Isabell Werth's Dream Horse

Just a girl with her "dream horse": German superstar Isabell Werth and her 2014 and 2018 WEG mount, Bella Rose, before the 2018 WEG dressage horse inspection. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The five-time German dressage Olympian Isabell Werth is one of our sport's greats. She has almost too many gold medals and championship titles to count, and deep-pocketed sponsorship has kept Werth, 49, in top international horses for 25 years.

So when Werth calls a mount her "dream horse" and says she wanted to bring this special one to the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018, naturally I was eager to learn more. After a phalanx of German journalists had their way with the 2018 German WEG dressage team yesterday, I finally got the chance to take a deep breath and (in English) ask Werth about Bella Rose.

Werth's bond with the 14-year-old Westfalen mare (Belissimo x Cacir AA), owned by Madeleine Winter-Schulze, was evident four years ago at the 2014 WEG in Normandy. The pair completed the team Grand Prix test but then withdrew from the remainder of competition. Werth is reluctant to discuss details ("Sorry, but you know how dressage is"), saying only that Bella Rose was injured "around three years ago." 

"It was in the bone; it was not easy to find, that was the reason it took us so long," Werth says. "We really built her up slowly and step by step and took a long time to bring her back into the sport because she’s really, really full of temperament, so to keep her calm step by step was the most difficult thing."

Bella Rose resumed her competition career just this year, Werth says, and did well enough to be selected as one of three potential WEG mounts with Werth. (The other contenders were Emilio and Werth's 2016 Olympic Games and 2017 and 2018 FEI World Cup Dressage Final gold-medal partner, Weihegold OLD.)

Choosing Bella Rose for Tryon "doesn’t mean it was a decision against Emilio or Weihegold," Werth says. "It’s just a decision for Bella Rose because she’s really my dream horse, and everyone knew this horse had outstanding potential, and this was my dream after four years, to bring her back for a championship. 

Bella Rose has been in Werth's stable since the age of three, and Werth has brought the mare up to the international Grand Prix level. 

"A groom of mine said there was an interesting horse" at a breeder's farm," Werth recalls. "I came and watched, and from the first second I was electrified. The whole horse is full of charisma, full of power, full of lightness and elegance. She combines all things: All of my other great horses have one or two or three things, and she has an outstanding piaffe and passage, super movement, the whole thing."

With construction noise a constant at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in the hours before the opening ceremony, competitors were rapidly becoming accustomed to being quizzed about their horses' reactions to the sights and sounds. According to Werth, "the atmosphere is not a problem" for Bella Rose; "it’s the power. I have to calm her down and keep her concentrated on herself. It’s not a question of some buildings or noise or the arena, or a hurricane! She has no problems with the weather. Day by day I try to make her more supple, more calm."

Werth and her "dream horse" ride in the team Grand Prix competition tomorrow, on day 2, as the anchor pair for Germany. According to Werth, even if Bella Rose doesn't bring home gold, the experience will be a dream come true. 

Ready or Not, Here Comes the WEG—and Maybe Florence

Eventing competitors school in the Tryon Stadium on the day before 2018 WEG opening ceremonies. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

TIEC isn’t really ready—but by all accounts it’s ready where it counts.

Two years ago, the still-fledgling Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina, was awarded the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games when original host Bromont, Canada, backed out.

It was a damn-the-torpedoes moment for TIEC mastermind Mark Bellissimo, who with his Tryon Equestrian Partners team was well aware that the usual lead time is more like six years. Bellissimo said he originally planned for TIEC to bid to host the 2026 WEG, but he believed his team could go into hyperdrive and make it happen for 2018.

Is it too harsh to say he thought wrong? It depends on which side of the arena fence you’re seated on.

From the competitors’ perspective—which, because it encompasses the horses’ well-being, is the most important—all is well at TIEC.

