Quality Is Job One

Trainers Conference demonstration rider Sophia Schults on Samour M rides shoulder-in, the movement US national dressage young-horse coach Christine Traurig called "the mother of all good things" in dressage. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

This slogan might sound vaguely familiar to some of you. I had to Google it to identify the source: It was the Ford Motor Co.’s 1980s-era attempt to counter perceptions that its cars were, ahem, not of good quality.

That slogan percolated up from some recess of my memory as I watched US national dressage coaches Debbie McDonald, Charlotte Bredahl, Christine Traurig, and George Williams work with eight horse-and-rider combinations on the second and final day of the 2019 Adequan/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference. Although the four trainers have quite different teaching styles, a common theme pervaded their instruction, usually phrased as some version of “If it’s not working, get out.”

What that means is: Never sacrifice the quality of the gait in your quest to produce a movement. It’s an easy trap to fall into: Focused on riding a shoulder-in or a half-pass or a flying change, we’re concentrating so much on bend and angle and timing that we fail to notice that the tempo has slowed or that the impulsion or the straightness has been lost. Problem is, not only will a movement produced in this manner score poorly because we’ve lost the quality of the underpinnings, but the movement itself will not go well—because good execution requires those basics as prerequisites.

In the first conference session of the day, US dressage national youth coach George Williams helped junior rider Tori Belles on Romulus get acquainted with that essential building block toward collection and flying changes, the simple change. A simple change is a canter-walk-canter transition from one lead to the other with no trot steps and just a few walk steps in between. After several attempts, Romulus began to express his displeasure with the increased effort required, backing off and becoming balky during the walk segments. Williams stepped in quickly.

“We need to leave it because he’s getting frustrated,” he said of the horse. He directed Belles to ride some brisk long sides in medium canter to freshen the energy (and Romulus’s attitude) and then went into some work on flying changes. 

Too much repetition and drilling can sour a horse, Williams explained. As a trainer, sometimes you need step away from a topic that is frustrating the horse. Come back to it later in the session or perhaps on another day when the horse has relaxed in his mind and body. 

Build rock-solid basics across the board; they will serve as a dependable foundation for consistent performance, Williams advised the conference audience. “Start with a very solid foundation and consistent tests—sevens, or ‘very good.’ Then we can work on making things better,” he said, the icing on the cake being the “wow” factor that might take that 7 up to an 8 or a 9.

True suppleness—correct “softening” through the horse’s ribcage area in response to the rider’s inside bending leg, not through manipulations of the horse’s head and neck with the inside rein—offers many of the keys to the kingdom of solid basics, according to the clinicians. 

“Ribcage. Ribcage,” Traurig reminded demonstration rider Michael Bragdell. Bragdell’s mount, SenSation HW, was last year’s national US Equestrian Five-Year-Old champion—but Traurig’s keen eye noticed every moment that the gelding was not quite supple enough on the inside. 

“Gymnasticize your horse. [German Olympian and former US dressage-team coach] Klaus Balkenhol used to say, ‘Mobilize the hind leg’ all the time when I was training with him,” said Traurig. “I love that word, mobilize. By mobilizing the hind leg we can make the space between the hind legs a little narrower,” a key element in straightness and collection. And that narrowing is developed “through the mother of all good things, the shoulder-in.”

 

Ali Potasky on the five-year-old mare Irintha shows what a mobilized hind leg looks like. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Shoulder-in, shoulder-fore—we saw these keystone gymnasticizing exercises with every horse in the conference, from the five-year-old mare Irintha, ridden by Ali Potasky, through the Grand Prix-level horses. These movements seem so simple but are frequently performed incorrectly, the clinicians said, with haunches falling to the outside, horses’ heads and necks pulled too far to the inside with an overly strong inside rein, and no bend, which renders the movement a tail-to-the-wall leg-yield instead of a shoulder-in or shoulder-fore. There also needs to be a distinction between shoulder-in, which is a “three-track” movement (the horse’s legs traveling on three distinct “tracks” or lines of travel, with the inside foreleg and the outside hind leg on the same track), and shoulder-fore, which is a two-and-a-half-track movement, Traurig explained.

 

US national dressage development coach Charlotte Bredahl helps Melissa Taylor with her canter pirouettes aboard Ansgar.  Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

As some of us have learned the hard way, failure to follow the “quality is job one” mantra will come back to bite you somewhere down the road. One of the chief roles of a dressage trainer is to apply critical thinking in analyzing the horse’s performance: what was good, what was lacking, why it was lacking, and what exercises will address the deficiencies. This process requires attention to the smallest details.

As she worked with Potasky, Traurig noticed every time Irintha’s tempo changed during transitions. “We are working to create fluent, effortless canter-trot transitions with no loss of rhythm, maintaining the nose out with a consistent stretch to the bit,” she said. Later, schooling shoulder-in and half-pass, Traurig said: “If you lose something in the lateral work, do a circle. Don’t stay in it.”

 

US national dressage technical advisor Debbie McDonald helped demo rider Kerrigan Gluch take the Grand Prix-level Bolero CXLVII's movements, like this trot half-pass, from "very good" to "wow." (No, "wow" is not the technical score verbiage!) Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

US national dressage development coach Charlotte Bredahl delivered a similar message to demo rider Melissa Taylor on the small-tour-level Ansgar. As Taylor practiced tempi changes (flying changes of lead in sequence), Bredahl reminded: “If the horse loses his balance, straightness, or impulsion during the tempis, don’t keep going. That’s what I call setting the horse up to fail. I like to set the horse up for success.”

