A Perfect Storm

WEG dressage freestyle cancelled

 

A too-brief shining moment: Team USA's Kasey Perry-Glass, Laura Graves, Steffen Peters, and Adrienne Lyle take a lap of honor after winning the silver medal in the 2018 WEG dressage competition. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

It’s a desperately sad break for FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 dressage spectators, Tryon WEG organizers, all of the participating nations, and the horses, riders, and supporters who worked so hard to get here: The WEG Grand Prix Freestyle, which was scheduled for tomorrow, has been canceled. It will not be rescheduled.

In an extreme stroke of bad luck, the worst of Tropical Storm Florence is scheduled to arrive tonight in the area of the Tryon International Equestrian Center, and Florence is expected to hang around tomorrow, bringing rain and high winds to western North Carolina. Speculation about the fate of the dressage freestyle has been running rampant for days. As of yesterday we were hopeful that the competition could be rescheduled for Monday, which is supposed to be the “dark day” of no competition between the two weeks of the WEG. But the dressage horses are supposed to fly out Monday, and this afternoon the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) confirmed that the freestyle is not to be. 

Here is the text of the FEI’s statement announcing the cancellation:

Following yesterday’s announcement of the intention to hold the Helgstrand Dressage Freestyle competition on Monday morning due to extreme rainfall forecast for Sunday’s original time slot of 8.30am, further discussions have been taking place to review the options available to reschedule.

Despite the best efforts of the whole Tryon 2018 team and the Officials, who have been working on plans for rescheduling since yesterday evening, including meetings with the Chefs de Mission and Chefs d’Equipe, the logistics of putting all necessary elements into place in time have proved insurmountable. As a result, and very regrettably, the Dressage Freestyle will now be cancelled.

“This was not an easy decision, but we have explored every option, including trying to reschedule the horse departures, and even looking at moving the competition into the indoor with a change of footing, but the logistics of making all this happen are just not possible,” Tryon 2018 Organising Committee President Michael Stone said.

“We know this is desperately disappointing for the 15 athletes who had qualified their horses for the Freestyle, and of course for all the spectators who had bought tickets, but the weather has simply left us with no choice. Horse welfare has to be the top priority and flying the horses out on the same day as competition doesn’t work, so sadly the decision to cancel the Freestyle had to be taken.”

“Although we are devastated that this decision has had to be taken, we’ve had two absolutely world-class competitions here at Tryon, including yesterday’s Grand Prix Special, and to see Germany’s Isabell Werth and Bella Rose taking double gold and Team USA claiming silver was a real treat for Dressage fans.”

The decision does not affect the Olympic qualification process, as this was completed on Thursday. The teams that have earned their ticket to Tokyo 2020 are Germany, USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Netherlands and Spain.

Girl Power

Two mares win WEG dressage medals; Grand Prix Special medal podium is all-female

 

Germany's Isabell Werth exults after her gold-medal-winning Grand Prix Special aboard Bella Rose. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

They say you can’t beat a good mare. Today that horseman’s adage proved true.

Fresh off yesterday’s team gold-medal win, Germany’s Isabell Werth and her “dream horse,” the 14-year-old Westfalen mare Bella Rose (Belissimo x Cacir AA), proved unstoppable again. The leggy, elegant, very feminine liver-chestnut mare danced her way to an individual gold medal in the Grand Prix Special at the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018. 

 

Werth said Bella Rose's half-passes "couldn't be better." Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

According to Werth, she knew from the start of her test that it was going to be one to remember.

“When she started to trot, I said, Wow, she wants to go. The half-passes, I think they couldn’t be better. The piaffe-passage, it’s so easy. The charisma and the lightness—it makes the rider really happy to have such a horse.”

Werth spoke matter-of-factly, but the gold medal was unmistakably an emotional experience, as the international veteran—who has stood on the medal podiums too many times to count—wept openly on the podium today.

The only down side for Werth was the fact that Bella Rose’s owner, Werth’s longtime sponsor Madeleine Winter-Schulze, suffered a broken leg and had to have surgery yesterday, Werth said at the post-competition press conference. Werth said she was eager to wrap up the press obligation in order to visit her patron in the hospital, where she is said to be doing well. 

