J Is for Jog

FEI officials including Anne Gribbons, head of the 2018 WEG dressage ground jury (center), look on as Belgian competitor Isabel Cool jogs Aranco V during the horse inspection. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

As disappointing as it must be not to make a World Equestrian Games team, or to make a team but have to withdraw in advance—just ask American eventer Marilyn Little, who was forced to withdraw RF Scandalous when “Kitty” sustained a minor injury in training just prior to shipping to Tryon—the ultimate heartbreak must be arriving at the venue unscathed only to see one’s mount fail to pass the horse inspection.

 

Team USA's Kasey Perry-Glass walks Goerklintgaards Dublet before the jog. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

Groom Holly Gorman gives Goerklintgaards Dublet a final polish with a fleece mitt before the jog. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

In “the jog,” FEI veterinary officials and members of the ground jury watch like the proverbial hawks as the horses are stood up, then trotted in hand—usually, but not always, by their riders—down and back so that their “fitness to compete” can be evaluated. This can be a challenge because some horses prefer to canter, rear, or otherwise emulate kites on strings rather than trot. 

 

Officials and VIPs including American dressage sponsor Betsy Juliano (right) watch the dressage jog at the WEG. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

A supporter films a competitor's jog for posterity, aided by what might be a good-luck charm. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

USDF secretary and US Equestrian "S" judge Margaret Freeman, who will be scribing for dressage at the WEG, watches the jog. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

Hijinks aside, the jog is a tense time, and tradition dictates that horses are impeccably braided and turned out as they will be for the actual tests, but in snaffle bridles. Most national federations kit out the handlers with matching outfits that range from suits to polo shirts and jeans. (Some getups seem more ridiculous than others.) Grooms fuss and polish, then cluster at the sidelines to look on anxiously with federation officials, owners, and sponsors until they hear the magic words from the announcer: “[Horse name] is accepted.”

 

Laura Graves gives Verdades a kiss before the jog. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

Suppenkasper ("Mopsie") is in good form for US competitor Steffen Peters. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

Olympic and WEG veteran Adrienne Lyle jogs her 2018 WEG partner, Salvino. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

At this morning’s dressage horse inspection, all four Team USA horses—Suppenkasper with Steffen Peters, Verdades with Laura Graves, Salvino with Adrienne Lyle, and Goerklintgaards Dublet with Kasey Perry-Glass—passed the jog. Of the total 77 horses from 31 countries, none was not accepted, although an Australian horse and a Portuguese horse was “held” for reinspection later this afternoon. On reinspection, officials will decide whether the two horses will start tomorrow, which is the first day of competition at the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 and day 1 of the two-day dressage Grand Prix competition for the team medals. 

 

Because he's based in the USA, Spanish rider and WEG first-timer Juan Matute Guimon  (with Quantico Ymas) has many American well-wishers. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

The dressage competition is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. EDT. It, like all WEG competition, will be broadcast on FEI TV; you’ll have to pay to access the live stream. 

For the New "Queen of Omaha," the Journey to the World Cup Dressage Final Was Werth the Trip

Germany's Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD, the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final champions. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

She’s now known as the “Queen of Omaha”: Isabell Werth of Germany, living Olympic equestrian legend and winner of two previous FEI World Cup Dressage Finals, today added a third Final win to her dizzying long resume of international triumphs.

US FEI 5* dressage judge Anne Gribbons, who presided at C for the Grand Prix Freestyle final, likened Werth’s mount, the 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Weihegold OLD (Don Schufro x Sandro Hit), to a ballet dancer. “Weihe,” as Werth calls her, has a prowess for piaffe and passage that was unmatched by any other in the 14-horse field, Gribbons said afterward. The mare’s contact and connection in the bridle are also practically without peer thanks to Werth’s world-class training and riding, Gribbons said.

A record crowd of 8,578—the largest so far at these Dressage and Jumping Finals at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha—was on hand to watch Werth become the only competitor to top the 90-percent mark. She won the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final on a total combined score of 90.704 percent, with all seven judges—Gribbons, Maribel Alonso de Quinzanos (MEX), Raphael Saleh (FRA), Katrina Wuest (GER), Mariette Sanders van Gansewinkel (NED), Andrew Gardner (GBR), and Leif Tornblad (DEN)—placing Werth first.

 

Weihegold OLD's outstanding piaffe helped propel Isabell Werth to victory. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Werth’s freestyle, ridden to a pleasant but not compelling instrumental medley, had a degree of difficulty of 9.37, according to audio commentator and retired FEI 5* judge Axel Steiner. Although it wasn’t the most difficult freestyle of the competition—that honor goes to Judy Reynolds of Ireland, whose routine aboard Vancouver K has an eye-popping degree of difficulty of 9.78—it was certainly among the most difficult, and the points Werth racked up in the double-coefficient movements including the piaffe and passage put her test on top.

