HEATHER BLITZ WINS FOUR CLASSES AT NEDA FALL FESTIVAL 

Paragon Wins Grand Prix; Cutler Farm's Verida Wins Prix St George;

Oak Hill Ranch's Ripline Wins at Third & Fourth Level

Medfield, Massachusetts, USA. September 22, 2014

Pan American Gold Medalist Heather Blitz continued her winning form at the New England Dressage Festival (NEDA) Fall Festival at Saugerties, NY from September 18-21, 2014. Riding her own 11 year old Danish Warmblood gelding Paragon (Don Schufro - Pari Lord x Loran), the pair headed a field of 20 entries to win the Grand Prix with a score of 72.55%. This is the fourth consecutive score above 71% at Grand Prix for Blitz' 2011 Pan American team gold and individual silver medal partner who was also the 2012 London Olympic Games alternate.

Blitz, who is Head Trainer at Cutler Farm Dressage expressed her delight: "I'm particularly pleased that he established all three piaffes so easily and was clearly very comfortable and happy throughout the test.  I've been working intensively on his connection this summer and it feels like I have a whole new horse.  I already loved him before but now we've moved on to a new level of connection. This is a great start to our fall campaign and I hope to maintain this form at Devon later this week."

Oak Hill Ranch's six year old Danish Warmblood stallion Ripline (Hotline - Riviera x Cavan) also showed his incredible consistency by becoming the USDF Region 8 Third Level Champion with a score of 74.7% following his win in his first Test 2 at Fourth Level with a score of 72.43%.  Last month Ripline became the Six Year old Champion at the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage National Championships.

"Since the Young Horse Championships last month he has matured even more. The Test 2 is a lot different to Test 1 at Fourth Level with its working canter pirouettes and tempi changes but 'Rip' handled it so well. He continues to consolidate at every level and with each test and for a stallion he is very focused on his job. I've always been inspired by him but he's now taking that to a new level. He's the most exciting young stallion that I've ever ridden and given his consistency both in training and competition I couldn't be more optimistic about his future, commented Blitz."  Ripline was also runner-up in the Fourth Level Test 3 on 67.62% and in the DSHB Stock-in-Hand on 71.9%.

Also this weekend Ripline was awarded a prestigious Silver Medal from Dansk Varmblood during the breed inspection event at the breeder Richard Freeman's Oak Hill Ranch in Folsom, LA. "Not many stallions achieve that status but Ripline's strong performances in this year's competitions have proven to the inspectors that he's worthy of the title," added Blitz.

Blitz also partnered Donna Cameron's 12 year old Dutch Warmblood mare Verida (Rousseau - Zida x Onyz) to victory in the Prix St George Region 8 Championship with a score of 72.17%.

...ends...

For more information, please contact Chris Stafford, Publicist, [email protected].

Photos for editorial use: please contact the show's official photographer - [email protected].

Ripline (Photo: Rob McKean)  Stock Photo.