Courtney King and Roby W II Debut with Wins at Dressage at Equestrian Estates
Equestrian News Release
WELLINGTON, FL – April 4, 2006 – Courtney King of Bedford, New York, debuted Roby W II at Dressage at Equestrian Estates in Loxahatchee, Florida, and claimed two victories at Third Level. The pair also earned the Third Level High Score Championship of the show. Dressage at Equestrian Estates was held March 31 - April 2 at The Horse Park at Equestrian Estates.
Roby W II is an impressive eight-year-old, 18.1-hand, dark brown Oldenburg gelding by Rubenstein owned by Richard Malloch.
King and “Roby” won Open Third Level Test 2, a qualifier for the BLM (Colonel Bengt Lundquist Memorial) Championships, besting a field of 22 entries with a score of 72.143% from Judge Natalie Lamping, USA, FEI “I”.
King and Roby also claimed victory in Open Third Level Test 3, a qualifier for the GAIG/USDF (Great American Insurance Group/United States Dressage Federation) Regional Championships, topping a field of 15 horses with a score of 72.667% from Judge Marianne Ludwig, USA, FEI “I” – which proved to be the High Score at Third Level at this year’s Dressage at Equestrian Estates.
King explained her strategy for her first outing with Roby W II. “This was the first time I've shown Roby, so in our first class, Third Level Test 1, I rode him very, very conservatively,” King said. Judge Elizabeth McMullen, Canada, FEI “O”, awarded the pair 63.889% for fourth place in a field of 10 horses. “I came out of the ring feeling we could have done a whole lot better,” King noted, “so the next day I came out with a completely different attitude – I just went for it. Roby delivered, no problem.” The pair was unbeatable for the remainder of the show.
Earning two back-to-back victories with scores in the 70-percentile is no small feat for this massive equine athlete. “Roby is an enormous horse – nearly 18.2 and very long – so the quickness and tightness of the Third Level tests is very challenging,” King pointed out. “But it also sets the perfect standard for what I need to work on with him.”
Dressage at Equestrian Estates also offered USEF High Performance Qualifying competitions for the World Equestrian Games Selection Trials / Collecting Gaits USEF National Grand Prix and Intermediaire 1 Championships. King entered the world-class stallion Idocus in the USEF High Performance Grand Prix qualifier and earned fifth place in a field of 10 horses with a score of 63.889% from the panel of judges – Sarah Geikie, USA, “S” at E; Marianne Ludwig, USA “I” at C; and Elizabeth McMullen, Canada, FEI “O” at M.
“I was very disappointed because he was so awesome in the warm-up and the test started very well,” King said. “Then he just decided that he didn't have to perform again.” Still working on re-developing the partnership they had established prior to their four-year separation (2001-05), King devised a plan to show Idocus’s best test in the ring, rather than in the warm-up. She entered him in the Grand Prix in the Open FEI Test of Choice class on Sunday, April 2, which allowed her to carry a whip in the ring. “Sure enough, that did the trick,” King said. Idocus scored 69.157% for second place – missing the victory by just a tenth of a point! (The winner of the class, Heather Bender riding Winwood in the Open FEI Intermediaire I, scored 69.250%.)
“My plan now is to only show Idocus in Open Grand Prix classes for a while so I can continue to carry a whip and in this way I can get him back into the habit of performing,” King explained. “It is my hope that I will then be able to carry the horse I have in the warm-up into the show ring!”
King’s victories with Roby W II in Loxahatchee capped off her winter season in Florida. She and her six horses will return to her home base stable at Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford, New York, and rejoin the additional nine horses in her charge. King is preparing for the upcoming spring show season in the Northeast where she will be exhibiting horses from Training Level through Grand Prix.
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