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Articles: Press Release
Brad Cutshall and Pointjack Victorious in FEI Grand Prix de Dressage at Zada Enterprises, LLC Dressage by the Bay
 Photo Credit: Brad
Cutshall and Pointjack Winners of the FEI
Grand Prix de Dressage at Dressage by the Bay. Photo (C) 2008 Lauren Fisher.
Contact:
Lauren Fisher for
Phelps Media Group, Inc.
at (561) 753-3389 or at pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com
Traverse City, MI - August 2, 2008 - Horse Shows by the Bay
will come to an end tomorrow, but today the Zada Enterprises LLC Dressage by
the Bay competition continued on in the Robert D. Van Kampen arena. Sponsored
by Hampton Green Farm of Wellington, FL and Fruitport, MI, the FEI Prix St.
Georges and the FEI Grand Prix de Dressage were both held in the ring this
morning.
The FEI Prix St. Georges was the first of the two classes to
go in the Van Kampen ring. The class was won in the open division by Colleen
Haveman on her 14 year-old Hanoverian, Warello. Carolyn Kotila and Leonardo
were first place in the class in the Adult Amateur division.
Haveman and her handsome chestnut performed their test
skillfully and made their way to the top of the class with a score of 66.000.
Haveman has been doing dressage for just over 15 years and
has a farm just 20 minutes from the show in Traverse City. She was previously
in the North American Young Rider Program and received a USDF bronze and silver
medal. She is also a recent graduate of the USDF "L" Program of distinction.
Haveman just purchased Warello about 3 months ago and today
was their first Prix St. Georges, so she was very happy with how well it went.
"We had one small mistake, but other than that it was really good," the rider
said. "He is a really fun horse and I have just really enjoyed him."
Haveman has been competing at Horse Shows by the Bay every
year since it first started. She really enjoys how many spectators come to the
show. "It is very spectator oriented where people can learn about dressage and
it gets people excited about it," Haveman stated. "That is going to help make
the sport grow."
Just behind Haveman and Warello and Kotila and Leonardo were
Brad Cutshall and Pedro with a score of 65.250 in the open division and Barbara
J. Butman and Falkland Dragonfly with a score of 61.750 in the Adult Amateur
division.
The FEI Grand Prix de Dressage followed shortly after the
Prix St. Georges with just 3 entries in the class. After beautifully executing
the test, open rider Brad Cutshall and Pointjack were the class winners with a
score of 67.084.
Second place was Tonya Grant-Barber on Kevekko with a score
of 57.50 and third place went to Dorothy Mueller on her horse Prinz Mero with a
49.792.
Brad Cutshall, from Kalamazoo, MI, started riding when he
was 14 years old. The horse that Cutshall won on today, Pointjack is a 13
year-old Swedish stallion.
"He is a little bit different this year than he has been in
the last few years because we have been doing some breeding with him this
year," Cutshall said of the horse. "The other day when I worked him he was kind
of preoccupied and was calling out in the test. I showed him early this year
and he did okay, but I was really happy with his test today because he stayed
focused with me and I really felt connected with him for one of the first times
this season."
What Cutshall loves about dressage is the detail that it
entails. "I am a really detail oriented person by nature, so I really like the
precision and the technique and the fact that you are always learning," he
stated. "I always tell my students that this is a sport of precision and
technique and not power, so that is what I really like about it."
"I think that a lot of people think how great it would be to
be a horse because they are so beautiful," Cutshall continued. "And when
everything really clicks, you are as close to being a horse as you could
possibly be. It is just a great feeling to connect and have that bond where you
feel as one with the horse."
Horse Shows by the Bay will wrap up tomorrow with its final
day of competition in beautiful Traverse City, MI. Be sure to check in for the
concluding coverage of the hunter and jumper events. For more information on Horse Shows by the Bay, please go to www.horsesportsbythebay.com.
This
photo may be used free of charge only in relation to this press release.
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