International dressage returns to Australia at EQUITANA Melbourne 8-11 July 2021 with the running of an FEI sanctioned CDI-W World Cup Qualifier.
This will be the first international dressage event since COVID closed the world, and Australia, down in March 2020. International dressage requires a mix of judges from overseas together with the highest ranked Australian judges. EQUITANA Melbourne is delighted to announce that the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) has given permission to run the event with two highly qualified judges from New Zealand, together with three from Australia, including Tokyo Olympics judge Susie Hoevenaars from Geelong.
Sue McKay, EQUITANA Melbourne’s Competition Manager summed up the feeling of all involved when receiving the welcome news from the FEI “to be honest, when we submitted the schedule for approval, we were, at best, only hopeful of receiving permission from the FEI. When we received the news that our status as an international dressage event was granted, we were over the moon.”
EQUITANA Melbourne have run international dressage events as part of their equine spectacular from inception and look forward to welcoming the top Australian and New Zealand riders to the Grand Pavilion at Melbourne Showgrounds. The event will consist of a Grand Prix test, on this occasion it will be the Short version of the FEI Grand Prix, a test reserved for FEI World Cup Qualifiers. This is another first for Australia as it has not been used in this country before. The second round is the popular Grand Prix Freestyle, or dressage to music.
EQUITANA Melbourne runs from 8-11 July 2021 with the Grand Prix scheduled for Thursday 8 July at 9am and the Grand Prix Freestyle 6.30pm on Friday 9 July.
