Long Live the Queen

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro on their way to their second consecutive Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final title. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Her new logo – just released within the past couple of weeks – incorporates an image of a crown, so it’s only fitting that Charlotte Dujardin, the Queen of Everything, retains her title.

With the almost too-good-to-be-real Valegro, the British woman is now the back-to-back Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final champion as well as the reigning Olympic, European, and World Equestrian Games champion. With the same How to Train Your Dragon freestyle that won gold in Normandy last August, Dujardin squashed the competition with a score of 94.196 percent in today’s Grand Prix Freestyle, coming just tenths of a point short of the world-record score of 94.300 percent she and “Blueberry” set at Olympia in London last December. The nearly foot-perfect freestyle brought the crowd of nearly 11,000 in the Thomas & Mack Center to its feet for a thunderous ovation.

“Valegro just loves it,” Dujardin said afterward when asked how she keeps the 13-year-old Dutch gelding (Negro x Gerschwin) going. “It’s not like I have to force him, because he loves the work.”

Dujardin frequently comments on how lucky she is to have the ride on this reliable horse. “I just sit and steer him ’round. There’s no sweat involved,” she quipped.

 

Edward Gal and Glock's Undercover N.O.P. of the Netherlands passage to second place in the World Cup Dressage Final freestyle. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Nearly 10 percentage points behind the untouchable Dujardin was second-placed Edward Gal of the Netherlands, who piloted the 14-year-old Dutch gelding Glock’s Undercover N.O.P. (Ferro x Donnerhall) to a score of 84.696 percent. Undercover was more relaxed than he’d been in Thursday’s Grand Prix, with a longer neck and a nose in front of the vertical. He could have stretched out more in the extended trots, and the walk rhythm varied a bit at times on account of tension. His pirouettes drew audience applause. It was a solid program to mildly interesting but not compelling orchestral instrumentals; bottom line, it wasn’t Dujardin’s freestyle.

Gal showed a quick wit and good humor when he was asked how it felt to be the oldest rider at the press conference for the top four finishers. “Normally I’m not the oldest one because Isabell [Werth of Germany] is here,” he said with a grin.

 

World Cup Dressage Final newcomers Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Unee BB of Germany finished third. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

A new face ascended the medal podium in Las Vegas to claim third place: Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on the 14-year-old Dutch stallion Unee BB (Gribaldi x Dageraad). Von Bredow-Werndl’s unusual freestyle began with the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. and his iconic “I have a dream” line. Later in the program, we heard the rider’s own voice as she uttered over the music, “I have a dream that all living creatures can respect each other.” Unee BB missed a two-tempi change and swapped leads as von Bredow-Werndl brought him back from an extended canter down the long side, but the freestyle was strong enough to earn a score of 80.464 percent.

For the US, Delight…and Crushing Disappointment

Our new young stars, Laura Graves and Verdades, gave a super performance in Las Vegas. This competition is “Diddy’s” very first indoor show – and it happens to be an incredibly close, loud, and electric venue. After an initial spook at the floodlit World Cup Dressage Final trophy in the corner near H, the 13-year-old Dutch gelding (Florett As x Goya) got a little backed off for a short time. He got afraid during a piaffe at A, and later he scooted forward during a canter half-pass when the crowd applauded. But these were honest rookie-horse reactions, and Diddy’s overall excellent quality and a sensitive and sympathetic ride from Graves resulted in a score of 79.125, which put them in fifth place…except that it didn’t.

 

The USA's Laura Graves and Verdades finished fourth. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

In the official standings, Graves was fourth. The reason didn’t become clear right away, but the first sign of a problem was the buzzing in the audience when the fourth-placed scorers, Steffen Peters and Legolas 92, didn’t appear at the awards ceremony. They weren’t mentioned. Where were they?

Where they were, I’m sorry to report, was eliminated. As World Cup Finals press chief Marty Bauman announced at the press conference afterward, Peters was eliminated because evidence of blood was found on Legolas’s side after his freestyle. The FEI has a zero-tolerance rule regarding blood on horses – you may recall Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival’s elimination during their Grand Prix test at the 2010 World Equestrian Games when the horse showed blood in his mouth from biting his tongue – and so the FEI stewards had no choice. According to Bauman, Peters “accepted their decision gracefully.”

I feel terrible for Peters, who is an outstanding horseman and whose training methods are beyond reproach. He doesn’t need for me to defend his reputation, but I’ll put in my $.02 anyway.

