Several champion equestrians from Ocala have returned from the 10-day World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany, otherwise known in horse country as CHIO Aachen, or the official equestrian show of the Federal Republic of Germany. And just as we expected, our athletes did not disappoint. Not only did the U.S. walk away with silver in the FEI Nations Cup, but North Central Florida’s most renowned riders brought their very best skills in five primary disciplines ­­— dressage, jumping, eventing, driving and vaulting —  to approximately 350,000 lucky spectators.

Driving Division

Chester Weber, the reigning champ of the USEF four-in-hand and co-organizer of the annual Live Oak International, represented the U.S. in combined driving. His shining moments include guiding four horses to a second-place finish in the Prize of Fa. Horsch, Der Entorger Dressage Four-In-Hand with 41.28 penalties. Two days later, Chester came in second place, again, this time in the Top Score Driving Competition. He guided five horses and earned 1800.00 points.

Equestrian Eventing

Hannah Sue Burnett competed as an individual in the three-star eventing competition. After winning her division of the inaugural Ocala Jockey ClubThree-Day International last November, she went on to place seventh overall in Aachen. Then, with 39.90 penalties in the dressage test and with a time of 87.22 and zero faults in the jumping phase, she and her horse went to the cross-country phase in fifth place. She completed the course with eight time penalties, finishing in seventh in the overall lineup with a final score of 42.50 penalties.

Jumping

Kent Farrington, Lauren Hough, Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward represent Ocala well by routinely competing in the Ocala HITS winter circuit and Live Oak International. This time, Beezie took third place in the Sparkassen-Youngsters Cup with zero faults and a time of 67.51. Two days later, she won the STAWAG-Prize with zero faults and a time of 66.01. Laura, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist, placed third with zero faults and a time of 69.86.

Meanwhile, Lauren competed with 58 other riders to take fifth place, zero faults and a time of 43.30 in the Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe. Later, she took fifth place, zero faults and a time of 38.43 in the Prize of StadteRegion Aachen. Then, Laura took third place in the same class, also with zero faults, but with a time of 37.45.

That evening, Laura and McLain, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, led the Hermes U.S. Show Jumping Team to a silver medal tie with Switzerland in the Mercedes Benz FEI Nations Cup CSI05 Aachen with double clear performances. Three days later, McLain won the SAP-Prize with zero faults and a time of 60.21 before he, Laura, Kent, Lauren and Beezie competed in the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen. Laura took fourth place with four faults and a time of 48.01. As the best jumping athlete in the entire show, Laura was also awarded the “Prize of the Federal Minister of the Interior.” Prior to this, Kent, a 2016 Olympic team silver medalist, took home a win in the North Rhine-Westphalia with zero faults and a time of 46.65.

Dazzling Dressage

Laura Graves, a Central Florida resident and a frequent competitor at Ocala’s Florida Agriculture Center and Horse Park, as well as an Olympic bronze medalist, took second place in the Preis der Familie Tesch Grand Prix with a score of 79.514%. Two days later, she scored an impressive 81.824% in the MEGGLE-Preis Grand Prix Special, pushing The Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Team to third place behind Germany and Sweden. And what’s better, this all happened on Laura’s 30^th birthday! The next day, she took third place in the Deutsche Bank Prize Grand Prix Freestyle with a score of 82.550%.

A complete list of local rankings is below:

• Lauren Hough – #20 – STAWAG Opening Jumping
• Laura Kraut – #28 – STAWAG Opening Jumping
• Beezie Madden – #29 – STAWAG Opening Jumping
• McLain Ward – #42 – STAWAG Opening Jumping
• Beezie Madden – #3 – Sparkassen-Youngsters-Cup
• Laura Kraut – #17 – Sparkassen-Youngsters Cup
• Lauren Hough – #19 – Sparkassen-Youngsters Cup
• Lauren Hough – #19 – Prize of Handwerk
• Kent Farrington – #37 – Prize of Handwerk
• Chester Weber – #2 – Prize of Fa. Horsch, Der Entsorger
• Lauren Hough – #5 – Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe
• McLain Ward – #12 – Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe
• Kent Farrington – #20 – Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe
• Beezie Madden – #21 – Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe
• Laura Kraut – #29 – Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe
• Laura Kraut – #3 – StadteRegion Aachen
• Lauren Hough – #5 – StadteRegion Aachen
• Beezie Madden – $26 – StadteRegion Aachen
• McLain Ward – #44 – StadteRegion Aachen

• Laura Graves – #2 – Preis der Familie Tesch
• Adrienne Lyle – #13 – Preis der Familie Tesch
• Kasey Perry-Glass – #22 – Preis der Familie Tesch
• Chester Weber – #2 – Prize of Martello Immobilienmanagement GmbH & Co. KG
• Lauren Kieffer – #8 – DHL Prize
• Hannah Sue Burnett – #9 – DHL Prize
• Chester Weber – #2 – Top Score
• Kent Farrington – #1 – Prize of North Rhine Westphalia
• Beezie Madden – #25 – Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Laura Kraut – #27 – Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia
• McLain Ward & Lauren Hough – #45 – Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Lauren Hough – #9 – Prize of Sparkasse
• Hannah Sue Burnett – #5 – DHL Prize
• Lauren Kieffer – #27 – DHL Prize
• Laura Graves – #1 – D5 MEGGLE-Preis
• Adrienne Lyle – #9 – D5 MEGGLE-Preis
• Kasey Perry-Glass – #13 – D5 MEGGLE-Preis

• Hannah Sue Burnett – #7 – DHL Prize
• Lauren Kieffer – #31 – DHL Prize
• Chester Weber – #26 – XXXL Pallen Marathon
• Laura Kraut – #14 – Jumping Competition
• Lauren Hough – #15 – Jumping Competition
• Beezie Madden – #18 – Jumping Competition
• Beezie Madden – #18 – Sparkassen-Youngsters Cup Final
• Lauren Hough – #21 – Sparkassen-Youngsters Cup Final
• Laura Kraut – #24 – Sparkassen-Youngsters Cup Final
• Chester Weber – #11 – Prize of Heitkamp & Thumann Group
• Chester Weber – #17 – F6: Prize of Family Richard Talbot
• Laura Graves – #3 – Deutsche Bank Prize
• Kasey Perry-Glass – #9 – Deutsche Bank Prize

• Olivia LaGoy-Weltz – #12 – Deutsche Bank Prize
• McLain Ward – #1 – SAP-Prize
• Lauren Hough – #19 – SAP-Prize
• Laura Kraut – #37 – SAP-Prize
• Laura Kraut – #4 – Rolex Grand Prix
• McLain Ward – #7 – Rolex Grand Prix

• Kent Farrington – #14 – Rolex Grand Prix
• Lauren Hough – #16 – Rolex Grand Prix
• Beezie Madden – #19 – Rolex Grand Prix

Congratulations to all! And now, Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club anxiously awaits next year’s festival…