Quickly-rising dressage duo Kasey Perry-Glass and her champion horse Goerklintgaards Dublet have certainly had their share of moments in the sun, and the 2017 Adequan Global Dressage Festival has been no exception. The pair recently earned top placings and exceptional scores in the winter show series, including first place and a score of 73.420 percent in their most recent FEI Grand Prix – to be topped by first place and a career high score of 80.805 percent in the following Grand Prix Freestyle competition. In addition to these notable accomplishments, Perry-Glass’ Dublet was awarded the Corta-Flx® Sport Horse of the Week Award at the Wellington, Florida show.
Corta-Flx®, an official sponsor of the winter dressage show series, is presenting the Sport Horse of the Week Award to select horses who exemplify exceptional fitness and soundness, as a testament to their riders’ commitment to maintaining the ultimate level of equine health. As the most recent winner of the award, Perry-Glass was presented with a tri-color ribbon as well as full-size Corta-Flx® supplements, including the revolutionary Corta-Flx® joint health solution and U-Gard® supplement, which is used to promote gut health and reduce the severity of gastric ulcers.
The duo’s past successes include earning a team bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, an astounding feat for Dublet, who has been competing at the Grand Prix level for just two years. With so many accolades already behind them, the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Diamond Hit x La Costa, Olympic Ferro) is certainly capable of continuing to deliver exceptional results throughout the remainder of the winter competition.
“He’s a very quiet, yet curious horse,” Perry-Glass said of Dublet. “He’s always the same no matter what I do with him. He’s so mellow and easy to have around – just a big teddy bear.”
Perry-Glass is a firm believer in cross-training her horses. Dublet is trained three to four times a week. On the other days, he either stretches on a lunge line, hacks out on the trails, or canters on a nearby track. “He really likes to be on a lunge line in his halter to stretch,” she said. “No cantering, just trotting. It’s just his favorite thing to do. He also loves his turn-out and he’s out four to five hours a day.”
The young dressage icon admitted that there are pros and cons to rising to the top as quickly as she has done with Dublet. She cautions that riders aiming for high success must truly know their horses, not push too hard, and keep their horses happy and healthy by respecting their minds and bodies.
As for the pair’s future plans, Perry-Glass hopes to qualify for the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage in Omaha, Nebraska, later in March, and then to Gladstone, New Jersey, for the 2017 USEF Dressage National Championships in May. Then, they will head off to Europe with hopes of competing in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Aachen, Germany.
As a supporter of the internationally competitive winter show series and a leading supplement company among top equestrians, Corta-Flx® was pleased to honor Dublet with the Corta-Flx® Sport Horse of the Week Award. The company will continue to recognize exceptional horses through the duration of the Global Dressage Festival. Corta-Flx® joint supplement, which each award winner receives, has been clinically proven to produce dramatic results in horses’ joint health within days. Its revolutionary formula features pure, micro-sized, water soluble, isolated nutrients comparable to the active ingredients found in Chondroitin, Glucosamine, MSM, and Hyaluronic Acid.
Winners also receive the company’s U-Gard® gastric supplement, which is veterinarian-tested to be effective in decreasing the severity of gastric ulcers. U-Gard® is available in liquid, powder, or pellet form from Corta-Flx®, a company that was founded in Aiken, South Carolina 20 years ago.