Even at Grand Prix, the training is all about emphasizing quality over quantity. As demo rider Chris Hickey worked to improve the green-at-Grand-Prix Contento Sogno’s passage and piaffe, national dressage technical advisor Debbie McDonald said, “Get out, get out,” every time the gelding’s impulsion and tempo began to wane. Hickey would do something to refresh the energy—ride a few steps of medium trot, go on a curved line—and then reenter the movement. 

 

Debbie McDonald coaches Chris Hickey on Contento Sogno in piaffe, calling the gelding a horse with an exciting future. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“Don’t get greedy,” McDonald counseled. “Be happy with just a few steps.”

Sure, the tests call for more than just a few steps. But dressage is hard work, and correct work is challenging when a horse is still developing strength and balance. So go slowly, be patient, keep your standards high, and praise your horse’s honest efforts, however small—“Pet him!” was another common conference refrain. Incremental improvements help keep horses happy and confident in their work.

“And at the end of the day, that’s what we want to see,” said McDonald: “that our horses are happy athletes.”

The Right Path

If the horse gets tight in the flying changes, ride the changes on a large circle instead of on a straight line, US Equestrian national developing coach Charlotte Bredahl advised demo rider Jami Kment on Gatino Van Hof Olympia at the 2019 Adequan/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference. Ride the more difficult change to the outside of the circle -- "I don't know why it works, exactly, but it usually works!" Bredahl said. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Although, as newly appointed US national dressage technical advisor Debbie McDonald pointed out, there is no single correct approach to take in dressage training because every horse must be treated as an individual, there is one set of basics: the pyramid of training.

Give short shrift to any aspect of the pyramid, and your dressage will suffer. At the end of the day, regardless of how fancy or ordinary your mount may be, much of your success or lack thereof in dressage will come down to how much time you spend perfecting the basics: how rigorous your standards, how intolerant of “good enough,” how much attention to detail you give the steps and the strides and the straightness.

That was the lesson that emerged today, day 1 of the 2019 Adequan/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference, at Mary Anne McPhail’s High Meadow Farm in Loxahatchee, Florida. The event marks the first time since the 2011 Adequan/USDF National Dressage Symposium that all of the US Equestrian national dressage coaches have assembled to lead an educational event. As the high-performance coach, McDonald worked with the two Grand Prix-level horses and riders, Kerrigan Gluch on Bolero CXL VII and Chris Hickey on Contento Sogno. Youth coach George Williams started the day by working with the junior/young riders Tori Belles on Romulus and Sophia Schults on Samour M. Then it was on to young-horse coach Christine Traurig, with Michael Bragdell on SenSation HW and Ali Potasky on Irintha. Newly appointed development coach (and former assistant youth coach) Charlotte Bredahl worked one-on-one with Jami Kment on Gatino Van Hof Olympia and Melissa Taylor on Ansgar. 

US national dressage youth coach George Williams works with Tori Belles on Romulus. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

As Williams demonstrated with Belles, it’s never too early to teach youth riders to dial in their focus on the details. He had Belles count strides in the rising trot, figuring out how many strides Romulus takes in a quarter of a 20-meter circle in trot and canter. Williams uses lots of counting in his teaching, from having Belles sit for three or five strides and then resume rising trot, to demonstrating the “enlarge…two…three” circle exercise he uses to help riders learn to regulate their horses’ rhythms and tempos while coordinating the balance between the forward and sideways driving aids.

Some of dressage training is horsemanship know-how, passed down from teacher to student over the years. An audience member asked how Williams decides which is better for warming up a horse, trot-canter-trot transitions or walk-canter-walk. It depends, Williams responded, on whether the horse needs help with his balance and in developing pushing and carrying power (in which case walk-canter transitions might be preferable), or whether the main objective is to loosen and supple a horse’s back and loin muscles (better served through trot-canter transitions). He chose trot-canter as the best method of suppling Schults’s mount, Samour M.

One of the great pleasures of attending a Trainers Conference is the opportunity to watch some of our country’s top horses. Hilltop Farm head trainer Michael Bragdell rode SenSation HW, last year’s national FEI Five-Year-Old champion. As guided by Traurig, Bragdell showed the audience the importance of teaching the horse about the rider’s outside leg and rein aids in terms of straightness and half-halts.

Christine Traurig, the US national young-horse coach, helps Michael Bragdell on SenSation HW, the USA's top FEI Five-Year-Old in 2018. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“Everyone says ‘Inside leg to outside hand,’” Traurig said, “but until the horse understands the outside leg and rein aids in keeping the shape of the circle, you can’t use the inside leg correctly because the inside leg contradicts the inside rein.” This is why, she said, horse and rider need to be educated about three types of aids: driving aids, yielding aids, and bending aids.

The basics, the clinicians showed repeatedly, are rooted in equine physiology; correct dressage is not “for looks” or “for show.” For example, Traurig explained that tightness in the sacroiliac and lumbar regions of the horse’s back will inhibit the development of impulsion because the hind legs will not be able to work properly to create power and thrust. Assuming a veterinarian has ruled out physical issues, a “stuck” back can be addressed through simple exercises such as leg-yield, which encourage the horse to reach and stretch over his back. 

Traurig also explained that the horse’s trapezius muscles, which are on either side of his neck, open up “like a Japanese fan” when the neck is stretched and lowered. The muscles also connect to the long back muscle and to the nuchal ligament, which helps to lift and support the back when it is put in tension, sort of like a suspension bridge. 