 

A strong performance by the USA's Steffen Peters and Legolas put them in fourth place, but the pair was eliminated after blood was found on the horse's side after their Grand Prix Freestyle. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The elimination is even sadder considering the fact that Peters had, in fact, placed fourth on a score of 80.286 percent. The notoriously spooky Legolas kept it together admirably in front of the exuberant crowd, although the 13-year-old Westfalen gelding (Laomedon x Florestan II) did lose it for a moment at the loud laughter that greeted the voice-over line at the beginning of the freestyle: “Hey, I’m Legolas. Let’s go!” His two-tempis were clean, although he missed a change in the ones; and a double pirouette directly into piaffe showed a high degree of difficulty. Peters got a standing ovation from the largely American crowd at the final halt and salute, which was punctuated by the voice-over words of “Legolas” saying, “Hey, let’s get out of here!”

The Vegas Experience

For Dujardin, Gal, von Bredow-Werndl, and Graves, this was their first trip to Sin City. All were in agreement that Las Vegas was living up to its glitzy image.

 

FEI World Cup Dressage Final title sponsor and haute couture fashion designer Reem Acra (center) poses with top-placed finishers Edward Gal, Charlotte Dujardin, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, and Laura Graves. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“It’s everything I thought it would be,” said Dujardin. “Seeing how crazy the Strip is; going to shows in the evening. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“It’s not real!” exclaimed von Bredow-Werndl. “I go through the casino [hotel] at six in the morning and they’re playing loud music; I come to the arena and the people are going crazy.”

“It is very surreal,” Graves agreed. “I left the hotel very early this morning, before six o’clock, to come ride, and there was still a party in the bar.”

Although the Vegas lights and boisterous fans may have bolstered the energy level at the World Cup Dressage Final, at least one attendee said the thrill was entirely the result of the rush from seeing the best dressage in the world.

Said US FEI 5* judge Lilo Fore, who was the head of the ground jury for today’s freestyle final: “No matter how many years you sit in those [judges’] boxes, the excitement of seeing those good horses and riders never goes away.”

First-Ever Open Rehearsal Gives Audiences a Sneak Peek at World Cup Freestyle Finale

Under the watchful eyes of her coach, Debbie McDonald, and US dressage chef d'equipe Robert Dover, Laura Graves rehearses her freestyle aboard Verdades. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Somebody at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), which governs the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final, figured out that enthusiasts will pay to watch riders rehearse their freestyles. In an early-morning VIP-ticketholder-only event, a hundred or so diehards clutched their coffees and watched the world's best riders (sometimes with horses, sometimes without) do their sound checks and run through some choreography in final preparations for tomorrow's Grand Prix Freestyle.

By virtue of earning scores over the 58-percent mark in yesterday's Grand Prix, all 18 competitors here in Las Vegas punched their freestyle tickets. The freestyle results alone will decide the 2015 World Cup Dressage Final champion. So everything's riding on the music, if you'll pardon the expression.

Some riders, including Britain's Charlotte Dujardin (who won yesterday's Grand Prix with Valegro), Dutchman Edward Gal (second with Glock's Undercover), and Germany's Isabell Werth (eighth with El Santo NRW), opted not to ride. They walked in, listened to their music being played over the Thomas & Mack Center's sound system, made any necessary comments to the audio coordinator, and left when satisfied.

Sweden's Malin Hamilton brought not her horse but her daughter to the sound check. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Others, including third-placed Steffen Peters (Legolas 92) and Laura Graves (fifth with Verdades), rode partial or complete run-throughs. Peters rode pieces of his well-known "Under Pressure" freestyle, first in a warm-up outline; later, after having his music volume turned up, he put Legolas together and did a few lines of tempi changes on the diagonal and piaffe-passage transitions. Graves rode her entire freestyle after halting near H -- near the shiny World Cup Final trophy that scared him yesterday -- and feeding Diddy a sugar cube. The horse got a little backed off in the final piaffe-passage tour down center line, so that got repeated.

So what can I tell you about the freestyles? For starters, Malin Hamilton (pictured above) appropriately chose a Fleetwood Mac medley for her horse, Fleetwood. And if you didn't see it in Florida this winter, you're going to love Mikala Munter Gundersen's ride with My Lady to "All That Jazz," "Big Spender," and music from the movie Burlesque. The big, brassy tunes suit the big, brassy mare and her tempos very well.