 

Verdades powered Laura Graves to the 2018 WEG Grand Prix Special individual silver medal. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Werth’s score of 86.246 percent made her untouchable by her closest rival, the USA’s Laura Graves and her KWPN gelding, Verdades (Florett As x Goya). The only male in the GP Special medals, “Diddy” laid down his signature uber-powerful, thrilling performance to earn a score of 81.717 percent and the silver medal. It was the second silver for Graves, who won team silver yesterday.

It was the first individual WEG dressage medal for the USA since Steffen Peters’ GP Special and GP Freestyle bronzes aboard Ravel at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

 

Praise for "Diddy" after his silver-medal-winning performance with Graves. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

“For me, it’s always a matter of riding this horse in his mind,” Graves said afterward. “Physically he’ll do whatever I ask him to, but sometimes it’s a matter of convincing him to do what he’s a little bit afraid of, or go where he’s afraid to go. It’s always a challenge, and it’s different every time we ride. Today I actually was very proud of how he let me ride him.”

A second mare blazed her way onto the medal podium with a stunningly mature performance for her tender nine years. British superstar Charlotte Dujardin’s new international mount, the Hanoverian mare Mount St. John Freestyle (Fidermark x Donnerhall)—the youngest horse in this WEG dressage competition—yesterday helped Team Great Britain win bronze and today put Dujardin back on the podium with a bronze-medal-winning score of 81.489 percent. To say that “Freestyle’s” scope, relaxation, and elasticity make her an exciting horse for the future is a gross understatement.

 

At just 9 years of age, Mount St. John Freestyle danced her way to GP Special bronze with Charlotte Dujardin of Great Britain. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“It was unbelievable; I couldn’t have asked any more from her,” said Dujardin. “That’s her third-ever Grand Prix Special….I was like the jam between the sandwich, with Isabell on one end [in the order of go] and Sönke [Rothenberger] in the other. I thought, oh my god, I’ve got to really up my game so I come out and don’t look like I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“When she’s stronger and more confident, we’re going to give Isabell a run for her money!” Dujardin said. 

 

A huge smile and a fist-pump from the USA's Kasey Perry-Glass after her GP Special test aboard Goerklintgaards Dublet. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The next-highest American rider, Kasey Perry-Glass on the 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Goerklintgaards Dublet (Diamond Hit x Ferro), finished sixth on a score of 78.541. “Dublet” put in a fantastic test that showed even more power and engagement than in yesterday’s team Grand Prix. 

 

American fans cheer Kasey Perry-Glass's performance. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

Unfortunately for Steffen Peters and Adrienne Lyle, glitches marred both of their tests and put the remaining two American riders out of the medal hunt. Both Suppenkasper and Salvino showed resistance in the transition from collected walk to piaffe at G. The costly mistakes put Peters and Lyle at the bottom of the field of 29 starters, with Peters finishing on 69.073 percent and Lyle, on 69.043.

There should have been 30 horses in today’s competition, but in another unfortunate turn, Great Britain’s Spencer Wilton and Super Nova II, who won team bronze yesterday, withdrew from the Special.

According to a statement from Team GB, “the horse [was] not feeling 100% after getting excited in yesterday’s medal ceremony.”

“Prize-givings are not ‘Neville’s’ favourite thing,” Wilton stated, “and normally I wouldn’t do them with him, but we’re at a championship. I helped the team secure qualification for Tokyo 2020 [Olympics] and that’s my primary focus, so with that in mind, his welfare was key to this tough decision.”

In preparation for the finale of the 2018 WEG dressage competition—the individual freestyle final on Sunday—the second horse inspection is scheduled for tomorrow morning. As of this writing the show will go on, and no postponements or cancellations due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Florence have been announced. I’ve just checked my weather app, and at the moment the forecasters are predicting 3 to 4 inches of rain for the Tryon area, with winds of up to 35 mph and possibly higher gusts. Rain is expected to move in tomorrow afternoon, with the worst of the weather being tomorrow night and—unfortunately for dressage-freestyle ticket holders—Sunday. But with luck it will be more like a miserably wet horse show and less like a natural disaster. 

In case you’re on the fence about coming Sunday, here are two tidbits to entice you: Both Graves and Dujardin will be unveiling brand-new freestyles—with music that, according to both riders, arrived just yesterday! (Dujardin quipped that her motto going in will be “Hope and pray.”) Graves refused to divulge any details about the new program or the music, so if you want to witness the world premiere, bring your wellies and don’t miss the WEG Grand Prix Freestyle. 

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. 

J Is for Jog

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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!”