Together the national dressage coaches showed that improvement in our sport involves a drilling-down into the basics, applying them with increasing exactitude until (theoretically, anyway) every step the horse takes is precisely how, when, where, and how much we want. That level of attention to detail permits no coasting. There are no sloppy, yay-I’m-done-I’m-going-to-drop-the-reins down transitions. “Ridehim to the bit,” Traurig said repeatedly, reminding riders to maintain energy and impulsion even while asking their horses to come down to the walk. And don’t just cruise around aimlessly in your walk breaks. “What walk are you doing? It is extended? Medium? Collected? Decide which one you are doing, and ride that walk.”

Think famous trainers are above helping out at the barn? Think again! Olympian Lendon Gray shows her Dressage4Kids Winter Intensive Training Program participants the importance of keeping the arena meticulously picked up. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

Our horses, naturally, rise (or fall) to the level of our expectations. Bredahl instructed Taylor to “make the transition from medium to collected trot—boom! That wasn’t clear enough. If it’s not clear, tactfully walk one step” to teach Ansgar that he must come back when Taylor asks. “Then think it [a walk step] but don’t do it.” Soon the horse was responding more crisply to the aids for the transition. 

Similarly, McDonald told Gluch to sharpen up Bolero CXLVII’s responses to her aids for up transitions. “That wasn’t clean enough,” she said of a walk-canter depart. “At this level, you need to have both ends sharp. You need to have their hind legs.” 

Timing is critical, said McDonald, who didn’t want riders “sitting” on any aids. She told Gluch to quicken her own aids and reactions: “Be quick to sharpen him. Quick to pet him. Quick to half-halt. Never hold him. Everything must be sharper. At this level, the horse needs to be more responsible for his own balance, not rely on your hands.” 

One thing that’s definitely sharpened is my eagerness for tomorrow’s session. See you tomorrow!

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

New US dressage national technical advisor Debbie McDonald (at podium) discusses her plans to keep the USA on the medal podiums during the USDF Board of Governors assembly. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Even a sport as traditional as dressage evolves as the years pass. Organizations similarly need to adapt to changing times, and the challenge becomes finding ways to honor the past and “hold fast to that which is good” while staying current and appealing to the next generation.

I think the USDF is in such a period of change. At yesterday’s Historical Recognition Committee open meeting, we discussed how best to ensure that important supporters of American dressage are not forgotten, by explaining their contributions to a USDF membership that is increasingly unfamiliar with such names as Lowell Boomer, Violet Hopkins, and Chuck Grant. At today’s kickoff session of the 2018 USDF Board of Governors (BOG) assembly, outgoing USDF president George Williams received a standing ovation of thanks as he winds up his eight-year term, and current USDF VP Lisa Gorretta punctuated her entertaining presidential-candidate BOG presentation with photos of memorable moments in her 30-plus-year career as a dressage rider, volunteer, and official. 

Faces like George’s and Lisa’s have become part of the reassuring fabric of the USDF—the steadfast supporters who, it seems, are always there when we need them. I see many of our regional directors and BOG delegates just once a year—at convention—and no matter what forgettable hotel or unfamiliar city we might find ourselves in, being surrounded by these passionate dressage supporters always feels a little bit like coming home.

 

USDF Board of Governors delegates give outgoing USDF president George Willams a standing ovation. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

These stalwarts won’t always be there, of course, and a chunk of today’s convention sessions involved discussions of how best to “bring along” the dressage participants of tomorrow, both human and equine.

In the Competition Open Forum, Dressage Seat Equitation Task Force chair Sarah Geikie talked about her group’s quest to make dressage-seat equitation a more visible, popular entry point for youth in our sport. A troubling statistic, Geikie said, is a dropoff in USDF youth memberships over the past five years—a decline that she herself could not explain and expressed a desire to research more thoroughly. The costs of riding and horse ownership, which continue to rise, are undoubtedly factors, with fewer parents being able to afford horses for their kids, Geikie said. As some in the audience pointed out, young people may be turning to high-school and collegiate programs that offer competition opportunities without having to own a horse, and the USDF may need to reach out to such programs, to renew alliances or forge new partnerships.

Another factor may be young people’s desire to enjoy an activity in the company of peers. A “token kid” at a predominantly adult dressage facility may feel out of place, and let’s face it, hanging out with a bunch of adults isn’t much fun when you’re a teen or tween. At the same time—I say this from personal experience—being a “non-elite” kid surrounded by a bunch of privileged, cliquish youths is no party either. If dressage can figure out how to bring the joy of horses and riding, like-minded companionship, and fun to young people, we’ll be able to write our own ticket. 

We need to nurture our young dressage horses as carefully as our young dressage riders. In an evening panel discussion, convention-goers heard advice on the training, competition, and judging of young horses from three of the best in the business: retired FEI 5* judge Lilo Fore, Olympian and current USEF national dressage young-horse coach Christine Traurig, and Olympian and experienced trainer Lisa Wilcox. 

According to the panelists, the art of training young dressage horses lies in the horsemanship of determining when a horse needs more time to mature, physically or mentally; and at the same time maintaining high standards for correct training according to the pyramid of training—of recognizing what demands are appropriate for the young horse and being as disciplined about training with a five-year-old, say, as with the older horse. It’s not doing the young horse any favors to ride with lax standards, the panelists said. Too much leniency, or a failure to adhere to the correct training path according to the pyramid, can create training problems or “holes” that will require extensive work to undo and retrain correctly. The rider of a young horse should seek the guidance of an experienced trainer if needed to help ensure that the horse is on the correct path. And never forget that the goal is Grand Prix—that the training of the young horse is establishing the fundamentals he will need to move up the levels.

