Kelly Layne and Samhitas wowed the crowd with a test that the judges rewarded with 76.500%.
Riding Samhitas, the 2009 Oldenburg gelding by Sir Donnerhall I that she co-owns with Nori Maezawa, Kelly Layne topped the Grand Prix Freestyle CDI3* class at the Global Dressage Festival on February 26th, scoring 76.500%.
“He actually felt really, really good in the test tonight,” Kelly said, after performing her Gary Patterson created freestyle test. “He was a little bit nervous walking in because he hasn’t done this for a year, but the moment the music came on, he got a little excited, and once we went in it was like he was glued to me. I felt like I was floating. I think we were!”
The pair had several show-stopping moments throughout their test, and Layne noted the gelding’s strength and how they paired well with her own.
“I think the horse has an exceptionally beautiful trot,” she said. “Just from God, it’s nothing that I’ve done to it. My job is to show it off to the best of my ability. The trot half-passes really felt like a highlight; the passage was a highlight. He struggles a little bit with the piaffe, but I was really pleased with it in there. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to do it. My one tempi changes, I’m very happy with these. He nailed both lines. That’s something that is a little bit of a feature on him as well. In the trot, he really gets super expressive in it. I was super happy with how relaxed he was in the walk. To go from such high energy and then he just was like, ‘Oh good, we’re walking.’ Anybody who is at that level knows how difficult that is to do.”
The night’s score was the duo’s second personal best of the week, and Layne relayed her excitement.
“I’m thrilled to have a personal best tonight,” she said. “We hoped that we could achieve this level, and he’s still really young. He’s a June baby, so he’s not quite 12 yet, and we’ve only been together for two years. I feel like we’re becoming a combination. For sure it takes that long; you can’t do it in less time, to know each other and all your little quirks. He has to understand my strengths and weaknesses as well, and he covers for some of them, that’s for sure.”
To learn more about the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL, including live streaming, on-demand viewing and results, visit the website here.
To learn more about Kelly Layne, enjoy this article, originally featured in the January 2021 issue of Equestrian Life magazine.
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