Sponsored Rider Victorious at Australian Dressage Championships

The Australian Dressage Championships were held at Boneo Park Equestrian Centre last weekend. Despite unprecedented rain, the competition went off as scheduled, with all the facilities and surfaces holding up well.

Kentucky Equine Research-sponsored rider Mary Nitschke, who is based in NSW, took two horses to the competition, Astronomical (Astro) and Utopian Cardinal (Cardi). Astronomical competed in the Prix St George, Intermediate I Freestyle, and Intermediate I championships.

“My partnership with Astronomical is relatively new, but we are very excited about him. My aim for this weekend with Astro was just to have calm, balanced tests and build this relationship, which is exactly what we did. I feel like we won,” she said.

Mary’s long-term horse Utopian Cardinal was held to slightly higher expectations, however. Utopian Cardinal is ranked first in Australian and 29th in the world in the FEI Under 25 Grand Prix world rankings. At these championships, Cardi earned fourth in the CDIU25 Intermediate II, second in the CDIU25 (16-25) Grand Prix, and claimed victory in the CDIU25 Grand Prix Freestyle to Music.

“Winning the freestyle was wonderful. It’s a relatively new test for us, and it was the culmination of hard work and dedication,” Mary said.

To support her horses’ athletic endeavors, Mary uses Neight-Lox, EquiShure, B-Quiet, and Bio-Bloom HF. “I can really notice a difference in the horses since using these products.”