Sweet Sixteen

Team USA wins FEI World Equestrian Games dressage silver for the first time since 2002

 

2018 WEG team dressage silver medalists Kasey Perry-Glass, Adrienne Lyle, Steffen Peters, and Laura Graves of the USA with technical advisor and chef d'equipe Robert Dover. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

“They’ve worked very hard for this.”

Not that we had any doubts that the four members of the 2018 US World Equestrian Games dressage team had put in the time and the blood, sweat, and tears to get there; but there was the affirmation, standing next to me ringside for the dressage team medal ceremony at the FEI WEG Tryon 2018.

It was Diane Perry, Team USA member Kasey Perry-Glass’s mom and the owner of Perry-Glass’s WEG mount, Goerklintgaards Dublet. Between wielding her smartphone video camera to record the ceremony for posterity and exhorting “Dublet” to please keep all four feet on the ground, Perry was every horse-show mom writ large: proud, perhaps a little overwhelmed, adrenaline-fueled but tired from the long hours in the North Carolina heat and humidity, and already gearing up for her daughter’s next effort (asked whether they’d be celebrating tonight, Perry quickly replied: “Oh, no. We have a horse show tomorrow,” referring to the Grand Prix Special).

 

Group hug! Team USA's Debbie McDonald, Kasey Perry-Glass, Adrienne Lyle, and Steffen Peters embrace after watching Laura Graves clinch the team silver medal on Verdades, while sponsor Betsy Juliano and chef Robert Dover look on. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

It’s easy to forget, when we see our dressage idols on the covers of magazines, and when they and their entourages and their sponsorships and their celebrity make them seem larger than life, that top riders are daughters and wives and moms and dads—people who were endowed with a generous helping of talent and ambition and grit and of course luck, but also people who probably have a lot in common with those of you who are reading this. They love horses. They love riding. They love dressage. Watching Diane Perry cheer for her daughter as she stepped onto the WEG dressage medal podium for the first time, the glamorous medal ceremony suddenly felt very personal.

But competition at this international level isn’t really personal; it’s about national pride first and foremost, with glory for one’s team and one’s country superseding individual accomplishment. Although dressage is ultimately about one rider’s partnership with one horse, “top sport,” as the Europeans call it, is a machine the way NFL football is a machine: an industry and a very serious business while at the same time serving as entertainment and hobby for the spectator and fan.

 

German team gold medalist Isabell Werth and Bella Rose were the highest-scoring pair of the WEG Grand Prix team competition. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The German dressage machine has dominated the discipline for decades, and today was no exception. The team of Isabell Werth on Bella Rose, Sonke Rothenberger on Cosmo, Jessica Bredow-Werndl on TSF Dalera BB, and Dorothee Schneider on Sammy Davis Jr. swept the 2018 WEG dressage team competition with a total score of 242.950. Werth and her “dream horse,” Bella Rose, topped both her teammates and the entire field with their score of 84.829 percent in a largely flawless test marked by elegance and elasticity.

 

Top USA scorer Laura Graves and Verdades. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Last to go in the entire team competition was the most hotly anticipated pair of the largely American crowd: top-ranked US rider Laura Graves and her famous Verdades. They did not disappoint, laying down a powerful Grand Prix test marred only by “Diddy’s” slight spook at an FEI TV camera near C to earn a score of 81.537 percent, which put Graves second individually behind Werth. 

Graves’ usual sparkling smile seemed a bit dimmed during the medal ceremony, and at the press conference we found out why: She confessed to being “a little under the weather.” Here’s hoping she gets some needed rest and feels better for tomorrow’s GP Special—although she said that “adrenaline is an amazing thing” because as soon as she put her foot in the stirrup today, all else was forgotten.

Perry-Glass’s score of 76.739 percent was the second-highest of the US team, which clinched the silver medal on a team total score of 233.136.

“It felt great,” Perry-Glass said of her Grand Prix test afterward. “He was 100 percent in warm-up, and I really felt like he brought the power that we were looking for in the test.”

“He’s so sensitive,” Perry-Glass said of the 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Diamond Hit x Ferro). “I had to figure out that balance between asking for more and not asking for too much. I think we’re really right on the cusp of being really great with that. 

“He has every opportunity to be up with Isabell and Laura,” Perry-Glass continued. Referring to their excellent finishes in Aachen this year, she said: “We’ve done it once before. I know we can do it again.” With tears welling, she said, “I’m going to cry because I love him so much.”

For a report on Team USA silver medalists Steffen Peters’ and Adrienne Lyle’s tests yesterday, click here.

Since the retirement of Charlotte Dujardin’s superstar mount Valegro, the dressage world has wondered whether Great Britain would remain among the top powers in the sport. The answer, as evidenced by today’s WEG team dressage bronze medal, is yes. 

 

Great Britain's Charlotte Dujardin and her new star partner, Mount St. John Freestyle. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Dujardin, back on the international scene for the first time since winning individual gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Valegro, was Team GBR’s top scorer, earning 77.764 percent on the astonishingly young-yet-accomplished nine-year-old Hanoverian mare, Mount St. John Freestyle (Fidermark x Donnerhall). “Freestyle” handled the atmosphere in the US Trust Arena with ease, making just a few green mistakes—this was only Freestyle’s sixth Grand Prix—and Dujardin said afterward that the mare’s nickname of “Mrs. Valegro” is not an exaggeration.

