By Alice Collins for Wellington International 

The Starpoint Dancesport FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix was the feature competition on Thursday, February 20, to open proceedings in week seven of the 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL, hosted by Wellington International. 

Five countries lined out for the Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix, with Germany taking the gold medal for the fifth consecutive year with 207.022 points. The silver went to the U.S. team with 201.565 points, while Sweden’s tally of 190.761 points secured the bronze. For the second year, the format only allowed grand prix level combinations, in line with the four remaining legs of the 2025 Nations Cup dressage series, all to be held in Europe. 

The victorious German team was made up of Lars Ligus, chef d’équipe Michael Klimke, Felicitas Hendricks, and newcomer Evelyn Eger, who topped the class with a new personal best of 70.435% on Tabledance 3. Klimke has been chef d’équipe for each of Germany’s five consecutive victories. 

“I’m very proud because year after year we plan this and try to have a good team,” said Klimke, who rode the 11-year-old Harmony’s Fado to 63.435%. “My horse was not in the best form, but I was lucky to have three very good teammates. Evelyn, Felicitas and Lars all had really good performances and the key to success is teamwork.

“I’m 55 now and have a lot of experience,” he added. “Team spirit is very important, and we all have the feeling we can rely on and trust each other.” 

Eger, who works for Hof Kasselmann and is in her first year competing at AGDF, rode the 12-year-old Totilas daughter Tabledance 3 to her first CDI victory in the three years the duo have been competing at the level. 

“She felt really good in the warm-up, so I could go into the test very relaxed,” said Eger. “I finally got the canter work where I want it to be and finally got the one-time changes clean, which I struggled with at the last shows. 

“It’s always a big honor to be on the team, and this year is very special because I’m the new one. I was a bit shy, because the team was already super close, but I felt perfectly included from the beginning and that contributed to the success today,” she added.   

Team Germany also included Felicitas Hendricks, who finished third individually with a contributing score of 69.522% on her own 14-year-old Destano gelding Drombusch OLD and Lars Ligus, who rode Hof Kasselmann’s 15-year-old Sandro Hit gelding Santiago to 67.065% and seventh individually.  

The silver medal winning Dutta Corp. US dressage team featured Devon Kane, her husband Kevin Kohmann, Erin Nichols, and Jennifer Williams, all under chef d’équipe Christine Traurig’s guidance.

Kane was the top finisher, riding Diamante Farms’ Vamos into fifth place on 67.435%. Kohmann backed her up in sixth place with 67.304% on another Diamante Farm horse, the Bordeaux 14-year-old mare Guilietta. Jennifer Williams and Joppe K—an 11-year-old by Rousseau—put 66.826% on the board, while Erin Nichols and Elian Royale were the drop score with 63.108%. 

Kane had a tricky start to her test when Vamos, a 13-year-old Vivaldi gelding, was a little distracted

“I think we started [trending] on 22% and pulled our way up from there, so I knew we had to catch as many points as we could and make every movement count,” she said. “I’m proud that my horse was able to overcome such a setback. 

“It’s an honor to be able to represent the U.S. at any Nations Cup, but to do so with your husband next to you, cheering for you and riding with you is extremely special,” added Kane, who has produced both Vamos and Guilietta from young horses. “It’s also a testament to our commitment to the sport and to helping each other and our team do well.  

“This is both Vamos and Guilietta’s first year of CDI so to be trusted for the U.S. team and to do what we did today makes us very proud. Today was very special,” she concluded.  

In a repeat of the top three team placings from Wellington International’s 2024 Nations Cup, Sweden took bronze under the leadership of chef d’équipe Louise Nathhorst. 

Seven-time Olympian Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén recorded the nation’s top finish, placing second individually behind Eger with 70.304% on the 13-year-old Lövsta Stuteri-owned mare, Hyatt. Karin Persson contributed 60.326% on Christina Devine’s 16-year-old gelding Slæbækgåard’s Santino (by Sir Donnerhall). Caroline Darcourt stepped into the stirrups of another 16-year-old, Devanto, scoring 60.131%. The Holsteiner gelding—also owned by Lövsta Stuteri—has been competed exclusively by Vilhelmson Silfvén since 2021.

