Willinga Park is currently the place to be. Straight off the back of Dressage By The Sea last week, the second FEI World Championship qualifier for Para Dressage riders will now be hosted by Carlton Performance Horses.
“I’m extremely excited to run another CPEDI3* event in the lead up to the 2026 FEI World Championships,” says Event Director, Jade Woodhead Butler.
With a HUGE acceptance list of 36 combinations – which spans CPEDI3*, CPEDI2*, and Virtus classes across the levels – this event has an even larger number of competitors entered than the Boneo Park CPEDI3* in November last year. I personally cannot remember another event in recent history that has had this number of entries at a Para Dressage/Virtus event.
The sport is growing and Para Dressage in Australia is definitely heading in the right direction. The Equestrian Australia high performance team have their sights set on podium finishes at the World Championships, and riders therefore know that they need to be stepping up and putting their best performances on display if they want to be considered as one of the four riders who will make up the Australian team.
Willinga Park is not only the venue in which this event is to take place, but it is also one of the major sponsors who make the running of this entire program possible. As a para rider and competitor here this week, I can personally attest to the gratitude expressed by so many teams present here. We are beyond thrilled to get to ride at this venue and are so thankful to Willinga Park for making this feasible. Competitions like these aren’t held every day, giving numerous riders the chance to showcase their awesome talents.
Riders from all over Australia are in attendance and looking to see if they are vaguely in contention for a position on the team. With several riders travelling from Western Australia and Queensland, as well as Victoria and of course New South Wales, the journey for many has been no small undertaking. It’s so incredible to see so many riders making such a huge effort to get here and be a part of a fantastic event. It’s no secret what an incredible venue this is, so the long trip is well worth it for many riders to be able to enjoy a week of world class competition at a world class venue.
Understanding Para Dressage grades
I’d like to quickly take this opportunity to explain a little bit about para classification and grades for those readers that may not be entirely familiar with this system.
The para competitor’s mobility, strength and coordination are assessed in order to establish their Classification Profile.
Athletes are then classified according to their disability across five grades, which determines the complexity of the tests which the riders perform. The grades range from Grade I, which is for athletes whose impairment has the greatest impact on their ability to ride, through to Grade V for athletes whose impairment has the least impact on their ability to ride.
Grade I – Walk only tests, and in Freestyle Tests may show lateral work.
Grade II – Walk and trot tests, and in Freestyle Tests may show lateral work.
Grade III – Walk and trot tests, and in Freestyle Tests may show canter and lateral work in walk and trot.
Grade IV – Walk, trot and canter tests and in Freestyle Tests may show lateral work and single flying changes.
Grade V – Walk, trot, canter and lateral work, and in Freestyle Tests may show canter half-pirouettes and 3- and 4-time flying changes.
FEI World Championships selection policy
The selection policy for the FEI World Championships 2026 was released by Equestrian Australia (EA) last year and outlines how combinations will be chosen for the Australian team. The selection criteria combines pre-requisite FEI Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) followed by EA competition criteria and discretionary considerations.
The criteria states that the combination must achieve an MER of 64% or higher between 1 January 2025 and 15 June 2026; that the combination must achieve a total percentage score of 67% or above in a Grand Prix Test A or Grand Prix Test B in at least two CPEDI3* events between 1 October 2025 and 15 June 2026; and finally, that the combination must compete in no less than two CPEDI3* events between 1 January 2026 and 15 June 2026.
So, what does this mean for riders competing at Willinga Park in the CPEDI3* classes?
In a nutshell, this competition gives riders the opportunity to gain qualifying scores for Aachen later this year. Some riders took part in the first selection event at Boneo Park late last year and have already gained their first qualifying scores. They will now be looking to get their second qualifying scores this week.
However, there are also some new combinations that will have their sights set on gaining their first qualifying score of 67% or higher.
All horses through the trot-up
Riders had the opportunity on Wednesday and Thursday this week to settle in to the prestigious venue that is Willinga Park, and familiarise themselves with the competition arena during specifically allocated times for each grade.
This afternoon at 4pm AEDT the horse inspection took place on the main competition arena. This process is compulsory for all horses set to compete and is used to assess the health and fitness of all horses and ensure they are safely able to participate. Many of the grooms are utilised during this portion of the event to present the horses to the ground jury.
Fortunately, all horses were accepted today, and therefore riders are now ready to start on day one of competition tomorrow (Friday). There are some extremely lovely horses present at Willinga this week, and I personally can’t wait to see what our wonderful para community are able to achieve. There is so much that goes into the preparation for one of these events, so it’s always nice to see some successful results and hopefully happy riders at the other end.
Team experience
At a riders’ meeting tonight, the selectors announced an Australian team for this event, which will allow us to post a score that will contribute towards our FEI Para Dressage World Team Ranking and deliver all-important team environment experience.
The team is as follows:
Lisa Martin and Vilaggio (Grade V).
Bridget Murphy and Penmain Promise (Grade II).
Claire Graham and Furst Olli 3 (Grade III).
Mietta Innes-Irons and Sir Helmut (Grade V).
Competition will be underway just after 9am AEDT tomorrow morning, starting with the CPEDI2* Grade II class and our lucky first competitor to kick start the event will be Kate Nipperess riding Dame Remi Wolverine.
