Elisienne, Triple Crown Winner

Okay, so it wasn't horse racing's triple crown, it was the triple crown of dressage championships in the Pacific Northwest for 2010. This past weekend, Jessica's mare, Lily, as we call Elisienne, won the Northwest Dressage Grand Prix championship, the Great American/USDF (U.S. Dressage Federation) Grand Prix championship, and the Great American/USDF Grand Prix Musical Freestyle championship. What a spectacular showing for Lily and her rider, Nicki Grandia! This came just one week after winning the Oregon Dressage Society Grand Prix championship, giving Lily and Nicki a clean sweep of northwest Grand Prix championships. Grand Prix is the highest level of dressage.

We are all excited about Lily's future in the world of dressage. She will be training with the number one U.S. dressage rider next year, Steffen Peters. Steffen is the best hope of the United States for a medal in the dressage portion of the World Equestrian Games (WEG), which are being held in the U.S. for the first time this year. I leave for WEG in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sunday to watch a whole week of the best dressage in the world. Naturally, I'm rooting for Steffen and his lovely stallion, Ravel.

I did not get to see Lily's wins in Washington last weekend as I was nursing a nasty virus at home, but Jessica, bless her heart, called me after every class with the good news. Now I'm just hoping to be all well in time for WEG. And I'm hoping Johnny stays well so he can do my chores for me the week I'm in Kentucky. Besides the dressage competitions, friend Ruth and I will be watching the cross-country portion of the Eventing competition, taking a tour of Kentucky Bluegrass horse farms, and watching all sorts of spectacular equine exhibitions in the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park. We reserved our tickets, hotel rooms and air travel a year ago. I am already packed... Jessica sent me new tops to wear at WEG for every day I'm there! I guess she knows clothes are not my area of expertise and I usually just wear tee shirts, mostly stained. Now I'll be in style for the most exciting horse competition our country has ever hosted.

I'm taking my camera and will be blogging upon my return. It's an exciting month for dressage from Lily's great wins to the World Equestrian Games! Woohoo!