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.

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.

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. 

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. 

For the New "Queen of Omaha," the Journey to the World Cup Dressage Final Was Werth the Trip

Germany's Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD, the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final champions. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

She’s now known as the “Queen of Omaha”: Isabell Werth of Germany, living Olympic equestrian legend and winner of two previous FEI World Cup Dressage Finals, today added a third Final win to her dizzying long resume of international triumphs.

US FEI 5* dressage judge Anne Gribbons, who presided at C for the Grand Prix Freestyle final, likened Werth’s mount, the 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Weihegold OLD (Don Schufro x Sandro Hit), to a ballet dancer. “Weihe,” as Werth calls her, has a prowess for piaffe and passage that was unmatched by any other in the 14-horse field, Gribbons said afterward. The mare’s contact and connection in the bridle are also practically without peer thanks to Werth’s world-class training and riding, Gribbons said.

A record crowd of 8,578—the largest so far at these Dressage and Jumping Finals at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha—was on hand to watch Werth become the only competitor to top the 90-percent mark. She won the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final on a total combined score of 90.704 percent, with all seven judges—Gribbons, Maribel Alonso de Quinzanos (MEX), Raphael Saleh (FRA), Katrina Wuest (GER), Mariette Sanders van Gansewinkel (NED), Andrew Gardner (GBR), and Leif Tornblad (DEN)—placing Werth first.

 

Weihegold OLD's outstanding piaffe helped propel Isabell Werth to victory. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Werth’s freestyle, ridden to a pleasant but not compelling instrumental medley, had a degree of difficulty of 9.37, according to audio commentator and retired FEI 5* judge Axel Steiner. Although it wasn’t the most difficult freestyle of the competition—that honor goes to Judy Reynolds of Ireland, whose routine aboard Vancouver K has an eye-popping degree of difficulty of 9.78—it was certainly among the most difficult, and the points Werth racked up in the double-coefficient movements including the piaffe and passage put her test on top.

“I’m really proud of Weihe. She did a great job,” Werth said afterward. “She was so focused. She knew it could be her day today. Laura pushed me up to show the best we could show, and it worked. It was a fantastic atmosphere and a fantastic competition.”

Exulting after her own nearly flawless freestyle was second-place finisher Laura Graves on her own Verdades. The fifteen-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding’s (Florett As x Goya) tremendous power and strength perfectly suited his music, a series of themes football fans will have heard many times accompanying National Football League TV broadcasts.

 

Laura Graves and Verdades let it rip up their final center line. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Graves’ freestyle had a degree of difficulty of 8.91, according to Steiner. One crowd-pleasing sequence was a series of two-tempi flying changes on a curved line, followed by a diagonal straight line of one-tempis toward the corner marker, which produced spontaneous applause. And the sequence that Graves added at the end of the ride to amp up the difficulty—a piaffe “fan” to the left and right, with “Diddy” then erupting in a monstrous extended trot up the center line to the final halt and salute—had the audience cheering so loudly Graves said afterward she had to guess at when to halt because she couldn’t hear her music.

Graves was certainly the favorite of the primarily American audience, but her technical marks couldn’t quite catch Werth’s. She finished second on a score of 85.307 percent, with all judges placing her second except for one, who had her third behind the eventual third-place finisher, Great Britain’s Carl Hester on Nip Tuck (83.757).

 

Graves exults after her freestyle. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“I think I didn’t even realize how badly I wanted to win,” Graves said afterward. “I’m very competitive. When I saw the technical marks for Isabell’s ride go up and then [the broadcast crew] cut to a shot of the World Cup [trophy], I thought, ‘Oh, I want that so badly!’ To be honest, I was a little disappointed to come second, but as I said Thursday, coming second to Isabell, who’s number one in the world and has done this on so many horses, still feels an awful lot like winning.”

Nip Tuck, an enormous 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Don Ruto x Animo), was “bang on” with his instrumental music as Hester might put it. The music—I couldn’t identify it but it had that movie-score sound—had a pronounced percussive rhythm that perfectly matched “Barney’s” trot and piaffe/passage tempos.

 

Accuracy, relaxation, and correctness helped to put 2012 British Olympic team gold medalist Carl Hester and Nip Tuck on the World Cup Dressage Final podium in third place. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Hester had a few small bobbles in transitions, and the piaffe didn’t always “sit” behind. His final halt, which followed a sweeping half-pass zigzag, lacked crispness. But Barney’s work is so correct, and Hester has an incredible feel for contact. He also has an incredible way of managing his famously hot and spooky mount, and Barney appeared relaxed and totally focused. Afterward, Hester expressed complete satisfaction in the way his horse—who also hasn’t been eating well in Omaha because he misses his longtime travel buddy, Valegro, who is now retired—rose to the occasion and handled the electric atmosphere.

“If somebody says, are you disappointed to be third, how can I be disappointed in a horse that did his absolute best?” Hester said.