The London Philharmonic shows up in a few routines, as does the artist Two Steps from Hell (I know this only because I was Shazam-ing the heck out of the soundtracks in an effort to learn the more obscure song titles). Agnete Kirk Thinggaard of Denmark would like for you to "Call Me Maybe." Russian Inessa Merkulova's soundtrack for Mister X is too cut-and-paste, with unrelated songs, for this music teacher's daughter's taste; but I loved him with the Bossa Nova -- very Mad Men. And Isabell Werth's music is fun -- David Bowie and Queen among the artists.

It's sure to be exciting. See you tomorrow for the big finale!

It's Valegro First, the Rest...Trailing

On their way: Great Britain's Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, the reigning World Cup Dressage Final champions, half-pass to Grand Prix victory with 85.414%. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Nobody here at the 2015 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final can touch the golden pair of Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro. Not yet, anyway.

The 2014 World Cup Final champions, 2014 World Equestrian Games champions, and 2012 Olympic champions remained firmly fixed in the dressage-scoring stratosphere today, in the World Cup Final Grand Prix. One of a precious few horse-rider combinations in the world to crack the 80-percent scoring ceiling, the British superstars did so again today, topping the field of 18 with a final overall score of 85.414 percent.

All seven judges (yes, seven  --there were judges at K and F in addition to the customary C, E, H, M, and B) placed Valegro first. Today's judging panel consisted of Francis Verbeek-von Rooy at C, Hans-Christian Matthiessen (who replaced Isabelle Judet) at K, Stephen Clarke at E, Annette Fransen Iacobaeus at H, Maria Schwennesen at M, Peter Holler at B, and the USA's own Lilo Fore at F.

Dujardin clinched victory easily, even with a couple of minor bobbles, including a small loss of balance stepping into a piaffe on the center line. We've come to expect perfection from Valegro, and even when he's not breaking his own world record, he still comes pretty damned close. The 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Negro x Gerschwin) is a cadence machine. His tempos never waver -- most notably in the difficult piaffe-passage tours that ruthlessly expose any loss of balance. He has three fantastic gaits with no obvious weak link, and – in another comparison that leaves some other horses coming up short – he is equally supple and strong on both sides and in both hind legs. He pushes and carries equally with both hind legs.

The Netherlands' Edward Gal and Glock's Undercover N.O.P. piaffe to second place with a score of 79.057%. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Second behind Dujardin was Edward Gal of the Netherlands on Glock’s Undercover N.O.P. The 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Ferro x Donnerhall) earned an average score of 79.057 percent.

Gal’s test was not without mistakes. He picked up counter-canter instead of passage at M. There was a slightly overeager canter transition at E. And Gal had to delay the start of the one-tempis for a couple of strides because the horse wasn’t quite balanced, which made for a less-polished execution. Undercover—black and beautiful like a certain other famous former mount of Gal’s, but not quite in the league of the legendary Totilas—had tension creep into moments of the test, and he gets short and tight in the neck when it happens. But he’s lovely and talented, and his good basics evidently overcame the bobbles in the judges’ minds today, as all had him in second place (except for Fore, who placed Undercover fifth).

Speaking of tension, the 13-year-old Westfalen gelding Legolas (Laomedon x Florestan II) is known for being spooky, and the USA’s Steffen Peters has been expressing concerns about the horse’s ability to handle the electric indoor atmosphere at the Thomas & Mack Center since last year’s World Equestrian Games. Well, Peters has been prepping Legolas extensively to desensitize him to the lights, crowds, and noises, and all his hard work paid off today. Legolas was more relaxed than at the WEG, with clean tempi changes (a previous bugaboo) and a piaffe-passage tour in a better balance. The changes could have used more expression, and Legolas backed off the extended canter a tad early headed toward K (a corner that a number of horses weren’t thrilled about), and the second canter pirouette came around a bit too quickly. But otherwise it was a lovely test, and Peters exulted and pumped his fist in the air when it was over. His score of 76.843 percent put him in third place.

 

Steffen Peters' face says it all after a strong performance for third place aboard Legolas. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Afterward, Peters admitted that the strong showing “was probably a big surprise to me, too,” referring to the fact that Legolas’s performances in Florida this winter were sometimes marred by reactivity to the crowds. “We knew, if were going to qualify for Vegas, we needed to change things drastically. A week ago, we were invited to a farm three hours north of us. A hundred people showed up, a lot of noise, a lot of atmosphere. We recorded a sound file of the very end of a freestyle with the crowd cheering while the music was still playing.”

