February 14, 2025, Myakka City, Florida. Featured action at the first week of the TerraNova Winter Series kicked off on Friday, February 14, 2025 with highlight events taking place in both the Magnolia and Lakeside arenas. The TerraNova Winter Series features five weeks of top-tier hunter, jumper, and equitation competition and boasts weekly international show jumping at the two-star level.
The morning light of the day brought those in their best shadbellies and shined boots to the Magnolia Arena for the SWFL Camping Rentals $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby, while international jumper competitors lined up with mounts at the ready for inspection, sponsored by Double Lynx Equine Spa, in the CSI2* jog before the afternoon’s The Estates at TerraNova $32,000 1.45m FEI Welcome Speed. Eleven horse-and-rider combinations elected to contest J.P. Godard’s classic round in the day’s derby event and all eleven were invited to return for the handy track. Laura Douglas (Lexington, KY) and Balou Label took the early lead at the completion of round one to claim the pinnacle position as the final to contest the handy round. Pairing whopping scores of 94.00 and 91.00, the duo’s consistent performance proved good enough to clinch the first place prize with a total score of 185.00 points.
“He was amazing,” Douglas gushed of Dell Kelly’s 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Balou. “He’s a fantastic horse. I can do pretty much any of the inside turns, and he jumps out of any distance so I can kind of just go in there and go for it.”
“This is our first week showing in Florida, so I just wanted to get everybody out and see how they are feeling after their winter vacation,” Douglas continued. “This is his first derby back and he was fantastic; the first round I just took it easy and there were long flowing lines so that was quite nice for him just to be able to relax into it, and for the handy round I was able to really come back and ask a bit more of him.”
In addition to elegant new landscaping around the venue’s main hunter ring, the 2025 season debuted an entirely-new set of jumps for Godard to craft his technical courses with, which he stated added great value to the design.
“The new jumps are very nice, and not just for the hunter derby,” detailed Godard. “It’s very nice to decorate with and it’s also very user friendly for going from the regular class to the hunter derby. It decorates really nicely and enhances the property.”
Douglas also rounded out the top three aboard Stephanie Rowney’s 18-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Balou Du Rouet, Basil Hayden, with a two-round total of 150.00 points. Emily Terry Peterson (Naples, FL) split the difference for second place, clocking in a combined total of 168.00 points with the Carriage Hill Farms’ seven-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Nashville.
Samuel Parot Tops the Estates at TerraNova FEI Welcome Speed
The day finished out with just under thirty elite international riders taking their shot to try and score success over Olaf Petersen Jr.’s foot-fast The Estates at TerraNova $32,000 1.45m FEI Welcome Speed track. Representatives from eight different nations gave the single round speed track their best effort, but Samuel Parot (CHI), a multi-time winner at the venue, put the pressure on early and ultimately bested the rest of the field aboard Tiffany de Olid.
“This mare is so fast all of the time,” enthused Parot, who has won a number of events at the TerraNova venue prior on his own 13-year-old CDE mare by Huppydam des Horts x Centauer Z. “She’s very smart and quick in the turns, and today everything just came up perfect.”
While Parot plans to head to Mexico next on his winter tour, he considered TerraNova Equestrian Center a must during his circuit.
“The place is fantastic,” he stated. “The footing is fantastic, and so is the atmosphere. We love to come here.”
The USA’s Jacqueline Ruyle secured the second place spot with her 14-year-old Zangersheide mare by Clarimo x Vigo D Arsouilles STX, Cyramo Z, stopping the clock just under a second slower than Parot’s time of 61.77 seconds in a time of 62.72 seconds. Rupert Carl Winkelmann put Germany into the lineup as he rounded out the top three on the podium after crossing the timers in 62.84 seconds aboard Eickendorf Horses GmbH & Co. KG’s 15-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Quidam de Revel x Contender, Quinn 33.