Warm-Up Wednesday: Heather Blitz & Paragon Grand Prix Dressage Warm-Up
Warm-Up Wednesday
It is Warm-Up Wednesday! We are throwing it back to the last year the Paragon and Heather Blitz competed before he was retired. Paragon was known for his controversial movement throughout his career. Today we get to watch Paragon warm-up for the Grand Prix at the Global Dressage Festival in 2015.
About Paragon
Paragon is an American bred Danish warmblood gelding by Don Schufro out of Pari Lord (by Loran x Astaire). He is bred at Oak Hill Ranch in Louisiana, USA and is owned by Heather Blitz.
The 183 cm standing chestnut was saddle broken by Blitz in the U.S.A and she took him to Denmark, where she worked as a rider for four years. After her return to the U.S.A in 2010 Blitz began Paragon’s competition career at small tour level. They qualified on the U.S. team for the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where they won team gold and individual silver.
Success In The Dressage Ring
The duo made the transition to Grand Prix level in 2012 and became the U.S. team alternate for the Olympic Games in London. Although he did not compete at the Games, the horse won the mock competition held during U.S. training camp in England before the Games.
In 2013 the pair competed extensively on the Wellington show circuit, but Blitz declined a grant to train and compete in Europe in the summer, citing that she did not want to push her 10-year old. In 2014 the combination only competed in three CDI’s. Two in Wellington after which they dropped out of U.S. team contention for the 2014 World Equestrian Games, and then the CDI-W Devon.
In 2015 they competed in three CDI’s in Wellington. The horse was withdrawn from the Special in the first CDI and at their last, the CDI-W Palm Beach Derby begin March, they were eliminated from the Special. The international judging panel officiating in Wellington often struggled marking the incredibly gifted mover Paragon. Many score discrepancies appeared on the board for Paragon, which exposed a clear weakness in the judging system. Blitz’ and Paragon’s all time Grand Prix high score was 74.064% (kur score 75.350%). Their lowest mark was 62.820% in their last Grand Prix class.