Last Updated on March 31, 2025 by adminahb
Ashley Holzer & Liberty L. Photo ©susanjstickle.com
After three jam-packed months of exciting competition that included seven CDI shows, on Sunday, March 30, the curtain came down on the final day of the 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) season in Wellington, FL. This year, the one-of-a-kind dressage circuit boasted 1996 entries in the national rings and 450 CDI entries, with 17 different nations represented.
Ten promising small tour horses all aged eight or nine went down centerline in the developing horse Prix St. Georges Future Challenge final, sponsored by Diane Fellows’s family company, Buffalo Wild Wings. The first to do so was Liberty L, a nine-year-old KWPN gelding by Toto Jr x Charmeur owned by his rider, Ashley Holzer. The pair put down 72.843% on the leaderboard, and nobody could catch them.
Holzer got closest on her second ride, PJ Rizvi’s nine-year-old Derek. The Morricone x Sandro Hit gelding was the last to go and notched up 70.98% for the reserve champion’s sash. Callie O’Connell finished third on Ruling Cortes LLC’s nine-year-old Franky Di Fonteabeti. The Italian-bred Franklin x Wynton gelding scored 70.392% in heavy rain, testament to the horse’s focus on his rider in the ring.
The class is open to developing small tour horses aged seven to nine. As with all the developing horse series at AGDF — of which there are now three — they are designed to offer horses with international quality the opportunity to perform a test in CDI conditions but without some of the pressures of an international show. Riders can showcase their developing horses in the stadium arena for assessment by international judges. Unlike in a CDI, riders may carry a whip, and horses do not need to stable at the venue overnight.
Weather during the class presented challenges, with some contending with rain showers, though thankfully a major thunderstorm held off until just after the prize-giving ceremony.
Holzer has owned the champion, Liberty L, since he was four, although she has not been focused on him until recently. He was fifth in this final in 2024.
Marcus Orlob and Jennifer Williams Round Out AGDF Season with Double Wins in Final Week
Both U.S. riders Marcus Orlob and Jennifer Williams crowned their 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) seasons with double wins during week 12, the final CDI show of the three-month winter circuit in Wellington, FL. After topping the qualifying Grand Prix, Orlob won the CDI4* Grand Prix Special sponsored by Coastal Steel Structures on Alice Tarjan’s Jane with 70% on Saturday, March 29.
Katherine Bateson Chandler was runner-up with 66.723% on her own and Jennifer Huber’s 13-year-old Connaisseur x Krack C mare, Haute Couture, who was reserve for the Netherlands Olympic team in Tokyo with former rider Dinja van Liere. It was a select field as almost all the four-star combinations opted to ride in Friday night’s Freestyle instead of the Special.
Orlob’s 70% score was hard-won: his test featured a multitude of eights — including 11 on the final centerline — but also a slew of twos. Jane, the talented but reactive 11-year-old mare by Desperado x Metall, cantered distractedly out of one piaffe and was disinclined in the two-time changes.
“That was not easy today and I really had to think,” reflected Orlob, who trains with U.S. Dressage Team Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig as well as Tarjan. “I had a great feeling in between the mistakes, then I’d lose her again. It was on and off. I’m not sure why, because the warm-up was good. It’s a little frustrating because if you imagine this test without spookiness and mistakes it would score in the high 70s. But I’m happy that I could finish the test on a decent note, and the last center line was great.”
Despite Jane’s antics, Orlob still firmly believes in her talent and will put in the time to keep taking her to all sorts of different venues to get comfortable working in unfamiliar arenas and conditions. That includes in Europe this summer.
“In Germany I have to find national shows and ask for permission to hang out there with Jane,” explained Orlob, who was born and raised in Germany. “We’ll travel from show to show locally and see if I can use that opportunity.”
by Alice Collins
Wellington International
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