“I’m really proud of Weihe. She did a great job,” Werth said afterward. “She was so focused. She knew it could be her day today. Laura pushed me up to show the best we could show, and it worked. It was a fantastic atmosphere and a fantastic competition.”

Exulting after her own nearly flawless freestyle was second-place finisher Laura Graves on her own Verdades. The fifteen-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding’s (Florett As x Goya) tremendous power and strength perfectly suited his music, a series of themes football fans will have heard many times accompanying National Football League TV broadcasts.

 

Laura Graves and Verdades let it rip up their final center line. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Graves’ freestyle had a degree of difficulty of 8.91, according to Steiner. One crowd-pleasing sequence was a series of two-tempi flying changes on a curved line, followed by a diagonal straight line of one-tempis toward the corner marker, which produced spontaneous applause. And the sequence that Graves added at the end of the ride to amp up the difficulty—a piaffe “fan” to the left and right, with “Diddy” then erupting in a monstrous extended trot up the center line to the final halt and salute—had the audience cheering so loudly Graves said afterward she had to guess at when to halt because she couldn’t hear her music.

Graves was certainly the favorite of the primarily American audience, but her technical marks couldn’t quite catch Werth’s. She finished second on a score of 85.307 percent, with all judges placing her second except for one, who had her third behind the eventual third-place finisher, Great Britain’s Carl Hester on Nip Tuck (83.757).

 

Graves exults after her freestyle. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“I think I didn’t even realize how badly I wanted to win,” Graves said afterward. “I’m very competitive. When I saw the technical marks for Isabell’s ride go up and then [the broadcast crew] cut to a shot of the World Cup [trophy], I thought, ‘Oh, I want that so badly!’ To be honest, I was a little disappointed to come second, but as I said Thursday, coming second to Isabell, who’s number one in the world and has done this on so many horses, still feels an awful lot like winning.”

Nip Tuck, an enormous 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Don Ruto x Animo), was “bang on” with his instrumental music as Hester might put it. The music—I couldn’t identify it but it had that movie-score sound—had a pronounced percussive rhythm that perfectly matched “Barney’s” trot and piaffe/passage tempos.

 

Accuracy, relaxation, and correctness helped to put 2012 British Olympic team gold medalist Carl Hester and Nip Tuck on the World Cup Dressage Final podium in third place. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Hester had a few small bobbles in transitions, and the piaffe didn’t always “sit” behind. His final halt, which followed a sweeping half-pass zigzag, lacked crispness. But Barney’s work is so correct, and Hester has an incredible feel for contact. He also has an incredible way of managing his famously hot and spooky mount, and Barney appeared relaxed and totally focused. Afterward, Hester expressed complete satisfaction in the way his horse—who also hasn’t been eating well in Omaha because he misses his longtime travel buddy, Valegro, who is now retired—rose to the occasion and handled the electric atmosphere.

“If somebody says, are you disappointed to be third, how can I be disappointed in a horse that did his absolute best?” Hester said.

The USA’s Kasey Perry-Glass on Goerklintgaards Dublet (Diamond Hit x Ferro) finished seventh on a score of 77.068. Their Tom Hunt freestyle, to music from The Avengers and Lord of the Rings, featured “Dublet’s” piaffe and passage, including passage half-passes, a relaxed and expressive line of one-tempis, piaffe fans, and a difficult transition from passage to extended walk. (Steiner’s comment: “That’s what an extended walk should look like, with the horse stretching to the bit.”)

The judges varied in Perry-Glass’s placing: from as high as fifth (Gribbons, at C) to as low as tenth (Saleh, at E).

In ninth was the USA’s newest and youngest international dressage horse, Rosamunde, who finished on a score of 75.879. The experienced Steffen Peters (who won the World Cup Dressage Final in 2009 aboard the legendary Ravel) said his goal was to give the 10-year-old Rhinelander mare (Rock Forever x Fidermark) a good, solid experience to build on in the future. But it certainly wasn’t a beginner’s choreography: With a degree of difficulty of 9.4 and choreography including steep half-passes and transitions from canter pirouettes directly into piaffe, Peters wasn’t babying the talented mare. It is evident watching “Rosie” that she will grow into her astonishing ability to “sit” behind; currently she can get her hind legs so far underneath herself that she can “pedestal” in the piaffe and have some difficulty getting out of it.

Peters promised a surprise in today’s freestyle, and it came toward the end of his test, when the strains of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” rang out for the final piaffe/passage work. Fans of a certain age will recognize the music as from Peter’s championship freestyle with Ravel, and it served as a nice coda to the new music, which included a vocal passage from Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” Afterward, Peters said he hadn’t been entirely happy with Rosie’s trot music, and so he decided to replace it with the portion of Ravel’s music inasmuch as it suited Rosie so well.

But today was Isabell Werth’s day to shine, and the German Olympian got the party started early when she playfully sprayed Hester and Graves with sparkling wine while on the podium—then took a deep pull from the bottle, gave drinks to her podium-mates, and then gave each of the horses’ grooms a swig.