The USA’s Kasey Perry-Glass on Goerklintgaards Dublet (Diamond Hit x Ferro) finished seventh on a score of 77.068. Their Tom Hunt freestyle, to music from The Avengers and Lord of the Rings, featured “Dublet’s” piaffe and passage, including passage half-passes, a relaxed and expressive line of one-tempis, piaffe fans, and a difficult transition from passage to extended walk. (Steiner’s comment: “That’s what an extended walk should look like, with the horse stretching to the bit.”)

The judges varied in Perry-Glass’s placing: from as high as fifth (Gribbons, at C) to as low as tenth (Saleh, at E).

In ninth was the USA’s newest and youngest international dressage horse, Rosamunde, who finished on a score of 75.879. The experienced Steffen Peters (who won the World Cup Dressage Final in 2009 aboard the legendary Ravel) said his goal was to give the 10-year-old Rhinelander mare (Rock Forever x Fidermark) a good, solid experience to build on in the future. But it certainly wasn’t a beginner’s choreography: With a degree of difficulty of 9.4 and choreography including steep half-passes and transitions from canter pirouettes directly into piaffe, Peters wasn’t babying the talented mare. It is evident watching “Rosie” that she will grow into her astonishing ability to “sit” behind; currently she can get her hind legs so far underneath herself that she can “pedestal” in the piaffe and have some difficulty getting out of it.

Peters promised a surprise in today’s freestyle, and it came toward the end of his test, when the strains of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” rang out for the final piaffe/passage work. Fans of a certain age will recognize the music as from Peter’s championship freestyle with Ravel, and it served as a nice coda to the new music, which included a vocal passage from Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” Afterward, Peters said he hadn’t been entirely happy with Rosie’s trot music, and so he decided to replace it with the portion of Ravel’s music inasmuch as it suited Rosie so well.

But today was Isabell Werth’s day to shine, and the German Olympian got the party started early when she playfully sprayed Hester and Graves with sparkling wine while on the podium—then took a deep pull from the bottle, gave drinks to her podium-mates, and then gave each of the horses’ grooms a swig.

 

World Cup Dressage Final champion Isabell Werth (center) sprays third-place finisher Carl Hester with sparkling wine after dousing second-placed Laura Graves. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

“This night I think we will have [a party]!” Werth said afterward at the press conference. She had effusive praise for Omaha, World Cup Finals organizer Lisa Roskens, and the entire event; so it looks as if the USA has a lot to celebrate right along with the German champion.

First, the Fun Stuff

As the inept dressage rider "Brett Kidding," Aussie horsemanship expert Tristan Tucker brought laughs to the entertainment portion of the Dressage Showcase at the 2017 FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Friday afternoon’s Dressage Showcase, held on the “dark day” of no dressage competition at the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Omaha, was a split-personality event.

The first half consisted of lighthearted dressage exhibitions and freestyle performances (with a dollop of educational value). Audiences enjoyed them, but what I suspect got many of them in the door was the second half of the showcase: a “through the levels” mini-clinic with the world’s #1 ranked dressage rider (and winner of yesterday’s Grand Prix), Isabell Werth of Germany.

In a statistic that should prove heartening for the USDF, which has dressage education as its core mission, more people came to watch the Dressage Showcase than yesterday’s Grand Prix: 4,755 vs. 3,806, to be exact. Put another way, last night’s round 1 of the World Cup Jumping Final drew 5,126 spectators—fewer than 400 more than attended the showcase. That’s a lot of people who paid for dressage education in Omaha!

I want to do justice to Werth’s presentation, and it dovetails nicely with another aspect of this event, which is the fact that the warm-up is smack-dab in the middle of the facility—the trade-fair vendor booths actually surround it—and so there’s a veritable feast of education for the taking for anyone savvy enough to park themselves beside the warm-up. So I’m going to tell you about the educational angles in my next blog post.

 

The Frontier Strings from the Omaha Conservatory of Music performed. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

A Devocoux Saddlery demonstration-cum-exhibition served as a preamble of sorts to the showcase, with a fancy liver chestnut horse passaging extravagantly to show off his freedom of movement. Then the Dressage Showcase opened with a performance by the Frontier Strings, a youth ensemble of Omaha Conservatory of Music students.

 

World Cup Dressage Final competitors Steffen Peters, Inessa Merkulova, Laura Graves, and Isabell Werth were honored for achieving scores of 80 percent or better in World Cup Final series competition. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Audiences thrilled to see four of the world’s top dressage riders—Steffen Peters and Laura Graves of the USA, Isabell Werth, and Inessa Merkulova of Russia—together in the arena to receive the “80 Percent Award”: jeweled browbands to commemorate their having earned a score of 80 percent or better at a World Cup Dressage Final or qualifier. The award was created by Dressage-News.com’s Ken Braddick, and Braddick was on hand to bestow the browbands as well as a blingy belt for Werth, whom Braddick said is the only rider to have achieved scores of 80 percent or better on three different horses.

 

Katie Jackson, who lost part of her right leg to cancer, gave an impressive para-equestrian dressage demonstration. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Impressive freestyles by two high-performance para-equestrian dressage riders followed. First up was Katie Jackson of Texas, who lost part of her right leg to cancer. Riding the mare Royal Dancer, who is a veteran of the 2014 World Equestrian Games and the 2016 Paralympics with rider Roxanne Trunnell, Jackson performed a Grade 5 freestyle. Announcer Nicho Meredith explained that para-dressage riders are classified into grades according to severity of physical disability. Grade 5 is the least severe (Grade 1 is the highest degree of disability), and its tests approximate US Equestrian Third Level dressage, with walk, trot, and canter and lateral movements but no flying changes.

