With spring now officially here, most Canadians have decided to return home so that they can prepare for the spring and summer horse show season.

Frankie CheslerOrtiz, her husband Juan and the Sher-Al Farm family of Orangeville have decided to enjoy the Florida sun a little longer by staying to compete in the $25,000 Palm Beach Toyota Grad Prix at the Littlewood Farm Spring horse show, and with successful results.

With twenty-nine horse and rider combinations vying for the win over the challenging course built by Jim Julia, time and precision seemed to be the key to success.

With the sixteen jumping obstacles not being too big, they seemed to challenge riders in different ways.

There was a very difficult turn to the triple combination that had many faults.So did the jump following it, a tall skinny one that also caught riders off guard.

"I was careful to watch the other riders go before me and I noticed that there was a tight spot at the triple combination" Chesler-Ortiz commented, "with Ranville my eightyear old Dutch Warmblood, we finished the first round clear and with a great time. I am proud of his progress this season and hope for a great summer of showing with him."

Chesler-Ortiz and four other horse and riders completed the

first round clear to advance to the jump off.

In the jump off round, being careful seemed more important than speed.

When CheslerOrtiz entered the ring, she set her sights on an efficient and clear round.

She remarked, "I knew I needed to go fast to win, however , I also knew in the back of my mind that just going fast wasn't going to win the class, you needed to be careful as well."

When CheslerOrtiz completed the jump off she has accomplished her goal of a fast and clear round grabbing the top spot in the class.

When Angela Moore of Wellington, Florida entered the ring aboard Land Baron 4 she quickly flew over the jumps

beating CheslerOrtiz's time seizing first place from and leaving her to finish in second position.

"It was a tight jump off and I was glad that Ranville and I gave it our all!"

He is still a little young and inexperienced to go too fast."

This past winter Chesler-Ortiz successfully competed at the Wellington Winter Equestrian Festival and finished twentyfirst close to a hundred Grand Prix competitors.

Along with this top finish, Chesler-Ortiz was invited to the $200,000 American Invitational in Tampa but decided to pass this year to give her mare, Picolien Zeldenrust, more time to gain experience in the Grand Prix ring. Frankie and her husband Juan Ortiz will be in Florida until the end of April.

Upon arriving back in Orangeville, they will continue to build a business of boarding, selling and

training young horse and riders for the show ring.

For more information, contact them at www.frankiechesler.c om or at www.sheralfarm. com.