Canada’s Christilot Boylen Wins With Pizazz at CDI Poznan, Poland

photo supplied by Christilot Boylen

Veteran Canadian Dressage Team member Christilot Hanson Boylen topped the field at CDI*** Poznan, Poland, held November 15-17, 2002.

Riding Lucky Lemon, an 11-year-old Hannoverian mare, Boylen won both the Intermediare II and the Grand Prix with scores of 68.15% and 67.08%, respectively, earned from the panel of five international judges. In the Grand Prix Freestyle, Boylen received a mark of 70.07% to finish a close second to German competitor, Constanzen Rugheimer, riding Bellman Dane, who scored 70.35%.

“She had a good go in both the Intermediare II and the Grand Prix,” explained Boylen. “She would have won the Freestyle but I made a technical error. Out of the pirouette, I went straight into a half-pass instead of doing two strides and then going into the half-pass. So, I lost it, she would have won if I hadn’t made the mistake.”

In the Freestyle, Boylen was performing to music designed specifically for her and Lucky Lemon by Canada’s Applause Dressage.

“My music has a South African theme, there are a lot of drums, which really suits her fantastic rhythm,” said Boylen, formerly of Toronto, Canada, and now based in Gammertshof, Germany, with her partner, Udo Lange. “It is quite a different type of music, the judges really have to sit back and think.”

Boylen first began competing Lucky Lemon at the small tour level in 2000, winning numerous Prix St. Georges and Intermedaire classes. In 2001, the dynamic horse-rider combination stepped up to the Grand Prix ranks with great success.

“She had a great summer,” said Boylen of the mare who is by the Hannoverian stallion, Lemon Park, and owned by her daughter, Dora Boylen-Pabst. “Including her results in Poznan, she has won eight big grand prix classes in Europe since August.”

Boylen remains the most successful dressage competitor in Canadian history. At the age of 17, Boylen received special permission to participate in the 1964 Toyko Olympics and has since been named to six additional Olympic squads, including the 1980 Alternate Olympics. Boylen also earned gold medals at the 1971, 1975 and 1987 Pan American Games, making her the only athlete in Pan Am history to claim three individual gold medals in their respective sport.