Nurturing confidence in her horses through a systematic process, whether at home at Roundabout Farm in Loxahatchee, or at an international competition, she feels especially encouraged when a top European rider compliments her on a horse’s training. Since the early 2000s, Francis has teamed with horse owner Patricia Stempel and consistently scores in the highest rankings throughout the national and international circuits. In 1996, Francis was selected as an alternate for the Atlanta Olympics. The next year, she and her mount, Pikant, won the U.S. Dressage Federation’s Grand Prix Champion Horse of the Year. In 1998, Francis competed at the World Equestrian Games in Rome and, in 2005, took her horse, Dominion, to the top six in the U.S. team rankings. For the last three years, she competed on the international CDI European Tour circuit with mounts Doktor and Danilo, finding success in the show ring and landing her at the top of the U.S. rankings. She will continue to compete this season, looking to be invited to compete at the World Cup in Paris.
One of the all-time great top coaches, trainers and riders, four-time Olympian Ashley Holzer recently changed her citizenship from Canadian to American after being based out of New York since 1994. Holzer began riding as a teen, first entering the Grand Prix ring in the 1980s. She was a member of Canada’s bronze medal dressage team at the 1988 Olympics and represented Canada at the World Equestrian Games in 1990, 2002 and 2006, and the World Cup Finals in 1989 and 2009. She won team gold and silver at the Pan American Games in 1991 and 2003, respectively. Holzer has been competing in Wellington for decades and is a true professional, sharing her talents while teaching and competing. This year, she rides Havanna 145, owned by Diane Fellows, in the international ring, while she brings along several others in the national Grand Prix classes for a strong CDI future. She coaches many riders, including P.J. Rizvi, Jill Irving and Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu. Holzer is always one to watch for grace and precision. She works not only to get herself qualified for upcoming championships; but also to help others qualify. Holzer is a person who inspires others through her work-ethic and discipline — and a true champion to watch in action.
