London, England (May 20, 2015)- It was a royal redux at England\u2019s Royal Windsor CAI3* as HRH Queen Elizabeth again congratulated Chester Weber, of Ocala, Florida, on his second consecutive victory in the four-in-hand division. The 11-time USEF National Champion and three-time World Equestrian Games Silver medalist returned to the 2015 Royal Windsor Horse Show to defend the title he won there last May.<\/p>\n
Fresh off the Live Oak International CDE win in March in the US, Team Weber, comprised of the horses owned by Chester Weber and Jane Forbes Clark, headed to Europe and to the top of the leader boards at the Royal Windsor. <\/p>\n
But this year\u2019s competition was no repeat of last year\u2019s handy finish for Team Weber. Living up to his moniker, \u2018Mr. Dressage,\u2019 Weber won the opening dressage phase with a score of 36.22, but unlike the year prior, this past week\u2019s competition saw Team Weber\u2019s strongest competitors very close on the scoreboard, with Boyd Exell just fractions of a point behind with a score of 36.57. With just a smidge of a lead, Team Weber had their work ahead of them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to fight hard for this one. We were in a tight race with Boyd after dressage, and had a costly knockdown in marathon,\u201d Weber said about the tense second phase, which saw Team Weber drop to third position, while a tightly executed 95.64 effort by Exell moved him into the top spot after Saturday\u2019s Marathon. But not for long\u2014 Team Weber was now more \u201cdriven\u201d than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t let myself dwell on that. I knew we had to focus on bringing our A game into Cones,\u201d Weber said. \u201cAnd it worked. The horses were amazing. They really stepped up. Everything I asked them for, they gave me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Weber\u2019s win at last year\u2019s Royal Windsor had marked a coming full circle 18 years in the making since he competed in the pair driving in its stadium in 1996. So what did accepting a second round of royal congratulations feel like? \u201cIt was very, very special. And well earned. Not just for me, but for the entire team behind these horses,\u201d said Weber.<\/p>\n
As for Team Weber\u2019s own international combined driving calendar, their ambitions are set on the CAI3*-H4 World Cup Qualifier, June 19-21, in Lahden, Germany. The team will head next to compete at Aachen where they enjoyed a record-breaking victory last year. \u201cAachen is under a different, indoor driving and jumping format this year,\u201d Weber explained, \u201cSo it won\u2019t have as much impact on our plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Weber had a success plan laid out for 2014 which unfolded with a string of history-making victories that included the first American entry to win the Four\u2013in-Hand at CAIO4* Aachen, an 11th USEF National Four-in-Hand Driving Championship, and an unprecedented record dressage phase score (30.89) for the sport at the Kingdom of the Sun CDE. Already their success formula for 2015 is coming to its fruition. Follow Team Weber on their 2015 European campaign at http:\/\/www.chesterweber.com and via Facebook. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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