Canada/USA: Diane Creech Makes Strong Debut in Wellington Season Opener

Devon L, a 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding (De Niro X Wilbranda X Wolkenstein II), placed fourth in the Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday night with a 72.300 percent and earned a 65.880 percent in the Grand Prix on Thursday.

Chrevis Christo, a 11-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Lavallo X Chrevi’s La Vi X Natador), earned the blue ribbon and a red ribbon in his entrée to the Intermediaire II level at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival 1 National Show. Both horses are owned by Doug and Louise Leatherdale of Leatherdale Farms.

Diane Creech and Devon L in the Grand Prix Freestyle at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival 1 CDI-W, sponsored by MTICA Farm and Everglades Dressage. Photo by Susan J. Stickle.

 

Creech and Devon L unveiled a technically difficult freestyle Friday night with new music and choreography created by Karen Robinson.

“He was quite spectacular,” Creech said. “It was a beautiful, big atmosphere. Devon is starting to like the freestyle. He really gets into it now. I took very calculated risks on the movement and it all paid out. He was really with me and, with the difficulty built into the pattern, it was very well executed.”

She was pleased with the electric atmosphere and the large crowd at the first Friday night freestyle. She was especially grateful to her local friends who came to support her.

“After x/halt/salute, they were yelling and screaming and so happy for me,” she said. “It’s really cool to have friends here. I don’t see them all year, but they all come.”

Her fan club will be there en force when she rides Devon L in the Adequan Global Dressage Festival 3 CDI-W later this month. She has mapped out a training strategy for the show including studying the video of her freestyle, focusing on where she can make things better and visualizing the test.

“It’s a very good training tool to visualize,” she said. “You can’t keep riding the horse through the freestyle, so you visualize it. Then, you ride it and improve it.”

She was also pleased with Chrevis Christo’s debut in his first Intermediaire II.

“It was his first show since last summer,” she said. “He’s ready to be at the level. He just needs a bit more mileage and a bit more experience, but he’s the real thing!”

Creech and her trainer, Lars Petersen, brought the horse up through the levels and they are looking forward to watching him develop. Petersen intently watches her competition and rides every stride from the ground.

“He is an incredible trainer and person,” she said. “It is wonderful to work with him because he’s engaged and enthusiastic.”

Essential to the team are the horse owners, Doug and Louise Leatherdale of Leatherdale Farms. Creech said she sent them the videos of her rides and they were ecstatic over the outcome and the progress the horses have made.

“Without them I wouldn’t be anywhere,” she said. “They are the first ones after the show to congratulate me.”

Diane Creech and Devon L. Photo by Mary Adelaide Brakenridge.

Creech plans to show two other Leatherdale Farms horses this weekend at the Gold Coast Dressage Opener Festival CDI*: Hallmark 3, a 10-year-old Hanoverian by the Leatherdales’ late stallion, His Highness, and Diana C, a 7-year-old mare by the Leatherdales’ top Hanoverian stallion, Damsey. She finds the frequent shows in the Wellington area make it ideal for her to compete her horses and then give them a rest before they begin again.

‘They all get to have their turns and have the experience and then get a break and then go out and do it again,” she said.
“The horses always come first,” she said about Team Leatherdale/Creech/Petersen. “It’s really teamwork and I’m so fortunate to be part of the partnership between all of us.”

Source: Phelps Media Group