By Alice Collins for Wellington International

The second and final set of individual medals was awarded in the Stillpoint Farm FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix Special on Saturday of week 7 at the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, Florida. The on-form American rider Kevin Kohmann was overcome with emotion to stand atop the podium bedecked with the gold medal on an idyllic, warm and sunny afternoon. AGDF hosts seven weeks of CDI competition over three months and runs through March 31.

Michael Klimke rode Uwe Kappel’s 12-year-old Domino 957 (by Den Haag) to 67.766% and the silver medal. At just 20 years old, Erin Nichols earned bronze riding Premiere Sport Horses’ 15-year-old Glock’s Johnson gelding Elian Royale to 67.128%.

“It was super standing up there — I’m speechless right now,” said Kohmann, who switched nationalities from his native Germany three years ago. “This is my second time riding a Nations Cup for the US and I had tears during the anthem.

“I am so thrilled to have won even though today wasn’t really the test that I wanted it to be,” he added of the small mistakes that crept into their performance. “He had a bit more go, so we’re going to change the strategy for our next warm-ups, for day number two especially. It seems that the horse has so much energy, which is great, but it was too much today for me to manage through the test, so we missed the suppleness and looseness that we normally have.”

The 15-year-old Dünensee’s story with Kohmann began a decade ago when his now wife Devon Kane bought the horse for herself as a five-year-old. 

“He kept growing and growing, then I ended up with him because I’m a tall, strong guy,” explained the 35-year-old rider. “Then he went to a bunch of other tall, strong guys — and then almost 10 years later he was back with me. I still have the first sales video I made with him, he was already doing his tempi changes.”

When Kohmann picked up the son of Dancer’s reins again in early 2023, he wasn’t convinced that he could adequately show Dünensee, but he was persuaded by his wife and trainer Christoph Koschel, who also rode the horse for a period. 

“A year ago, I didn’t believe that I could show the horse; I couldn’t ride one clean line of changes at home, but Devon and Christoph told me, ‘Yes you can, just do it.’ We went out there and they were right, it was good enough. From that moment on, we started trusting each other. Now I walk into the barn and his ears are straight forward, it’s so nice. He’s the sweetest horse on the planet.

“I didn’t think we could even ride a test, and now we’ve done Nations Cups and will probably do the World Cup this year; I don’t know what the limit is. This horse is going to stay in the family forever now, he’s earned his spot,” added Kohmann, who plans to compete the horse in next week’s FEI World Cup™ qualifier. 

Personal bests were the order of the day in the Grand Prix Special CDI3*, presented by Iron Spring Farm, which featured an all-female podium line-up. Winner Susan Pape (GBR) added to her stellar results this season with her own and Harmony Sporthorses’ 10-year-old Vivaldi stallion by taking the spoils with 72.936%. 

Ariana Chia (CAN) and the 14-year-old Guateque IV scored 70.298%, eclipsing their previous best by almost 3 percentage points. This is her first season riding Coves Darden Farm’s home-bred PRE stallion by Layco. Fellow Canadian Jill Irving rode her own 14-year-old Hanoverian Delacroix 11, by Dancier, into third with 69.809%.

Pape’s score marked a new high score for V-Plus in this test, and they remain unbeaten in AGDF 7 — which is just the fourth CDI for the horse at big tour level. 

“It felt absolutely amazing today,” enthused Pape. “We had a ‘nice’ grand prix, but I thought seeing as he’s listening so well in the arena, today I gave it a bit more energy to see how responsive he was, and he was absolutely marvelous. He’s very concentrated in the ring and that’s something very nice to have upfront.”

Pape attributed her success to the extensive team behind her, saying, “I have incredible support, not only from my family but from all my trainers — my husband Ingo, Michael Klimke and Gareth Hughes — as well as my groom Antonia. It really is a team effort to get here. 

“And the opportunity to be in Florida helps V-Plus a lot too because at home it’s drizzly and cold and you’re in the indoor all the time. Here you have sun and open space, and that helps a lot,” she added of the horse she has been riding since he was bought by her sponsors Leslie and John Malone of Harmony Sporthorses for €1.2million at the PSI Auction in December 2018. 

Pape will compete her other horse, Harmony’s Eclectisch, at next weekend’s Palm Beach Derby week, before both horses return to Germany a few days later. 

In the CDI1* FEI Intermediate I, sponsored by Zen Elite Equestrian, Naïma Moreira Laliberté (CAN) made it two wins from her first two international starts on Jaliska LD this week. An exuberant and energetic performance was rewarded with 73.029% in the 10-year-old All At Once-sired mare’s first ever international Intermediate I.

Second-placed Katrina Sadie (USA) also set a high bar with Yeguada de Ymas S.L. and Cristina Danguillecourt’s nine-year-old Vitalis stallion, Valerius Ymas. He is another talented horse debuting in the CDI ring in AGDF7. The pair scored 71.265%. James Irwin and Kimberly Wynd’s 12-year-old Sir Donnerhall mare Simsalabim, last to go in the class, secured third with 69.559%. 

Dressage competition in AGDF7 concludes on Sunday, with action across the divisions, including an Under-25 Grand Prix Freestyle, Amateurs, Juniors, Young Riders and the Buffalo Wild Wings Prix St. Georges Future Challenge qualifier — as well as a full deck of action in the national arenas. For more information and results, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com. 

Click for full results from the Stillpoint Farm FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix Special