Nationally-ranked riders to compete in featured Saturday night event
The 61st annual Del Mar National Horse Show, one of the most prestigious horse shows in the nation, continues its second of three weekly disciplines with Dressage Week, Thursday through Sunday, April 27-30.
Dressage Week follows Western Week (April 20-23) and precedes Hunter/Jumper Week (May 2-7) during the three-week run of the show. The show is open to the public and staged at the Del Mar Equestrian Center on the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
“Evening of Musical Freestyles,” Dressage Week’s premiere event, takes place Saturday, April 29, at 7 p.m. in the Del Mar Arena. For the past ten years the event has been the highlight of the Dressage Show and has increased in spectator attendance each year. Once a part of the “Night of the Horse,” Evening of Musical Freestyles was moved to its own evening due to popular demand and showcases competitors’ ability to create and choreograph to music an original ride of compulsory figures and movements.
Riders expected to compete include:
2004 Olympic team bronze medalist and World Cup Champion Debbie McDonald
Olympic and World Cup medalist Steffan Peters, who was champion at the 2005 USEF Intermediaire I Championships; and Shannon Peters, USEF Intermediaire I Reserve Champion. Steffan and Shannon Peters are married.
Other past Olympic and National Champions such as Charlotte Bredahl, Hilda Gurney and Jan Ebeling.
Dressage Week features the best in the world in a showcase of the finest horses and riders in all levels of tests in junior, young rider, amateur and open divisions.
An Olympic sport considered by many to be the most demanding of all the equestrian disciplines, Dressage demonstrates a rider’s ability to control a horse through very subtle body commands, called “aids.” The graceful movements performed in competition may look effortless, but are the result of years of training. The aids should be virtually imperceptible. A squeeze of the calf, a closing of the fingers, a shifting of the rider’s weight in the saddle should be all that is necessary to tell the horse what is required.
This elegant art form requires horse and rider to combine the strength and agility of gymnastics with the elegance and beauty of ballet. The result is truly the best blend of sport and art. Horse and rider are judged on how well they perform certain movements in tests that match each horse’s level of training. Competitors pursue an unobtainable 100 percent score competing in a 20 x 60 meter arena with 12 lettered markers as reference points. All the competitors will trot, pirouette and float their mounts in choreographed routines that will amaze and entertain.
Following Dressage Week, the Del Mar National Horse Show will conclude with Hunter/Jumper Week May 2-7. The Del Mar National’s showcase event, the $100,000 HBO Grand Prix of Del Mar, an AGA event, takes place Saturday, May 6, at 7 p.m.
The Del Mar National Horse Show runs April 20-May 7 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar. For ticket information, call the Del Mar Equestrian Office at (858) 792-4288, or Ticketmaster at (619) 220-8497. Tickets also are available at Mary’s Tack and Feed in Del Mar and San Juan Capistrano, or online through www.ticketmaster.com. Dressage Week show hours begin daily at 8 a.m. Admission on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. is free. Admission for the show’s featured evening and weekend events ranges from $10 to $17 for grandstand seats. Please see the show’s website, www.delmarnational.com, for details.
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