Look who we ran into outside the dressage stabling area! US dressage team members Laura Graves, Adrienne Lyle, and Kasey Perry-Glass take time for a photo. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“For us over in dressage land, it’s wonderful,” Team USA member Adrienne Lyle said at today’s US dressage-team press conference. “The stabling is great: It’s well thought out, there’s plenty of air, and every stall has its own fan. [There are] big matted aisles. We’re right next to the schooling arenas. Everything’s nicely condensed; we’re not running all around the property. The footing is great. It’s amazing what they’ve built for this; it’s really impressive-looking.”

Officials including the USA's FEI 5* dressage judge Anne Gribbons, who is the head of the dressage ground jury for the 2018 WEG, inspect the competition arena in the US Trust Arena. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The TIEC grounds, set amidst the picturesque foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, were obviously designed to evoke a resort/mountain lodge feel: lots of rustic-looking wood and stone that blend in with and set off the surrounding natural beauty. The effect is, well, somewhat marred at the moment by the masses of construction equipment, trucks, and miniature mountains of red clay (or red mud, given recent persistent heavy rains) being excavated and moved 24/7 as the venue works frantically to ready itself for tomorrow evening’s opening ceremony.

It’s not all going to be ready.

The promised on-site hotel, which was to house the grooms, isn’t. Bellissimo himself issued a written statement of apology to the grooms and their national federations. 

Construction of WEG facilities is ongoing the day prior to opening ceremonies. The dressage competition venue, the US Trust Arena, is in the background. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

An internal road isn’t completed. Crews can’t pour asphalt when the ground is slop from this summer’s rains, my shuttle driver told me this morning.

(PSA for anyone coming to WEG: Bring water-impervious footwear that you don’t care if it gets stained by red clay.)

I’m writing this blog post from the makeshift media center in TIEC’s Legends Club. The wooden chandeliers are pretty, but we’re not supposed to be in this VIP space at all; it’s crowded, the public WiFi is iffy, and we’re thankful it’s not hot today because the air conditioning is not robust. Unfortunately, the real media center isn’t finished yet—as in, the building didn’t yet have doors when I peeked inside this morning. Fingers crossed for tomorrow—but maybe not. 

Interestingly, most people I’ve talked to have decided to go with the flow instead of complaining. Parking, logistics, and plans apparently change daily—sometimes more frequently—around here, and you just roll with the punches. That may change after the media descend in force—the opening ceremony isn’t until tomorrow night—and of course the spectators aren’t here either. 

The Netherlands' Edward Gal and Glock's Zonik N.O.P. seem unfazed by construction activity. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The horses are going with the flow, too. Asked whether mounts are disturbed by the construction going on around the schooling area, Lyle said no. 

“These horses are used to a lot; they’ve traveled the world to many, many venues,” she said. And indeed the dressage horses seemed relaxed and focused this morning as they passaged and half-passed with earth movers in the background and endurance horses being jogged vigorously along the adjacent horse track.

The show must go on, as they say—but folks here are keeping a wary eye on the weather forecasts, which as I write this have announced that Hurricane Florence has attained category-4 status and is taking aim at North Carolina. Being far inland, TIEC is not in real danger of sizeable hurricane damage, says my local host, USDF secretary and US Equestrian “S” dressage judge Margaret Freeman; but it’s looking likely that the area will be slammed with rain on Friday, which is the day the dressage Grand Prix Special competition—for this WEG’s first dressage individual medals—is scheduled to be held. 

Florence or no Florence, the dressage competition at the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 officially gets under way tomorrow morning with the horse inspection. All of the American horses have been working well, according to US Equestrian dressage national technical advisor and chef d’équipeRobert Dover, for whom these Games are his swan song and the finish line of his famous “Roadmap to the Podiums” initiative. Steffen Peters’ named WEG mount, Rosamunde, is in good health and faring well, Peters said, but his reserve mount, Suppenkasper, was training so well that US Equestrian decided to sub in “Mopsie” after “Rosie” suffered what US Equestrian called a minor case of dehydration after shipping to Tryon.

“I could not be more proud of everything the riders, the federation, and our entire United States dressage community has come together to produce for the years I’ve been involved as the chefand the technical advisor,” Dover said. “I just can’t wait to in the arena and get going!”