By Alice Collins for Wellington International 

Horses who traveled to Florida for the winter season did not have to acclimate to the weather on Thursday, January 23, as the opening day of week three at the 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington brought unusually low temperatures in the mid 50s and a chilly wind. None of that fazed 23-year-old German rider Felicitas Hendricks as she and Drombusch OLD (Destano x Dimaggio) produced a 72.457% test—with a high score of 73.696% from Dutch judge Monique Peutz-Vegter—to top the FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix, sponsored by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.  

It was the identical score that the pair put on the scoreboard exactly a year ago, a personal best, to top the same World Cup™ Grand Prix in 2024. This year’s AGDF, hosted by Wellington International, includes seven weeks of CDI competition and weekly national shows running through March 30. 

Second and third places in the 15-strong class were filled by US riders: Ocala-based Anna Marek notched up 71.239% riding her 2023 Pan American Games team gold medal mount, Janet Simile’s 15-year-old gelding Fire Fly (by Briar Junior), while local rider Kevin Kohmann guided Diamante Farms’ Dancier 16-year-old, Dünensee, to 70.37% and third place.  

“Drombusch is a good boy all through the test and showed some great work,” said Hendricks, who tweaked her warm-up plan to fit the weather. “He did great canter half-passes, but I made a little mistake where I was a bit quick and he had a small trip, but I was very happy with him overall. I knew I’d have very good competition here in Wellington so I would never come here and take a win for granted—you have to work for every single one of those. I get equally excited about every good test.

“We kept Drombusch nice and warm before I got on and I wanted to give him his time to really warm up in this cold, to get his muscles to loosen up a bit. I already knew getting on that he might need a couple of minutes longer than he usually does.

“I’m lucky enough to have a horse that’s consistent in everything; in the way he thinks and in his way of going,” she added of the 14-year-old gelding she has ridden for the past three years after taking him over from her uncle and trainer Christoph Koschel. “He proves over and over again how consistent he is, and he knows exactly when it’s showtime because then he’s extra good and says, ‘Let’s go!’” 

Since stepping up from juniors and riding her first senior CDI grand prix at AGDF in 2023 Hendricks has boasted a sparkling set of results, including winning team and individual golds at the 2023 European Under-25 Championships and picking up seven wins from eight senior starts on Drombusch at the 2024 AGDF. She has found strategies to turn her competition nerves into excitement, including not dwelling on the big names she might be up against in the senior division. 

“I used to get very nervous in a negative way,” she explained. “I’ve been working with a great mental coach that has helped me get out of this way of thinking and be very positive and excited about competing. I don’t look up the other competitors days ahead of the show because I don’t want to get in my head about it too much. I just know I have to do my best with my horse, and I know he’s going to do his best for me, and that’s all that matters.”  

Hendricks hopes to contest two further shows with Drombusch this season, including eyeing a spot on the German Nations Cup team in AGDF 7 and the CDI5*.  

Click here for full results from the FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix, sponsored by Douglas Elliman Real Estate. 

In the day’s other big tour class, the Donato Farms CDI3* Grand Prix, another German rider topped the bill. Michael Klimke rode Harmony’s Dante’s Peak (Dante Weltino x Desperados) to 68.087%. It was the nine-year-old gelding’s CDI debut, and the experienced rider really rates his talent. 

Erin Nichols (USA) was runner-up with a 67.63% ride on Premiere Sport Horses’ 16-year-old Johnson gelding, Elian Royale. Australia’s Jemma Heran slotted into third by the tightest of margins with 67.609% on her own 13-year-old Total Recall, by Totilas. Just half a percentage point separated the competitors who finished between second and fourth in this qualifying grand prix, so Saturday’s CDI3* Grand Prix Special should prove an exciting tussle. 

Click here for full results from the CDI3* FEI Grand Prix, sponsored by Donato Farms. 

Wellington International also welcome Para athletes on Thursday, with Kate Shoemaker clocking up a hefty new personal best on Vianne in the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix Test A Grade IV of 76.759%—including a high score of over 78% from the M judge, Peutz-Vegter. Shoemaker rode the mare, her own nine-year-old by Vitalis, to the bronze medal in the freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics, though it seems the best is yet to come for this pair. 

Shoemaker’s former ride, Fiona Howard’s 17-year-old Son De Niro gelding Colijn stepped out internationally under Helen Claire Merrill-McNulty for the first time to pick up the blue ribbon in the CPEDI2* FEI Para Intermediate Test A Grade V with 66.786%. 

Hannah Kingsley made her international debut with Cynthia Screnci’s 18-year-old Sir Chipoli (by Sir Donnerhall) to head up the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix A Test Grade III with 65.778%, relegating her other mount, Eragon VF, to second place. Screnci herself topped the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix A Test Grade V, riding her own eight-year-old For Memory 4 (by For Dance) to 68.504%. 

Dressage competition in AGDF 3 resumes on Friday morning with eight classes on the slate, including Young Riders, Under 25s, and the opening round of the five qualifiers for the Lövsta Future Challenge, which is an FEI Intermediate II test open to developing Grand Prix horses aged eight to 11.

The evening ‘Friday Night Stars’ session hosts the World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle under lights, sponsored by Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It is free for spectators to watch, both in-person and on the live stream. For more information and results, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.