“She has three very normal paces,” Dujardin said, “but when I started riding her, she has unbelievable trainability. And then her scope for what she can do: She can just put her legs wherever she wants! She’s so brave and she gives so much… She has the same attitude [as Valegro]: She goes in that arena, she’s not afraid of anything; she tries so hard. I know when she’s stronger and the mistakes aren’t there, it’s going to be very, very exciting. I think she may be as good as him one day. 

 

2018 WEG team bronze medalists Carl Hester of Great Britain on Hawtins Delicato. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Finishing just behind his most famous pupil was Carl Hester, also on a relatively inexperienced horse, the 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding Hawtins Delicato (Diamond Hit x Regazzoni). The stunning “Del” put in a lovely and elastic test with just a few bobbles to earn a score of 77.283. The British team was rounded out by Spencer Wilton on Super Nova II (74.581) and Emile Faurie on Dono di Maggio (72.795), for a team total of 229.628.

Said Hester afterward: “I said to Charlotte, with these young horses, we can’t compete them all around Europe and then fly them to a WEG and expect them to be on form. They would be exhausted. Our plan was to do the British shows and then come here. Having said that, I’ve had a week…it’s been a bit tense because the horse hasn’t really walked, he hasn’t really halted. Then this morning, one week later, we walked around the ring at 7:30 this morning on a loose rein; he walked around twice and I thought, I’m going to have a good ride today. And I did. He has such good paces, this horse. He might not be the superstar flash of some of the others, but he is so good with his hind legs, he has such a great walk.”

With that, the stage is set for an exciting start to the WEG individual dressage competition. Two medals are at stake—GP Special and GP Freestyle—and the Special kicks off tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Watch on FEI TV or catch WEG dressage on NBC Sports' Olympic Channel.

7 Questions for Kasey Perry-Glass

Kasey Perry-Glass. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The USA's Kasey-Perry Glass, 29, finished seventh in the Grand Prix (72.257%) at the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final aboard the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Goerklintgaards Dublet (Diamond Hit x Ferro). I caught up with her as she prepared for the Freestyle Final, set to kick off in a little under an hour at Omaha's CenturyLink Center.

Tell me about your Grand Prix on Thursday.

I kind of went in with no expectations for him. A lot of it is just keeping him happy and relaxed and supple and through. I think we accomplished that for the most part. It was very steady. It was the first really clean ride we’ve done for a while. That’s really all that I can ask for, especially being in such a big environment like this. Dublet has never been in an indoor before. For a horse that can get very tense in his body during riding, he’s been doing really well with his emotions.

 

With Goerklintgaards Dublet in the Grand Prix at the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Omaha. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

What can you tell me about the freestyle we'll be seeing at the World Cup Final?

The choreography is from Adrienne Lyle. My music is from Tom Hunt, who does Charlotte Dujardin’s [freestyles]. I’ve worked with him for a really long time. He’s amazing. I run through my choreography, I film it, I send it to him and he tells me what he thinks and the music that would go well with it. Almost every time he’s sent me music, I’ve cried. My music is a little bit from The Avengers and a little bit from Lord of the Rings. It just fits perfectly with him: It’s bold but it’s also subtle and soft, pretty much like how he is. He just kind of relaxes in it, and he really loves it. 

Where did you find Dublet, and what attracted you to him?

I got him from Andreas Helgstrand [in Denmark]; I think he was nine. When I first saw him, he was very hot. I love that, but once I got on him, he just kind of formed to me a little bit. He had this intensity about him that I loved. Also the calmness in his eyes, and his personality. 

He’s fourteen now. He’s a little older, but he’s new at the Grand Prix. He started the Grand Prix before we bought him, but we kind of had to backtrack a little bit, not because of training issues but nervousness. We literally took him back to the Prix St. Georges, and we didn’t do the Grand Prix until this last year.

He’s really calm; he travels really well. He’s a big puppy dog, and I love that. His personality is coming out. It’s important with these horses to have a personality and to be able to show it. He loves his bananas; he loves his naps. He really loves attention from the people he knows; he wants you to be right next to him. He travels like a saint. He’s just a joy to have around. You never hear him in the barn; he’s really quiet. I try to get him out at least five hours a day on grass, and he’s just quiet. He never runs around. We got lucky.

How has training with Olympian and US Equestrian national dressage development coach Debbie McDonald helped you?

It's helped us tremendously. She got really technical with our work, really picky. She really goes for the higher marks, and she also brings in that throughness in her training. She got us up to Grand Prix in less than a year, and we went to the [2016 Rio Olympic] Games.

It’s been a whirlwind, and I’m lucky to have the team I have around me. It does take a village.

What's next after Omaha? 

I think we’re going to try to shoot for National Championships, then head to Europe and try to do Rotterdam and Aachen, then give him a break until the [2018 World Equestrian Games] year. Just be really selective with the shows we do next year. It’s tricky that we kind of have a break from September to January; that’s a long time to have a break in competition. Just trying to keep him going, keep him quiet, happy, healthy, sane. Loving his job.

It would be a true blessing to do [the 2020 Olympics in] Tokyo. To be able to keep a horse going that long, keep his mind going.

What are your goals?

Obviously I want to be competitive. I’m a really competitive person. After last year, the Olympic year, I really wanted this year to be positive for Dublet. Really work on our throughness and suppleness in the test. Then we can add power. He has it in him; it’s just a matter of keeping him happy in it and not pushing him too hard.