Both Australia and Canada fielded teams of just three riders, so an elimination for one combination from each country meant the teams were out, as three scores are required to count. 

Starpoint Dancesport FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* FEI Grand Prix individual results. 

Starpoint Dancesport FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* FEI Grand Prix team results.

Perry-Glass and Heartbeat Notch First CDI Win

U.S. Olympic team bronze medalist Kasey Perry-Glass and Heartbeat WP led the standings in Thursday’s other top level class, the CDI3* Grand Prix sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings. Their 70.804% represented the pair’s second highest grand prix score to date and their first ever CDI victory. It follows an eight-month absence from the international ring. Great Britain’s Susan Pape as second with another plus-70%, coaxing 70.282% from Harmony Sporthorses’ 14-year-old mare, Harmony’s Giulilanta (by Jazz x Flemmingh). Benjamin Ebeling (USA) was third with a 69.631% performance on Ann Romney’s 15-year-old Belissimo M mare, Bellena. 

Perry-Glass has been riding Heartbeat for two years, including competing him on the European circuit in the summer of 2024. He is the successor to Perry-Glass’s Olympic mount, Dublet. 

“My partnership with Heartbeat is building and his heart is the biggest thing about him, so his name is fitting,” said Perry-Glass. “He tries his hardest and I couldn’t have asked for a better next grand prix horse. He has a world-class piaffe/passage and honing in on that is our biggest goal. It’s still a work in progress, but he’s trusting me more and more in the ring and I felt he was way more confident today.”

Perry-Glass has been riding with Ali Brock and Adrienne Lyne, fine-tuning the basics, and hopes to be selected for the European tour again this summer. 

“Over the summer I was able to unpack a lot of training that I wanted to build on and took a little bit more time on the basics,” she said. “By January when I started test riding again, it made it so much easier. Ali and Adrienne Lyle have instilled confidence in me as a trainer.” 

Full results from the CDI3* Grand Prix, sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings.

Personal Best For Ebeling 

In the CDI1* FEI Prix St. Georges, sponsored by Zen Elite Equestrian, Benjamin Ebeling added another ribbon to his collection, leading a U.S. clean sweep of the top three places. He spearheaded the class with a new personal best of 71.03% on the 10-year-old Escona 8 (by Escolar x Sir Donerhall). Katrina Sadis slotted into second with 68.77% on Yeguada De Ymas’ nine-year-old George Clooney gelding Legend Ymas. Molly O’Brien was right behind, riding Lehua Custer’s nine-year-old Floriscount stallion Fortunato H2O to 68.431%. 

Ebeling has had the ride on the expressive mare Escona 8, who is owned by ACR Enterprises and Hof Kasselmann, since she was five. This was her fourth CDI and the first time she scored over 70% internationally. 

“For me the win is great, but seeing this horse develop over the years has been such an extreme joy,” said the 25-year-old Ebeling. “I felt yesterday in training that his pirouettes reached the next level of collection, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. For a horse with that much movement to gain the strength and go in there and put down a personal best tells me as a rider that I’m doing the correct things in her training and conditioning.

Ebeling credits much of his success with Escona to his two trainers, his father Jan Ebeling and coach Christoph Koschel. 

“They’ve been instrumental in the training and development of this horse,” he said. “On the days I don’t train with one of them, Escona does trail riding or poles. Maybe that comes from my background as a showjumper, but I really feel that keeping the horses mentally sound as well as physically sound is so important. 

“Escona is so willing and easy now with the half-halts,” added Ebeling. “I can bring her back to almost a passage feeling in the trot, but she really swings out and open with the front end. She came together today, and putting down the PB was a goal of mine.”  

Dressage resumes on Friday of AGDF 7 with daytime and evening competition, including Young Riders and the Lövsta Future Challenge, an Intermediate II class for developing grand prix horses. Both the CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle and the Nations Cup Grand Prix Freestyle classes take place under the lights during the ‘Friday Night Stars’ gala evening, which begins at 7pm ET. Admission for spectators is free. AGDF, which hosts seven weeks of CDI competition and weekly national shows, runs through March 30. For more information, results, and to watch the live stream, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.