Lauren Sprieser just returned home to Virginia after a successful week at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions with C. Cadeau, a 9-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Blue Hors St. Schufro—C. Chanel, Richman) owned by the Elvis Syndicate LLC. A longtime blogger for the Chronicle, in 2023 Sprieser took readers through the experience of shopping for and buying “Cadeau” in Denmark. Now, she’s taking us through a week in her life—last week, to be specific—for the pair’s first trip to the Festival of Champions, where they finished as reserve champions Aug. 21 in the USEF Intermediaire I National Championship, behind Olympic silver medalist Sabine Schut-Kery and Jojoba De Massa.
Friday, Aug. 15
It’s 3 a.m., and I’m up and at ’em. We’re on night turnout most of the year, so I fetch Cadeau from his field. A notoriously slow and finicky eater, I give him an hour to finish his breakfast. But he’s already suspicious—being able to read a clock and all—and then I commit my first crime (of, I’m sure, many) of the week: I give him a dose of a gastric support paste. After spending half an hour acting like I’ve tried to poison him, he barely nibbles at his breakfast and then gives up to stare out the window at the trailer.
This will be a long day.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!