His piaffe/passage in schooling are unreal. His trot work can be even more impressive. The lateral work is a little bit difficult for him; he loses a bit of the throughness for that because he gets a little bit tense in his neck and his back. It’s just a matter of me figuring out how to ride him through it and not push him too hard. Not overtraining.

In the very short term, what are your goals for the Freestyle Final at the World Cup?

I want to get more power out of him than I did in the Grand Prix while keeping the relaxation. I want to go out there and just have fun with it. This is our fun spot. We love the freestyle. If we bomb it, we bomb it; but I have a feeling we’re going to do really well.

On Fun Freestyle Day, Grease Is the Word

Danny (Jan Ebeling on Darling) woos Sandy (Charlotte Bredahl-Baker on Chanel) in their winning Grease-themed exhibition pas de deux. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The dark day of no competition at the 2015 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final proved an opportunity for spectators as well as riders to cut loose and show the lighter side of our buttoned-down sport.

Just as many enthusiasts packed the Thomas & Mack Center for today’s Las Vegas Dressage Showcase as attended yesterday’s Grand Prix competition, which drew more than 7,300 spectators. But today was all about music, fun, and costumed exhibition rides – all by California-based riders and horses – plus a couple of milestone tributes.

The midday program kicked off with two “rising star” freestyles, ridden sans costumes: an Intermediate I Freestyle by Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo, and a Grand Prix Freestyle by Steffen Peters (who’s contesting the World Cup Final with Legolas 92) on the up-and-comer Rosamunde.

 

Sabine Schut-Kery rides Sanceo in an Intermediate I Freestyle. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The crowd was “looser” than at a traditional dressage competition, clapping and vocalizing freely during the rides. When Sanceo first entered the Thomas & Mack and spooked at a patch of unevenly dragged footing, the audience laughed; then when the stallion neighed, the crowd responded with a chorus of “awww.”

Light moments aside, Sanceo is a stunner, with tremendous scope and presence. His pirouettes and extensions drew cheers, and Schut-Kery was clearly thrilled with his performance.

 

OK, maybe she's a little too far underneath herself in front. But holy moly, can Rosamunde sit! Steffen Peters and his new wunderkind perform their Grand Prix Freestyle at the Las Vegas Dressage Showcase exhibition. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The other stunner is Rosamunde. It’s really hard to believe that this mare is only eight years old because her relaxation in the electric environment, coupled with her ease with the demands of the Grand Prix level, belie her age. She was so comfortable in the arena that I only saw her flinch once at some stimulus, and Peters was able to drop the reins and leave the arena on the buckle amidst the thunderous applause after his final halt and salute. Peters is not one to push a horse, and it’s obvious that Rosamunde has not been pushed. She’s extraordinary, and I expect great things from this pair in the future.

 

Not all dressage judging is this much fun! Linda Zang, Stephen Clarke, and Hans-Christian Matthiesen share a laugh with World Cup Finals announcer Bob Tallman (who's a well-known voice in the rodeo world). Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

With those more serious demonstrations concluded, it was time to turn the volume up – way up – for a three-way Dancing with the Stars-style pas de deux competition, complete with celebrity judges. FEI 5* judges Linda Zang of the US, Stephen Clarke of Great Britain, and Hans-Christian Matthiesen of Denmark made up the celebrity panel, awarding their scores via card after each ride.

 

Poison Ivy (Shannon Peters on Weltino's Magic) tries to put Batman (David Blake on Ikaros) under her evil spell. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Each pas de deux was themed, elaborately costumed, and expertly choreographed and edited. First up were Batman and Poison Ivy, aka David Blake on Ikaros and Shannon Peters on Weltino’s Magic. The horses – all of the horses today, actually – handled the atmosphere really well, in fact better than during the much quieter schooling session on Wednesday.

 

The Indian (Anna Dahlberg on Rico) meets the cowboy (Mette Rosencrantz on Marron). Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Then we visited the “Wild Wild West” courtesy of cowboy Mette Rosencrantz on Marron and Indian chief Anna Dahlberg on Rico. The upbeat soundtrack included themes from The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and Bonanza. The excitable Marron did give a half-rear during the program, but I think the audience thought it was part of the act! The judges scored the program higher than the Batman performance – but as Clarke (who was obviously relishing his role as the Simon Cowell of the panel) quipped, “Mette has a gun, so I’m going up.”

It was the final pas de deux, however, that brought down the house, winning top marks both from the judges and from the audience applause meter. “Danny” (Jan Ebeling on Darling) pursued “Sandy” (Charlotte Bredahl-Baker on Chanel) to the well-loved songs from Grease. Judge Linda Zang commended the horses’ synchrony and also confessed an affection for the 1950s-style music, saying that “This was my era!”

 

Elvis (Guenter Seidel on Zamorin) is a hunka-hunka burnin' love accompanied by showgirls (from left) Michelle Reilly on Umeeko, Sarah Christy on Xirope, and Elizabeth Ball on Orion. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The final musical showcase of the exhibition was a “Viva Las Vegas” quadrille. Elvis (Guenter Seidel on Zamorin) was most definitely in the building, accompanied by the scantily clad showgirls Michelle Reilly on Umeeko, Sarah Christy on Xirope, and Elizabeth Ball on Orion. The quadrille wasn’t part of the celebrity judging, but it was the perfect extravaganza to conclude the exhibitions.