Peters edited the short clip to make it five minutes long, and he “played it over and over again in this new sound system we installed in this covered arena. I played it at 5:30 in the morning and when it was dark, and it paid off.” He said he was thrilled with how well Legolas handled the atmosphere: “Today I was probably even more excited than Charlotte and Edward.”

Finishing fourth was an exciting new pair from Germany: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Unee BB (Gribaldi x Dageraad). Unee BB is dark bay, gorgeous, and with that enviable combination of scope and suppleness. He had one mistake in the two-tempis, and he broke to trot at the beginning of his second extended canter because nature called. But his final score of 74.843 percent clearly thrilled his rider.

 

Laura Graves and Verdades in an expressive half-pass. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The score also just edged out the other US combination, Laura Graves and her 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Verdades (Florett AS x Goya). You probably know that this green-at-Grand-Prix pair burst onto the international scene at the 2014 WEG with a fifth-place freestyle finish, and the US press in particular has been buzzing about them ever since. I think Laura and “Diddy” got more attention than Captain America, Steffen Peters, before this World Cup Final, even though our captain is the competitive veteran and a past World Cup champion.

Las Vegas is Diddy’s first indoor competition, and it showed a little bit today with some moments of tension—a startle near H, a backed-off moment in the first piaffe, and a bobble at the end of the two-tempis. Diddy got a bit tight in the neck at times, and he wasn’t quite the elastic fantastic we saw in Normandy last August or at the Florida shows this winter. But let’s put it into perspective: This combination, still new to the international scene, placed fifth in a class at the World Cup Dressage Final, outranking such celebrated veterans as Germany’s Isabell Werth (eighth on El Santo NRW, 72.843 percent). Pretty good in my book.

 

But of course Elvis is in the building! Would you expect anything less in Vegas? Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

A Day of Rest (for the Horses, Anyway)

At a World Cup Dressage Final, all competitors who earn a score of 58 percent or better in the Grand Prix go on to the GP Freestyle. The lowest score today was 66.971 (Tatiana Dorofeeva of Russia on Kartsevo Upperville), so everybody will get to contest the Freestyle on Saturday, April 18. Tomorrow, dressage fans will be able to enjoy a diversion in the form of the Las Vegas Dressage Showcase, with exhibition performances that promise plenty of Vegas-style razzle-dazzle. Stay tuned for all the fun; plus I have yet to make it to that shoppers’ paradise known as the World Cup Finals Gift Show. Who needs gambling when you have an equestrian trade show to entice you to part with your money?

World Cup Dressage Final Grand Prix Order of Go

Well, I was inadvertently late to last night's rider draw party at the 2015 FEI World Cup Finals: I hiked to the MGM Grand, arrived half way through the advertised event time, and discovered that they'd already closed up shop. Argh!

So I apologize for the delay in bringing you the start order for today's Grand Prix dressage competition. The action commences at 12:15 p.m. PDT at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Inessa Merkulova/Mister X (RUS)

Terhi Stegars/Axis TSF (FIN)

Fabienne Lutkemeier/Qui Vincit Dynamis (GER)

Laura Graves/Verdades (USA)

Malin Hamilton/Fleetwood (SWE)

Morgan Barbancon Mestre/Painted Black (ESP)

Paulinda Friberg/Di Lapponia T (SWE)

Tatiana Dorofeeva/Kartsevo Upperville (RUS)

Agnete Kirk Thinggaard/Jojo AZ (DEN)

Elena Sidneva/Romeo-Star (RUS)

Mikala Munter Gundersen/My Lady (DEN)

Charlotte Dujardin/Valegro (GBR)

Lars Petersen/Mariett (DEN)

Hans Peter Minderhoud/Glock's Flirt (NED)

Isabell Werth/El Santo NRW (GER)

Steffen Peters/Legolas (USA)

Edward Gal/Glock's Undercover N.O.P. (NED)

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl/Unee BB (GER)

That's it. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Grand Prix at the World Cup Final functions merely as a qualifier for the Grand Prix Freestyle. The winner of the Freestyle is the World Cup champion. There is no GP Special in this competition.

A number of people have asked me if they can watch the competition online. You can -- but not for free. Subscribe to FEI TV (quick!) to gain access.

Are you excited? I am!

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.

So Close...

For a heady few hours, it looked as if the USA was going to clinch the dressage team bronze medal at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. But then Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro came in and spoiled it all.

