Photo: Karen Thompson-Harry and Whisper Champion (right) with trainer Tom Dvorak (left) receive the Piaffe Performance Adult Amateur Award from Dr. Cesar Parra of Piaffe Performance

Wellington, FL (January 30, 2015)– Karen Thompson-Harry was awarded the Piaffe Performance Adult Amateur Award during Week 3 of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, making her trip from her home in Canada to Wellington, Florida, a worthwhile one. Piaffe Performance is known for its recognition of adult amateur riders who exhibit exceptional sportsmanship and horsemanship, and this passionate owner of her first Prix St. Georges horse fit the bill. Thompson-Harry traveled to the Adequan Global Dressage Festival to compete in the Adult Amateur division with her horse, Whisper Champion. She has trained for the past twelve years with Tom Dvorak, international dressage rider and coach and owner of Friday Hill Dressage in Erin, Ontario, Canada.

Whisper Champion (Weltruhm x Melisande) is a 17.1-hand Hanoverian German-born gelding. “I bought Whisper as an eight-year-old from California,” Thompson-Harry says. “He had just come from Germany a little bit earlier. He is now sixteen this year. He was training Third Level when I bought him, and Tom and I have brought him along. This is my first Prix St. Georges horse, so it’s a thrill!”

Thompson-Harry says that the best part of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival is “the opportunity to focus my days on my riding and my horse without so many other competing interests like there can be at home.” The very busy Thompson-Harry practices family law and equine law, and was also recently appointed to be the chair of Dressage Canada’s Officials Committee. Her three-year term began on January first. She is a longtime member on the Officials Committee.

As the first pair to show in their class on Thursday morning, Thompson-Harry and Whisper Champion won first place in FEI Prix St. Georges Adult Amateur with a 66.053 percent, grabbing the win over Jeanne Van Nuys-Hitt and Sirtaka, who earned a 65.789 percent. The next day, the pair placed third in the FEI Prix St. Georges Adult Amateur division. Saturday found Thompson-Harry again on top in the FEI Prix St. Georges Adult Amateur division with 66.579 percent.

Piaffe Performance is a returning sponsor to the 2015 Adequan Global Dressage Festival series, and more adult amateur dressage riders will be crowned with the Piaffe Performance award throughout the twelve-week-long series being held in Wellington, Florida. When asked why he sponsors the award, Dr. Cesar Parra of Piaffe Performance replied, “Well, number one is I really love this sport and being with the horses, and I think the only way we can keep on doing it is making it grow. And it has to grow by the base, and this is about the amateurs. They are really the ones that can support all the crazy guys like me that want to do it professionally, so I love watching that get better.”

Piaffe Performance is operated by Olympic dressage rider and founder Cesar Parra, DDS, MScD, in Jupiter, Florida, and in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. Dr. Parra and his team provide full-service training based on the Classical German Training Methods. Dr. Parra has worked with such masters of dressage as Herbert Rehbein, Siegfried “Bimbo” Peilicke, Hans Rueben, Herbert Kuckluck, and Hubertus Schmidt. Learn more about training and sales prospects at www.piaffe-performance.com.