Tributes and Touching Moments

Two short, related ceremonies punctuated the otherwise-exuberant Las Vegas Dressage Showcase with a serious note. The first honored the contributions of E. Parry Thomas – yes, of the Thomas & Mack Center – to both Las Vegas and dressage. Thomas, now 94, was a banker who was instrumental in developing Las Vegas as a city and a resort destination. And thanks to the equestrian interests of his wife, Peggy, and daughter Jane, Thomas became a strong supporter of the sport. He and Peggy developed their River Grove Farm in Hailey, ID, where husband-and-wife team Bob and Debbie McDonald became the trainers. The Thomases went on to sponsor Debbie McDonald through their purchases of many top horses, including the legendary Brentina, McDonald’s 2004 and 2008 Olympic mount.

 

Rider Adrienne Lyle (right) helps to lead Wizard from the arena after his retirement ceremony. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

A former working student of Debbie McDonald’s also benefited from the Thomases’ patronage. Adrienne Lyle was given the ride on their Wizard, whose career culminated in performances at the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Equestrian Games. The 16-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Weltmeyer x Classiker) appeared in public one last time in full show regalia (quite amped up in the T&M Center) before Lyle dismounted and the great horse was unsaddled, draped with a cooler, and led from the arena.

The tributes were a reminder that without supporters like Thomas and horses like Wizard, who give so much of themselves, dressage would be a pale shadow of the robust and thriving sport we have today. It was fitting that the ceremonies were bookended by the lighthearted and uplifting exhibition rides that, like our horses themselves, brought joy to so many.

World Cup Dressage Schooling Session Draws Appreciative Audience

Charlotte Dujardin rides Valegro in the dressage World Cup Final schooling session. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Yes, you can sell tickets to watch dressage riders schooling.

It wasn't anywhere near a sellout crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center, but a couple thousand dressage enthusiasts (who evidently had already filed their tax returns on this April 15) kicked off their trips to Las Vegas with a chance to watch the world's best riders and horses familiarize themselves with the arena in preparation for the 2015 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final competition.

Here's how it worked: Pairs of horse/rider combinations were assigned 15-minute time blocks of time in the main arena. If a pair chose to school in the ring together, both got the full 15 minutes. If they opted to school separately, each was allotted just 7.5 minutes. There were no judges, although the arena decorations were set up.

Laura Graves schools Verdades. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Most of the combinations had clearly already warmed up in the designated warm-up ring prior to entering the main arena: They walked in, did a couple of trot circles, then put their horses through their paces. Most rode bits of test movements -- center line and halt, diagonals with extensions (not full bore, though) or tempi changes, pirouettes, short piaffe-passage tours. One whose horse spent more time in warm-up mode was the USA's Steffen Peters, the 2009 World Cup Final champion aboard Ravel, who rode his 2015 mount, Legolas 92, in rising trot for a couple of minutes at the beginning of his session. Peters moved to an easy canter on longish reins before bringing Legolas into full Grand Prix mode and running through a few movements. Legolas appeared to be giving something near H the hairy eyeball a couple of times, and he flubbed a two-tempi change, but otherwise he was obedient and looked relaxed in the indoor environment.

Laura Graves gets a high-five from Steffen Peters after her session. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The other US contender, Laura Graves and her Verdades, had an air of quiet confidence. Like many of the riders, Graves wore a headset and wireless transmitter so that she could receive coaching from her instructor (in Graves' case, Olympian Debbie McDonald) during the few precious minutes in the arena.

Edward Gal's mount Glock's Undercover looked notably more relaxed than the black KWPN gelding (by Ferro) did at last year's World Equestrian Games. Undercover is not as extravagant a mover as Gal's most famous mount, his 2010 WEG gold-medal-winning partner Totilas, but he's a lovely horse and he may well wind up placing highly. And Gal is a crowd favorite, for sure, drawing perhaps even more applause than the reigning Olympic, WEG, and World Cup Dressage Final champion, Britain's Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro.

Edward Gal and Glock's Undercover of the Netherlands. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

It's a rare treat to see any of these superstars in person at a competition. Even rarer is the chance to see them in schooling attire, horses unbraided (most of them), "just riding," even though a schooling session that charges admission isn't really just riding. And how many times do we get to see Dujardin riding in the ring along with the German legend Isabell Werth aboard El Santo?

With such a compressed time frame, the educational value of watching the schooling sessions was diminished; ideally I'm sure the spectators would have loved to watch an entire training session, from warm-up to cool-down. But it gave us a chance to compare the horses in an expedient way, to marvel at how well most of them handled the busy indoor atmosphere, and to get pumped up for tomorrow's Grand Prix, which begins at noon PDT.

(A note about the World Cup competition: The Grand Prix serves merely as a qualifier for the GP Freestyle. It does not count toward the final placings.)

The afternoon of dressage schooling sessions concluded with the pairs that will be participating in Friday's Las Vegas showcase. They constituted a Who's Who of dressage in California: among them, Steffen Peters/Rosamunde, Shannon Peters/Weltino's Magic, Sabine Schut-Kery/Sanceo, and Jan Ebeling/Darling. Poor Marron, Mette Rosencrantz's mount, got unnerved by the atmosphere in the Thomas & Mack and tried hard to avoid going down the ramp to the arena; but Rosencrantz got him through it and worked hard to give him a positive experience. And experience, one suspects, is the reason a number of these exhibition horses are here. The electric indoor Vegas atmosphere is unusual in the US and valuable for our horses to get under their belts if ever their riders aspire to compete in the prestigious European indoor shows.

