Saturday night, the audience at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival Nations Cup in Wellington, Florida will be in for an unexpected treat. Blind dressage horse Valiant will perform a musical demonstration and his newly-released documentary movie trailer Valiant: Life Is a Horse will be shown. The Global Dressage Festival Nations Cup CDI Freestyles will take place at 7pm at the Stadium located at 13500 South Shore Blvd, Wellington Florida 33414. Valiant’s demonstration will take place after the freestyles and before the awards presentation, approximately around 8:30pm.
Valiant: Life is a Horse is the true story of Polo Gear co-founder Jeanette Sassoon’s 26-year-old blind dressage horse. Valiant became blind after an adverse reaction to medication for a puncture wound in his hoof which led to uveitis.
Sassoon refused to let the diagnosis deviate her efforts to teach Valiant through his blindness and build a trust with her enough to excel in the sport of dressage. Through the power of this relationship, Valiant not only learned to live again blind, but he has become a competitive dressage horse. Last year, Valiant competed in the Prix St. George; he scored in the mid-high 60’s and placed in the ribbons in a large competitive field here in Wellington, the horse capital of the world.
After the trailer showing, Valiant and Jeanette will perform a musical freestyle to a song composed exclusively for the documentary’s soundtrack.
Photo courtesy of Jeanette Sassoon
While Valiant: Life is a Horse depicts the story of Valiant, the core of the film is a powerful message of the incredible benefits and meaning that derives from truly caring for and bonding with our animals. The documentary is the ongoing saga of how Valiant’s story is continuing to touch many lives as it recounts interviews from individuals who have been affected or touched by Valiant and Jeanette and their journey.
Valiant’s story of inspiration has encouraged a new paradigm in the equestrian world. It involves getting to know, care for, and connect to our horses on a deeper more personal level… as friends and as partners. The film Valiant: Life is a Horse is the launch of a campaign to raise awareness for this new paradigm of horsemanship. This campaign has rallied the support of several equine companies like Adequan, Polo Gear, Verhan Saddlery, etc. whose company philosophies support the “We Care About Horses” message found in the documentary.
To learn more about Valiant: Life is a Horse, future performances and projects and this campaign to raise awareness of the human relationship with horses at a deeper level, visit www.valiantdocumentary.com.
For information concerning press passes and media coverage please contact Jennifer Wood at 803 240 7488 or at Jennifer@jenniferwoodmedia.com.
