Hat Trick for U.S. Dressage at Pan Ams

By Joanie Morris October 19, 2011

Marking the first time the individual medals have been swept by one nation in dressage at the Pan American Games, U.S. riders Steffen Peters, Heather Blitz and Marisa Festerling nabbed Gold, Silver and Bronze, respectively.

The U.S. riders each scored over 80% for their freestyle rides Wednesday, when the individual trophies were handed out. The honors were particularly sweet coming on the heels of the U.S. Team Gold win on Sunday.

Peters (San Diego, CA) notched an awe-inspiring 87.300% on Weltino’s Magic for their freestyle to music by Seven and Five. The duo had a combined average of 82.690%, building on their Monday win at the Intermediare I level.

“What an amazing day and an amazing competition,” said Peters, who won an individual Bronze Medal at the 2010 World Equestrian Games with Ravel. Weltino’s Magic, a 9-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Jan and Bruce Hlavacek, is a newer mount, just making his mark on the international stage.

“The moment that I came out of the arena…when the scores were announced it probably took 30 seconds but it seemed like three hours,” Peters added, noting that he entered the ring with the bar set high, following teammate Blitz’s impressive 86.650% with Paragon. “The big score that Heather pulled in ― I don’t think I’ve ever had that much pressure going into the arena knowing that there was an 86% in front of me.”

Blitz (Wellington, FL) and the 8-year-old Paragon wowed the crowd with effortless movement and spectacular paces to music from Cirque de Soliel’s Ka. “I hit all the parts of the music. That’s always a great feeling,” Blitz said. “Paragon when in, and when I picked him up for the canter, there was just a glimpse of him saying, ‘I don’t know about this.’ But then he erased that and the rest of the test was completely on auto-pilot, yet still listening to me. He felt so smooth and expressive, but he was listening.” Their two-day average was 81.917%

Festerling (Moorpark, CA) considers herself quite fortunate to have made two trips to the medal podium at her very first Pan Am Games and her biggest competition to date. “It was awesome, the atmosphere was very, very electric,” Festerling said, noting the 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gave her his all, riding to music by the Beatles for a freestyle score of 80.775%. Their overall average score was 77.545%.

“Frankie kept it together in there. I was thrilled!,” she said, referring to the  horse by his barn name. “He has come out here every single day and given me more and more.”

Eventing is next, with inspections tomorrow, eventing dressage scheduled for Friday, cross country for Saturday, and stadium jumping on Sunday, with individual and team competition taking place the same day. Show jumping runs Oct. 24-29, starting with team and segueing to individual.

Canada landed the fourth and fifth and seventh slots, with Mexico sneaking in for sixth.

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