Passing the Torch

The 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is serving as a rite of passage for two members of Team USA dressage.

Riding in her first senior international FEI championship competition is Laura Graves, 27, with her 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Verdades (Florett AS x Goya). The pair, who finished second at the WEG selection trials, impressed audience and judges alike at the European shows since the 2014 Dutta Corp./USEF Dressage Festival of Champions and stand to do the same here in Normandy tomorrow. Graves is poised, with an enviable confidence and maturity in her riding. The future looks bright for her and “Diddy,” and with luck this will be the first of many appearances for this talented pair.

Tina Konyot and her Danish Warmblood stallion, Calecto V, in the team Grand Prix test at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

For Graves' teammate Tina Konyot, Normandy will be memorable for a very different reason. Konyot, who was the first to go for Team USA this morning to earn a score of 69.643 percent, said after her ride that the 2014 WEG will be the swan song for her longtime equine partner, the 16-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion Calecto V (Come Back II x Rastell).

“I am very, very happy,” Konyot said after her Grand Prix test, ridden in a light drizzle and cool temperatures under grim skies. “I had, obviously, little mistakes that cost you points [they had a mistake in the one-tempis and slightly undershot the last center line], but overall I’m thrilled. And he was quite energetic. I feel like I got an 80,” she said with a laugh.

“It was my goal to get here with my horse,” Konyot continued. “It’s his last hurrah. He’s in the three-plus club: He’s done two WEGs and an Olympic Games. There are only three other horses in America that have done that.”

Will Konyot hold a retirement ceremony for her horse? In her own way, she will: “I’m going to Deauville to ride on the beaches Friday and Saturday. That’s my ceremony.”

With Calecto, Konyot also participated in the 2010 WEG in Kentucky and the 2012 London Olympic Games. Of the three competitions, she said: “It’s all a wonderful experience. This may be a bit…” she trailed off, her eyes welling with tears. “I’m retiring him and I don’t know what it’ll be like not to have him. I have a younger one coming up, but it’s a big experience to get here, to be here with my boy the last time.

“He’s not the greatest dressage horse, but he is the greatest horse in the world. There’s no other horse that’s going to go galloping down the beach in Normandy. Out of these 103 horses [in the WEG dressage competition], he’s the only one that will do that.”

But who knows: Konyot said she “absolutely” plans to breed her horse of a lifetime after he retires. With a little luck, perhaps some of Calecto’s talent, heart, and temperament (“He’s a big teddy bear,” Konyot said) will be passed down to a younger generation. Watching the normally steely Konyot struggle to talk through her tears, it's a safe bet that nothing would please her more than to see her stallion pass his own torch.

Singin' in the rain: A torrential downpour didn't affect Wizard's focus or relaxation, and he and Adrienne Lyle hit the rider's goal of a 72% in the team Grand Prix test. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

As for the other US rider who competed today, Adrienne Lyle on Wizard, this pair—in the international arena on a team for the first time after competing as individuals at the 2012 Olympics—is definitely on the rise. The fifteen-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Weltmeyer x Classiker), owned by Peggy Thomas, is “getting fitter and fitter” following his pre-WEG European training and competition tour, according to Lyle, 29. These two are entering their prime, and today it showed in Wizard’s relaxation and elasticity even while doing a Grand Prix test in a downpour, each footfall producing a spray of sand and mud on his face, legs, and belly.

“I was thrilled with how he went. He didn’t get fazed at all,” Lyle said afterward. She praised the footing for remaining secure even during the deluge.

Told her score—72 percent on the nose—Lyle exclaimed, “Yay! That was my goal, to hit a 72, so I’m thrilled. You just want so badly to do well for your team.”

As some dressage fans may know, the 2014 WEG dressage-team selection process caused some controversy when the selection committee removed Caroline Roffman and Her Highness O and named Lyle and Wizard to the team instead. Obviously Lyle is aware that some tongues wagged, but she had high praise for Roffman and her mare and said that “I think everyone had the team’s best interests and the horses’ best interests at heart. We just kept trying to improve as the summer went on, to let Wizard speak for himself [as a strong candidate].”

Currently lying in seventh place, Lyle is sure to advance to the Grand Prix Special on Wednesday; the top 30 combinations, plus any ties for 30^th place, will qualify—meaning that Konyot, currently 17^th, also may go on.

Before today’s Grand Prix, Lyle said, Wizard “was a little amped up, and I spent a few days cantering long and low, trying to burn off the energy. Now we can build the energy back up and go in with a little more horse. And the Special for us has always been our stronger test—big extensions, collected work. I never worry too much about that one.”

Still, she’s glad that her mentor and longtime coach, Olympian Debbie McDonald, has returned to Europe for the WEG. McDonald, who also coaches Laura Graves, has racked up plenty of frequent-flyer miles this summer, flying back and forth for the CDIs at Rotterdam, Aachen, and Hickstead. If McDonald’s hard work pays off, she may get an extra-special gift for her birthday this Wednesday: a chance to see one and perhaps two of her students vie for WEG medals in the individual Grand Prix Special.

Kristina Sprehe and Desperados FRH of Germany are in the lead in the team dressage competition going into day 2. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The leader going into day 2 of team GP competition, Kristina Sprehe of Germany riding Desperados FRH, has set the bar high with a score of 78.814%. In second are Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glock's Johnson TN of the Netherlands (74.357). Great Britain's Carl Hester and Nip Tuck are currently in third place with 74.186.