World No. 2 dressage rider and Danish Olympian, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, is headed to North America for her first-ever “Master Class” event this fall. While European countries have the great pleasure of hosting some of the top dressage clinicians in the world on a regular basis, the U.S. audience and greater North American dressage community rarely get to see these top competitors in action, let alone in an educational environment. Laudrup-Dufour will head to Devon, Pennsylvania on Thursday, September 28, 2023 for the second-ever NorCordia Dressage at Devon 2023 Master Class Presented by Running ‘S’ Equine Veterinary Services with Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour.
In its premier year in 2022, Dressage at Devon invited Olympic Silver Medalist Sabine Schut-Kery to lead the inaugural Master Class event. With a format similar to that of the beloved European Master Class series with six-time Dressage Olympian Carl Hester, six top horse-and-rider combinations were invited to join the event as demonstration riders. The 2022 group of athletes included Olivia LaGoy-Weltz, Silva Martin, Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel, Alice Tarjan, Jim Koford, and Jaimey Irwin.
Having rarely visited the states and with her amassing social media following of nearly 300,000 fans, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour has become something of a household name. As a highly accomplished young rider, Laudrup-Dufour won 11 European Championship medals in junior and young rider division aboard the horse that she would eventually take to her first-ever Olympic Games, Atterupgaards Cassidy. Only a few months after making their senior international debut in the fall of 2015, the Danish rider and “Cassidy” were selected to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics where the pair finished 13th. Cassidy and Laudrup-Dufour also continued on their olympic-high taking wins at Herning and Aachen CDI4*s before claiming individual bronze in the grand prix special at the European Championships in Rotterdam.
Laudrup-Dufour’s most well-known horse, Bohemian, made his international debut in 2018 and the famous chestnut gelding soon was competing at the same level as Cassidy, a rarity at that level of the sport to have more than one top-level Grand Prix mount at the same time. With the Coronavirus Pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, Laudrup-Dufour chose to campaign Bohemian over Cassidy, aiding team Denmark to a fourth-place finish overall in the team competition, and also taking fourth-place individually. Just shy of two months after the games, the pair represented their home nation of Denmark at the European Championships helping to take team bronze in Hagen, Germany, as well as individual bronze in the special, and silver in the freestyle.
Most recently, Laudrup-Dufour’s newest elite mount, Vamos Amigos, proved to be following in the footsteps of her two previous champion mounts, aiding the Danish team to win gold medal on home soil at the 2022 dressage World Championships. The pair went on to top the grand prix as well with a score of 81.86%, as well as take individual silver in both the grand prix special and freestyle.
Known for her unorthodox training methods and with a track record for producing three champion international Grand Prix mounts over the course of just ten short years, the NorCordia Dressage at Devon 2023 Master Class presented by Running ‘S’ Equine Veterinary Services with Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour event hosted at Dressage at Devon is sure to deliver.
While spots to ride in the clinic are by special invitation only, spectators are encouraged to purchase their tickets and join these elite individuals for a unique educational experience. Held in the iconic Dixon Oval at the Devon Show Grounds, six new demonstration riders will join Laudrup-Dufour, including Cathrine Haddad Staller, Lauren Sammis, Lindsay Kellock Duckworth, Hope Cooper, Hope Beerling, and even three-time Olympic eventer, Boyd Martin.
With only a handful of similar events offered in the entirety of North America, Dressage at Devon is aiming at recreating the electric and educational European dressage show environment in the heart of horse country. Nestled in the center of the Mid-Atlantic region, Dressage at Devon was the first and is one of the only dressage competitions in the United States to hold the highly coveted “Heritage Show” distinction. For nearly fifty years, Dressage at Devon or “DaD” as many long-time exhibitors refer to it, has hosted some of the most exciting dressage competition in the country. The CDI-W Grand Prix Musical Freestyle held on Saturday night in the Dixon Oval is a fan and competitor favorite. With few other venues in the United States offering electric and exciting environments like that of European style competitions, the CDI competition draws on top talents from around the world. Other offerings include qualifier classes for Children, Ponies, juniors, Young Riders, and Under 25 (U25), as well as 1*/3* and Adult Amateur competitions. National level classes include Fourth Level, Young Horses, and FEI Test of Choice classes.
For more information on The NorCordia Dressage at Devon 2023 Master Class presented by Running ‘S’ Veterinary Services with Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour held at Dressage at Devon, visit: https://dressageatdevon.org/master-class-information/.