The five-member ground jury—including the USA’s own Lilo Fore—universally placed Dujardin and the twelve-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Negro x Gerschwin) first, with an average score of 85.271 percent. Sixth from last in the field of 100 horses, Valegro soundly beat the previous day’s front-runner, Bella Rose 2, ridden by Isabell Werth of Germany (81.529).

“I had a fantastic ride today,” Dujardin said of “Blueberry.” “He felt really, really good; he’s felt good all week. He went in and he really, really did perform.”

WEG team gold medalists Germany. From left: chef d'equipe Klaus Roeser, Kristina Sprehe, Fabienne Lutkemeier, Isabell Werth, Helen Langehanenberg, and head judge Stephen Clarke of Great Britain. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

But Dujardin’s stratospheric score wasn’t enough to knock the German team off the highest step of the medal podium. The all-women team (Helen Langehanenberg/Damon Hill NRW, 81.357; Kristina Sprehe/Desperados FRH, 78.814; Fabienne Lutkemeier/D’Agostino FRH, 73.586; and Werth) claimed the team gold medal with a total score of 241.700. And we should point out that the gold medal was theirs despite the injury and withdrawal of the horse considered Germany’s front-runner, the 2010 WEG gold medalist Totilas (under Dutchman Edward Gal) with current rider Matthias-Alexander Rath.

“We bought her as a three-year-old,” Werth said of Bella Rose 2, whom she says may be the best horse she’s ever ridden. (That’s saying a lot, considering Werth’s numerous Olympic and WEG appearances and medals, including gold ones, with such famous mounts as Gigolo and Satchmo.) “This is one of the diamonds you find in your life. I had the luck already with Gigolo and with Satchmo to have some diamonds, but she is really something special. She is so beautiful, so proud, with great charisma.” Bella Rose 2 is a ten-year-old Westfalen mare (Belissimo M x Cacir AA).

Team Great Britain (Carl Hester/Nip Tuck, 74.186; Michael Eilberg/Half Moon Delphi, 71.886; Gareth Hughes/DV Stenkjers Nadonna, 69.714; and Dujardin) took silver with 231.343. And even with two horse/rider combinations pinch-hitting at the last minute when team horses suffered injuries, the Netherlands (Adelinde Cornelissen/Jerich Parzival NOP, 79.629; Hans Peter Minderhoud/Glock’s Johnson TN, 74.357; Diederik van Silfhout/Arlando NOP; and Edward Gal/Glock’s Voice, 72.414) won team bronze over Team USA (227.400 vs. 222.714, respectively).

 

The bronze-medal winning Dutch team (Hans Peter Minderhoud, Edward Gal, Diederik van Silfhout, and Adelinde Cornelissen) shares a laugh at the post-medal-ceremony press conference. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Judge Stephen Clarke, who was president of the ground jury for the team competition, said: “The whole thing was outstanding. It’s unbelievable that, year after year, the standard gets higher and higher, and our sport grows more and more. We should all be very excited and very positive about it.”

The US team of Steffen Peters/Legolas 92, Laura Graves/Verdades, Adrienne Lyle/Wizard, and Tina Konyot/Calecto V finished in the same order as at June’s WEG selection trials. Peters had the high score of 75.843, despite two mistakes in the one-tempi changes. As before, Graves was hot on his heels with 74.871, with her nemesis being “Diddy’s” apprehension of the TV cameras lurking between the judge’s booths, which caused him to stop dead momentarily during his extended walk. Lyle’s solid test aboard Wizard earned them a score of 72.000, and Konyot’s mostly solid test with Calecto V had a few small errors for 69.643.

 

Yikes! Verdades spies a monster in the bushes during his Grand Prix test with Laura Graves. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

If you were a horse, you'd be scared too. Glock's Voice and Edward Gal of the Netherlands negotiate the monster in the bushes, aka an FEI TV camera. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

According to Peters, he pushed the envelope with Legolas 92—and almost pulled it off. “The rest of the test was probably the best we’ve done,” he said afterward. “I really fought for my team, fought for my country. We risked everything. The extensions felt better than before, and we really went for it in the half-passes. The strong points are the piaffe-passage. A wonderful feeling—very supple, very energetic. We went for it in the one-tempis, and that’s where the mistake happened.”

 

One-tempis might be Legolas 92's Achilles heel, but this one looks just fine. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Peters, who was hospitalized with pneumonia prior to the Aachen CHIO and was forced to withdraw from the competition, credited his wife, Shannon, with keeping both Legolas 92 and Rosamunde in top shape, riding until her husband was able to get back in the saddle. In fact, he said, Shannon uncovered a bit more suppleness in Legolas than Steffen even realized the horse had in him.

