WELLINGTON, FL--February 8, 2001--The first of three weeks of dressage competition at the Cosequin Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL, featured levels ranging from Training level up to the top Grand Prix level. Israeli rider Oded Shimoni and his Dutch gelding Glenstern won the Grand Prix De Dressage class with 68.667%. Lynda Alicki, a 1999 Pan American Games team Gold Medalist, finished second with a score of 65.533% aboard Impressario.

Later in the week, Patrick Burssens and Marianne McPhail's horse Marfil, a 14-year-old Argentinean-bred gelding, won the Grand Prix Special with 69.767%. Shimoni and Glenstern finished second with 65.969%. A special attraction of the Wellington Dressage was the $25,000 Windsome Dressage Show Jumping Spectacular on Saturday, February 3. This crowd-pleaser paired show jumping riders with dressage riders in an exciting team competition. Riders selected teammates, forming a duo comprised of one dressage competitor and one show jumper. The show jumping rider competed in a Third Level dressage test, while in a separate event the dressage rider jumped a course of obstacles in a Hit and Hurry jumping event. This year's winners were U.S. Equestrian Team Olympic show jumping veteran Anne Kursinski and dressage competitor Bent Jenssen.

The show culminated with German rider Hubertus Schmidt winning the crowd-pleasing Grand Prix Freestyle, a musical ride choreographed by the rider. Susan Dutta finished second with Guadalquivir DC, followed by Sabine Schut and Jorrit in third.

Dressage is a test where horses must respond to subtle signals from the rider and show a willingness to go forward with energy, elasticity and grace. Horses and riders perform a designated series of movements at reference markers around an arena, and judges award scores based on the details of that performance. Although it is never attained, 100% is the highest possible score. Dressage challenges riders to strive for the greater levels of precision and harmony, which is a pleasure to watch for equestrian and non-equestrian spectators alike.

The 2001 Cosequin Winter Equestrian Festival offers $3 million in total prizes during a ten-week series which runs in Wellington, FL (January 24 - March 18) and Tampa, FL (March 21 - March 31). The Festival hosts the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday evening, March 31. The series then returns to Wellington for the culminating event—the American Grandprix Association Championship—April 4-8. ###