A Strong Showing and a Surprise on Day 1 of WEG Team Dressage Competition

Adrienne Lyle and Salvino piaffed Team USA into third place after the first day of team dressage competition at the 2018 WEG. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

With two days of dressage competition needed to accommodate the 77 entries at the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018, half of each team competes each day. After the draw that determined start order, each team’s chef d’équipe got to decide which horse-rider combinations would ride today, day 1; and which will go tomorrow.

The usual strategy is to have the less-experienced combinations go on day 1, thereby saving the team’s biggest guns for the end, and perhaps the higher-scoring end of the competition.

 

Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Team USA’s newest combination, Suppenkasper and Steffen Peters (“a young kid and an old rider,” as Peters put it), was first of the four Americans to go down center line in the U.S. Trust Arena. Ten-year-old “Mopsie,” a KWPN gelding (Spielberg x Krack C) owned by Four Winds Farm, put in a solid effort (although, quivering with excitement at the applause from the home-country crowd, he couldn’t bring himself to stand immobile in the entry halt) to earn a more-than-respectable score of 73.494 percent. 

 

Scott Hassler and Steffen Peters chat before the start of competition. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. 

“I’m very happy with how he handled this,” Peters said afterward, “because it’s a huge step up from Aachen as far as relaxation. He walked beautifully; the rein back was a little bit better; there was overall less tension in there. I could actually push some of the extensions, which was new: Usually I just hold my breath and hope he doesn’t break into the canter because it’s so big. He did beautiful pirouettes today; the zigzag was also good—that’s also a bit tricky for him. The changes felt nice. For this stage and his sensitivity, it’s really good.”

 

The USA's Olivia LaGoy-Weltz, who did the test Grand Prix ride on Lonoir before the start of competition, receives congratulations from a WEG official. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

It’s hard to think of a WEG as a warm-up act, but that’s sort of what it is for Mopsie, said Peters, who said that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are “the reason for the purchase. We [‘we’ being himself and sponsor Akiko Yamazaki] are hoping when he turns 12, 13, that will be his prime.”

 

Crowds were sparse for the start of WEG dressage competition but filled in as the day went on. Some attendees reported hearing tales of spectators' being scared off by the threat of the impending Hurricane Florence. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Mopsie is “the kindest, sweetest horse I’ve ever dealt with,” Peters said. The horse turns his head for approving scratches when he halts, and “his favorite thing is to [have someone] scratch his nose. He can do that for hours. He’s a puppy dog. He’s a big Labradoodle, that’s what he is.”

 

Getting ready to step onto the world stage is a major production. An FEI TV camera crew records every moment of last-minute preparation of the first dressage rider to go, Portugal's Manuel Veiga on Ben Hur Da Broa. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Peters said he’s content with the decision to enter Mopsie instead of his originally named mount, Rosamunde, also owned by Four Winds Farm. In training this week, the gelding was stepping up to the plate a bit more “and I was having to ask him to do a bit less,” he said. Mopsie’s can-do attitude won him the spot on Team USA for these Games.

 

A rain-dampened Robert Dover and Debbie McDonald look on during Adrienne Lyle's Grand Prix test. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Besting Peters, with a score of 74.860 percent, was his 2012 London Olympics and 2014 WEG teammate Adrienne Lyle, back on the international stage with Salvino, an 11-year-old Hanoverian stallion (Sandro Hit x Donnerhall) owned by Betsy Juliano LLC. Echoing her experience at the 2014 WEG in Normandy, Lyle encountered a sudden drenching rain that lasted just long enough to soak herself and the previous competitor, the Netherlands’ Hans Peter Minderhoud on Glock’s Dream Boy N.O.P. Mother Nature turned off the faucet just as Lyle went down center line—and turned back on the oppressively sticky heat that reduced competitors, spectators, and officials alike to soggy puddles.

“It starting pouring when I was warming up, and I said to Debbie [McDonald, her coach of 13 years], ‘Well, I know it’s WEG if it’s pouring!’” Lyle said afterward.

“I’ve never ridden in front of our home country [at an international championships] before, and I didn’t know how he was going to handle it, with all the extra cheering,” Lyle said of Salvino, “but I think he liked it.”

The downpour “was a bit of a disruption,” said Lyle, who scrambled to “change gloves and dry off things so I could hold the reins. And then it’s blazing hot the next second! Fitness is a big factor here, as well. He’s a big, dark horse, and I’ve done my best to get him as fit as I could, and I’m glad I did because it took every ounce of fitness he had out there to get through the heat.”

 

WEG dressage spectators did their best to keep cool in the afternoon sun and sticky humidity. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

You can’t open a social-media feed these days without seeing a warm-and-fuzzy photo of members of the US dressage team hugging and looking like BFFs. According to Lyle, it’s not an act.

“We’re all such a good group of friends. It really does make a difference when you know they’ll be there for you at the drop of a hat and support you in any way possible.”

Lyle says she’s “going to have a lot of fun with the [Grand Prix] Special,” Lyle said. “I like that test better.” She feels the Special plays to Salvino’s strengths, including piaffe/passage and extensions, and hopes for higher scores on Friday.