 

Floating: Laura Graves and Verdades show why they're putting the international dressage community on notice. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

For her part, Graves handled her first appearance on a truly international stage with grace. Saying she’s not normally a nervous competitor, she admitted: “When I was warming up, I said, ‘I have this pain in my stomach. I don’t get nervous.’ [US dressage chef d’équipe] Robert [Dover] said, ‘That’s nerves.’ I said, ‘I’m not nervous; I have a pain in my stomach.’ He said, ‘That’s what nerves are.’ So yeah, I was very nervous,” Graves concluded with a laugh.

In the twelve years Graves and “Diddy” have been together, she’s learned that he’s the type of horse that overreacts if he’s pushed when he’s scared. He’s an honest type who spooks only when he’s truly scared, so she knew there was no point in pushing him when he froze momentarily in the walk, she said of the twelve-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Florett AS x Goya) her mother found as a yearling.

“He has a lot of points to earn with his walk; he has a super walk, so whenever we miss it from tension like we did today, it’s a real bummer,” Graves said afterward. “Still, everything else…there were no mistakes in the changes and I’m super happy with how his piaffe is coming along. So I’m really proud to be here.”

Of the WEG experience, Graves said: “It just keeps feeling like the next step. This is the big boom you’ve been waiting for. When you find out you’re on the team, you kind of expect fireworks and rainbows falling from the sky. This [going in the WEG arena for the first time] is the big bang for me.”

Days Before WEG Start, They're Dropping Like Flies

Who's competing at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games? Darned if I know.

I can't recall another major championship competition in recent history with so many withdrawal announcements just days before the opening ceremony.

Totilas and Edward Gal canter to gold at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Yesterday I awoke to the news that the 2010 WEG dressage Grand Prix Special and GP Freestyle gold medalist from the Netherlands, the Dutch Warmblood stallion Totilas, had been withdrawn. Now  competing under the German flag for rider Matthias-Alexander Rath, "Toto" had demonstrated a "pain reaction" at the site of a previous splint injury, the German Equestrian Federation announced.

Well, shoot. Like many others, I was looking forward to seeing Totilas in the same arena as Valegro, the 2012 Olympic champion from Great Britain. I saw Toto in Kentucky 2010 and Valegro in London 2012. Both were astonishing, and many people have asked me which horse I think is better. My personal preference aside, I honestly don't know how I think they'd score until I saw them back to back. Although the Totilas-Edward Gal pairing is in the past and Toto and Rath had a rough start, they'd reportedly really been clicking of late, scoring major European wins. The 2014 WEG was shaping up to be a dressage match race of sorts, a la the legendary 1938 Seabiscuit-War Admiral showdown. But for now we'll have to shelve that meeting.

On to the other disappointments; my heart goes out to everybody associated with these horses, who've come so far only to see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory at the last minute.

Germany's Sam FBW (shown after winning individual eventing gold at the 2012 London Olympics) is out of the 2014 WEG with an injury. Rider Michael Jung will compete aboard his other mount, FischerRocana FST. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

First off, we learned that the 2010 WEG and 2012 Olympic eventing individual gold medalist, Sam FBW, was withdrawn from the 2014 WEG today as a result of what the German FN termed inflammation in a front hoof. Sam's rider, Michael Jung, will still contest the WEG aboard his second mount, the nine-year-old mare FischerRocana FST.

Then the Netherlands' 2014 WEG dressage squad suffered a double blow: That nation's equestrian federation announced that both Glock's Undercover and Siro have been withdrawn due to injuries. Edward Gal, who rides Glock's Undercover, will remain on the Dutch WEG team with his other mount, Voice. Siro and rider Danielle Heijkoop will be replaced by Diederick van Silfhout on Arlando.

The Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen on Jerich Parzival won silver at the 2012 Olympics and stand to be strong contenders again at this year's WEG. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Hmm...do these losses increase Team USA's chances of a dressage medal? Possibly -- although we're still going up against such powerhouses as Germany's Helen Langehanenberg on Damon Hill NRW, the Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen on Jerich Parzival, and of course Valegro and rider Charlotte Dujardin. And don't dismiss any of the German or Dutch replacement horses or riders. Trust me, these nations' "understudies" would be leading ladies or men practically anywhere else.