Felicitas Hendricks, 23 of Germany, on  Drombusch OLD scored 72.457%, with a high score of 73.696% from Dutch judge Monique Peutz-Vegter, to win the FEI World Cup Grand Prix on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the Global Dressage Festival.,

Felicitas Hendricks on Drombusch OLD (Photo by Susan Stickle)Horses who traveled to Florida for the winter season didn't have to acclimate to the weather, as the opening day of week three of the Festival brought unusually low temperatures in the mid 50s and a chilly wind.

Hendricks had the identical score that she had exactly a year ago, a personal best, to win the same World Cup Grand Prix in 2024. T

U.S. riders placed second and third in the field of 15.

Ocala-based Anna Marek scored 71.239% riding her 2023 Pan American Games team gold medal mount, Fire Fly, while local rider Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee, was third with 70.37%.

 “Drombusch is a good boy all through the test and showed some great work,” said Hendricks. “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 said 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!’”

Michael Klimke on Harmony's Dante's Peak (Photo by Susan Stickle)Since stepping up from juniors and riding her first senior CDI grand prix at the Festival in 2023, Hendricks has hadexcellent results, including winning team and individual golds at the 2023 European Under-25 Championships and seven wins from eight senior starts on Drombusch at the 2024 Festival.

“I used to get very nervous in a negative way,” she said. “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 compete in two more shows with Drombusch this season and is hoping for a spot on the German Nations Cup team in Festival 7 and the CDI5*.

In the day’s other big tour class, the CDI3* Grand Prix, another German rider won.

Michael Klimke on Harmony’s Dante’s Peak scored 68.087% in the 9-year-old gelding’s CDI debut.

Erin Nichols on Elian Royale was second  with a 67.63%. and Australia’s Jemma Heran on Total Recall was third by the tightest of margins with 67.609%.

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 exciting.

Para riders also competed on Thursday, with Kate Shoemaker scoring a new personal best of 76.759% on Vianne in the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix Test A Grade IV that including a high score of over 78% from the M judge, Peutz-Vegter.

Shoemaker rode the 9 year-old mare to win 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, 17-year-old Colijn, competed internationally under Helen Claire Merrill-McNulty for the first time to win the CPEDI2* FEI Para Intermediate Test A Grade V with 66.786%.

Hannah Kingsley made her international debut on Sir Chipoli to win the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix A Test Grade III with 65.778%, and also placed second on Eragon VF.

Cynthia Screnci won the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix A Test Grade V, riding her own 8-year-old For Memory 4 with 68.504%.