 

German eventing competitor Ingrid Klimke (center) applauds the dressage effort of her countrywoman Jessica von Bredow-Werndl. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB put Germany in the lead after the first of two days of dressage competition. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Before then, we have team medals to decide tomorrow. After the first day of competition, the USA stood in third place, with Germany leading and—in a bit of a surprise—the Swedish team in second. Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on the 11-year-old Trakehner mare TSF Dalera BB (Easy Game x Handryk) posted the day’s top score of 76.677 percent. Juliette Ramel on Buriel K.H., a 12-year-old KWPN gelding (Osmium x Krack C), was the top rider for Sweden, and Lyle lies in third. Team standings were calculated based on the top score of the two riders who competed today. 

Welcome to Omaha (with a couple of sad exceptions)

The top 18 dressage horses and riders in the world have landed in Omaha, Nebraska, where for the first time this Midwestern city will host the FEI World Cup Dressage Final (plus the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final, featuring that sport’s top contenders).

Should have been 18, that is, but unfortunately only 16 boarded their respective planes for Omaha.

The 2016 FEI World Cup Dressage Final champions, Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glock's Flirt of the Netherlands, had to withdraw when "Flirty" suffered an injury the day the Swiss Warmblood gelding was scheduled to board a plane for Omaha. Photo by Arnd Bronkhorst/FEI.

A colic and a lameness made for eleventh-hour upset and no-go decisions for two of the highest-ranked competitors. Germany’s Unee BB, a 16-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion ridden by Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, suffered an episode of colic at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport and was withdrawn from the Final — thankfully before taking off for the USA. Von Bredow-Werndl, who herself had already departed for Omaha, had to find a return flight to Europe; but the inconvenience was tempered by the good news that Unee BB had recovered and was doing well.

Unee BB and von Bredow-Werndl were third at the 2015 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Las Vegas and at the 2016 Final in Gothenburg. They were ranked second in the Western European League coming in to the 2017 Final.

Then, after what he reported to be a good morning ride, the World Cup Dressage Final title defender, the Netherlands’ Hans Peter Minderhoud, announced that his 2016 champion partner, the 16-year-old Swiss Warmblood gelding Glock’s Flirt, had come up lame just prior to leaving for Omaha. Veterinarians diagnosed an injury, and so “Flirty” was withdrawn, as well.

So who does that leave? The world’s top-ranked combination and the favorites going in, for starters: 2016 Olympic Games team gold and individual silver medalists Isabell Werth of Germany on Weihegold OLD, a 12-year-old Oldenburg mare. The pair led the Western European League standings going in to this World Cup Dressage Final.

Also from the Western European League: Judy Reynolds of Ireland on Vancouver K, a 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding; Australia’s Kristy Oatley riding Du Soleil, a 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding; 2016 Olympic team silver medalists Carl Hester of Great Britain on the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Nip Tuck; Swiss Olympian Marcela Krinke Susmelj on the 16-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Smeyers Molberg; Dutch competitor Madeleine Witte-Vrees and the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Cennin; fellow Dutch rider Edward Gal (who won the 2010 FEI World Cup Dressage Final aboard the legendary Totilas) with the 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Glock’s Voice; and Mai Tofte Olesen of Denmark riding Rustique, a 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding.

Two slots go to riders from the FEI’s Central European League. For 2017 they are the Russian Olympic and World Cup Final veteran pair Inessa Merkulova on the 13-year-old Trakehner gelding Mister X, and Hanna Karasiova of Belarus riding Arlekino, an 11-year-old Latvian Warmblood gelding.

Wendi Williamson will become the first rider from New Zealand to compete in a World Cup Dressage Final. Winner of the “competitor who traveled the farthest to reach Omaha” award, she will represent the Pacific League aboard Dejavu MH, a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding.

(What does it take to transport horses internationally? Watch this short video by the FEI, chronicling the journey to Omaha.)

One competition slot goes to a non-league rider. For this year that will be Argentinian rider Maria Florencia Manfredi on her own 11-year-old Argentine gelding, Bandurria Kocero.

The host-country audience will surely be cheering on the three representatives of the North American League, with two slots plus one extra for Omaha, all held by US riders. The league leader is Laura Graves on her own Dutch Warmblood gelding, Verdades, followed by second-ranked pair Kasey Perry-Glass on the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding, Goerklintgaards Dublet, owned by Diane Perry. The third-ranked pair, who earned the extra slot for the North American League, is Steffen Peters riding Rosamunde, a 10-year-old Rhinelander mare owned by Four Winds Farm.

Graves, Perry-Glass, and Peters were teammates on the bronze-medal-winning US team at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, with Peters riding his previous international mount, Legolas 92. Peters is a past FEI World Cup Dressage Final champion, having claimed the title in 2009 aboard the legendary Ravel.

Last but not least will be the youngest dressage rider in Omaha: 21-year-old Joao Victor Marcari Oliva of Brazil, who earned the extra starting place for the World Cup Final. Marcari Oliva will be riding his 2016 Olympic Games partner, the 14-year-old Lusitano stallion Xama Dos Pinheads.

Inquiring minds want to know: I was asked several times whether other competitors would be given the chance to compete in Omaha, given the last-minute withdrawals of Minderhoud and von Bredow-Werndl. The answer is no: Qualification and entry deadlines had passed, and from a practical standpoint, the planes were pretty much ready to leave at the time of the horses’ illness and injury. So the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final will be a “sweet sixteen” competition that would’ve been sweeter if it had included those top horses, Glock’s Flirt and Unee BB. Both are fantastic horses, and we’ll miss them and their wonderful riders. But the riders are horsemen first and foremost, and so we salute them for doing the right thing for their mounts’ welfare.