WEC February Dressage CDI3* Opens with Victories for Kelly-Baxley and Davis
14 FEB 26 Ocala, FL
Ocala, FL – Two grand prix classes were held on the opening day of the World Equestrian Center (WEC) February Dressage CDI3* presented by Hampton Green Farms at WEC – Ocala. Jodie Kelly-Baxley (USA) started the evening with victory in the Grand Prix for Special CDI3* on her own Grayton Beach. Riding Scott Durkin’s Toronto Lightfoot, Meagan Davis (USA) took the top spot in the Grand Prix for Freestyle CDI3*.
Kelly-Baxley has had an incredible 12-year partnership with Grayton Beach, and their FEI career together started at the Small Tour in 2021. They progressed to grand prix at the end of 2023 and have been building ever since. They scored a win in November of 2025 at WEC – Ocala as well.
While there were good scores for the pair at the grand prix level, Kelly-Baxley was feeling something different beneath her.
“Grayton is very sensitive and really worries when he makes a mistake or isn’t sure of the answer,” she explained. “He always tries his hardest and never says no, but putting the whole grand prix together for an over 18-hand horse has been very challenging.
“He has always loved showing, but when we started showing the grand prix, he slowly got more and more stressed in the show ring,” she continued. “We were getting decent scores, but the feeling was not my happy horse.”
Kelly-Baxley showed Grayton at the FEI level just once in February of 2024 and then turned to just trail riding by the end of the year. She knew that her horse’s mental health and happiness meant more than scores and ribbons in the ring.
“I would rather him be happy, so I backed off, took the pressure off, and we played,” she went on to say. “We started the work back quietly at home. Slowly but surely, he understood, and his confidence grew. It has continued to grow.”
She added about the 15-year-old KWPN gelding (Negro x UB-40), “I’ve had him since he didn’t steer as a three-year-old, and he’s always been a very happy horse and genuinely my friend. The highlight of my test today was that I have my confident, happy horse back in the show ring. I feel like he loves it again, and that’s all that matters to me. The piaffe was a highlight too though! I have to say a big thank you to my coach Anne Gribbons for her support.”
Kelly-Baxley and Grayton Beach scored 67.609% for the win, while Ellesse Gundersen (USA) and Quintessential 4, an 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Quaterback x Cordoba owned by Gundersen, Henrik Gundersen, and Marcia Radosevich, was second with 66.522%. Nora Batchelder (USA) and Nova, a 10-year-old Oldenburg mare by Grand Galaxy Win T x Blue Hors Romanov owned by Carol Glover, placed third with 66.369%.
Rounding out the evening with victory in the Grand Prix for Freestyle CDI3* was Meagan Davis on Toronto Lightfoot. They received a score of 68.935% from the judges. Leonardo Antonio Godoy (ARG) and Marques Do Lis, a 10-year-old Lusitano stallion by Fabuloso Do Lis x Spartacus owned by Cristina Balcarce, had a personal best of 68.043% for second place. With another personal best of 65.848%, Charlotte Osborne (GBR) and Fruhlingszauber, an 18-year-old Austrian Warmblood gelding by Fortino x Rubinstein I owned by Lisa Carol, placed third.
Davis and Toronto Lightfoot, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Totilas x Onassis, have been competing at the international level since 2023 and have won four of their last seven classes together, including a sweep at the 2025 WEC December Dressage show in the CDI3* division.
“My test tonight was solid and clean,” said Davis. “The tempis and canter zig-zag were spot on. We have been working on lengthening the neck into the hand with more push from behind leading up to this show.”
Earlier in the day, Charlotte Osborne rode Nadal W, an eight-year-old KWPN gelding by Just Wimphof x Westpoint owned by Chantelle Noble, to victory in the Prix St. Georges CDI1*.
Grand Prix for Freestyle Results
Grand Prix for Special Results
Full Show Results and Ride Times
The WEC February Dressage CDI3* continues on Saturday, February 14, with the CDI Junior Individual test, followed by the Intermediate I CDI1* at 5 p.m., the Grand Prix Special CDI3* at 6:20 p.m., and wrapping up with the Grand Prix Freestyle CDI3* at 8:20 p.m.