On
Sunday, Cayman's elite dressage athlete, Jessica McTaggart took an
important step on the road to international competition when she rode
her horse Loris 7 in the FEI Intermediate 1 test for the first time
ever, scoring an impressive 65.23% at the first National Dressage
Show of the season, which was held at the Equestrian Center. The FEI
Intermediate 1 test is the harder of the two tests that McTaggart
will need to ride in order to obtain a qualifying score to compete at
the next Central American & Caribbean Games which will take place
in Panama in 2022.

McTaggart
was clearly pleased with her ride, "While there are a few things
we still need to work on, overall I couldn't have asked or expected
more from Loris. He is an amazing horse that continues to develop
with time."

The
Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation (CIEF) flew in Bill Woods, a
USEF "R" judge from Ocala, Florida, for the competition.
Other highlights from the show include newcomers Sandra Gowrie and
Nadia Thompson who competed for the first time at a CIEF Dressage
show. Marley Trench also debuted her new horse, Gitana RDL, on whom
she won both of her classes and the award for Junior High Point
Champion. McTaggart was named Adult High Point Champion for her ride
on Bandalero.

The
second of the four National Dressage Shows scheduled for this season
will take place at the Equestrian Center located on the Linford
Pierson Highway on March 29th
starting at 8:00am. As always, spectators are welcome and admission
is free.

For
more information on the Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation,
including a calendar of events, please visit ciefcay.com.

Winners
of each class in decreasing order of difficulty were:

by Eve van den Bol

IMAGES: Supplied