 

World Cup Dressage Final champion Isabell Werth (center) sprays third-place finisher Carl Hester with sparkling wine after dousing second-placed Laura Graves. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“This night I think we will have [a party]!” Werth said afterward at the press conference. She had effusive praise for Omaha, World Cup Finals organizer Lisa Roskens, and the entire event; so it looks as if the USA has a lot to celebrate right along with the German champion.

Thanksgiving at the USDF Convention

Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame portraits are displayed amid awards on stage before the start of the USDF Salute Gala and Annual Awards Banquet. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The 2013 Adequan/USDF National Convention draws to a close with a brief pause to smell the roses. Especially for us perfectionist dressage enthusiasts, it’s important that we take the time to recognize achievements and contributions to the sport and to the organization.

It began this morning during the second day of the USDF Board of Governors assembly, with the presentation of the annual GMO (group-member organization) and regional awards. Excellence in websites, newsletters, photography, and writing is recognized among the various sizes of GMOs. And each USDF region has the opportunity to nominate a deserving person for Regional Volunteer of the Year.

Region 2 Volunteer of the Year Bonna McCuiston and USDF president George Williams. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Some of our GMOs have top-class media. That accomplishment is all the more impressive when you remember that they are created largely by volunteers, in time squeezed in between real jobs and families and even riding from time to time. Please thank the volunteers in your dressage clubs -- or better yet, become one!

There are also special thank-yous to outgoing USDF officers and regional directors. For her long years of service to USDF, retiring USDF secretary Janine Malone received a bouquet of flowers, a framed portrait commemorating her efforts in organizing the 2013 US Dressage Finals, and a beautiful watch.

Janine Malone and George Williams. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The final evening of the convention is all about getting gussied up and, often surrounded by proud family members and friends, fulfilling one of USDF's mission items: recognition of achievement. Dressage is a solitary, sometimes lonely sport. Behind every shiny rider medal or championship cooler likely lies a story of perseverance, setbacks, and grit in addition to the wins and the exhilarating breakthrough training moments. It says something about the meaningfulness of these awards that USDF members take time out during the busy holiday season to travel to the convention to accept them.

Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductee Charles de Kunffy (right) chats with an admirer before the gala. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

If you've been following this blog, you know that my favorite part of the entire convention is the ceremonies for the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductees and the USDF Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Here is where we recognize those who have made truly extraordinary contributions to American dressage (the Hall of Fame) or to the USDF itself (Lifetime Achievement). And this year did not disappoint.

First, longtime USDF "L" Education Program chair Marilyn Heath was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. It is largely because of her efforts that the hugely successful program is structured as it is today, with enormous benefits to offer all dressage enthusiasts who audit the first three sessions of the program.

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Marilyn Heath (center) with USDF Historical Recognition Committee chair Anne Moss and USDF president George Williams. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Then we inducted a living dressage legend, Charles de Kunffy, into the Hall of Fame. The Hungarian-born de Kunffy is one of our living classical masters, whose knowledge of horses and dressage will live on through his books and his many successful students.

Also inducted was the tireless international competitor, coach, trainer, FEI 5* judge, and former USEF national dressage technical advisor Anne Gribbons. Gribbons has served on something like 20 USDF committees, helped to found the Long Island Dressage and Combined Training Association with her husband, David, and has trained 17 horses to Grand Prix. She set up the USEF "pipeline" of national dressage coaches, whose efforts are beginning to reap great rewards, just as she predicted. 

Anne Gribbons (center) admires her Hall of Fame portrait. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Finally, we took a trip down memory lane with a video and photo retrospective of the USDF's origins and milestones over the past 40 years, culminating with reminiscences by the legendary Sally O'Connor. The dressage and eventing clinician, instructor, judge, and author is one of USDF's founding members: She was in the room in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1973 as the USDF organized and held its first meeting. O'Connor was tonight's special guest, and she shared stories of the early days, such as when USDF founder Lowell Boomer recruited the University of Nebraska's marching band to parade through the meeting room to diffuse tension.

USDF founding member Sally O'Connor (right) with USDF Historical Recognition Committee member Anna Lucy Keller. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Tomorrow, the final day of the USDF convention, I'll be moderating a fireside chat with Charles de Kunffy, and we'll enjoy one additional educational session. Tonight I'll leave you with some more images from today's festivities. Good night from Lexington!

"The Derby in December" was the awards banquet theme. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Jen Vanover (center) accepted DSHB Horse of the Year awards for two of her horses: MW Fabulous (Yearling Colt/Gelding champion) and MW Feinermark (Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding champion). At right is Allyn Mann of Adequan/Luitpold Pharmaceuticals. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

2013 USDF Volunteer of the Year Sally Davenport brought her mother, Katherine, who's 101! Photo by Jennifer Bryant.