 

Para-dressage freestyle by 2016 Paralympics competitors Annie Peavy and Lancelot Warrior. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The Grade 4 athlete Angela “Annie” Peavy, a 2016 Paralympic Games veteran, rode her Rio freestyle with her longtime partner Lancelot Warrior. Both riders did a good job of showcasing the talents and determination of those talented equestrians who are determined not to let disabilities stand in the way of their dreams.

It is its own discipline separate from dressage, but there’s no denying that Western dressage has grown in popularity in recent years. Some riders of stock breeds—particularly if they’d rather wear chaps than breeches—have embraced the opportunity to compete against similar horses, in their preferred tack and attire. And when it comes to excellence in both dressage and Western dressage, surely one of the country’s best and most well-known is the Florida-based Lynn Palm, who performed two Western dressage musical freestyles—to Western music, of course, including “Riders in the Sky” and the themes from Bonanza and other classic TV westerns.

 

Western dressage demo by Lynn Palm on Hot Royal. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Palm’s first mount was the appendix Quarter Horse Hot Royal. Later in the program she was back aboard the colorful 20-year-old American Paint Horse Rugged Painted Lark. Quarter Horse and equestrian sport enthusiasts alike know his sire, the legendary Rugged Lark, who with Palm gave a memorable bridleless exhibition at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Son Rugged Painted Lark must be doing OK for himself, too, as he’s been immortalized as a Breyer model.

The top Young Rider Barbara “Bebe” Davis performed her championship dressage freestyle to a medley of pop vocals including “Hundred Miles” by Yall, “Here for You” by Kygo, and an updated version of the 1980s hit “Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better).” But for some different musical innovation, one needed only to look up in the stands during the freestyle performance of FEI-level rider Amanda Johnson of Wisconsin, where a DJ appeared to be live-mixing her music. Aboard the Hanoverian gelding Foley, Johnson rode to a dance-worthy mix of Bruno Mars tunes including “Treasure” and “Chunky.”

 

Amanda Johnson on Foley. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Johnson's musical accompaniment? Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

(Are you starting to see why I’m saving the education for later? There was a lot of entertainment!)

A type of performance I hadn’t seen before was the pas de deux with living props. That sounds peculiar, and it looked a bit unusual, with five or six spotlighted groups of people standing in the purple-light-bathed arena while dressage riders Missy Fladland and Grace Schoenfeld trotted and cantered around them. The groups represented the “behind the scenes” supporters all riders need—veterinarians, farriers, show organizers, and others—and a country-music singer performed an original song honoring these unsung heroes’ efforts.

 

Honoring those who work behind the scenes in the horse industry: a unique pas de deux to an original song. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The entertainment segment of the Dressage Showcase ended on the day’s lightest note. The Australian “horsemanship guru” and equine desensitizer donned an ill-fitting shadbelly, a stovepipe top hat, and a wig as his equestrian alter ego, Brett Kidding. Aboard “Legless” (that’s a parody of Steffen Peters’ Legolas, friends), “Brett” was an inept dressage rider attempting to perform a Grand Prix test while voicing the imagined thoughts of his long-suffering mount. “Brett” may have dreadful equitation, but I’d like to see you execute one-tempi changes while “talking on the phone”! It’s safe to say that it takes a really good rider to get a horse to perform well while looking like a really bad rider.

Getting to Know You

The USA's Laura Graves on Verdades (left) and Germany's Isabell Werth on Weihegold OLD shared the ring for the final dressage-familiarization session before World Cup Dressage Final competition commences tomorrow. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Dressage enthusiasts—and, judging by some of the questions being aimed at audio commentator and dressage judge Axel Steiner, spectators new to the sport—showed up bright and early at the CenturyLink Center this morning to watch three and a half hours of “dressage familiarization.”

In this important final step in prepping horses and riders for the 2017 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Omaha, competitors are allowed unstructured time in the main competition area to school and to accustom their horses to the surroundings. They’ve been in there earlier in the week, but without the flowers, judges’ stands, banners, and, of course, the spectators. Because many horses have a “Who moved the furniture?” response when surroundings change, it’s only fair to allow them to see the venue in its final form before asking them to go in and perform when the judges are watching.

Tightly structured and scheduled, and supervised by the FEI stewards (who included USDF Connection advisor Elisabeth Williams and USDF vice president Lisa Gorretta), the competitors were allotted 30-minute time blocks. There were four groups of three and two groups of two, owing to the pre-competition withdrawal of Germany’s Unee BB due to colic and the Netherlands’ Glock’s Flirt (the 2016 champion) after an injury.

To the casual observer, the riders appeared to be running through some test movements and doing a bit of last-minute schooling. But as Axel Steiner pointed out, some were dealing with such issues as tight backs and tension in a nonconfrontational but effective way. Steiner, whose audio commentary throughout the competition is accessible via the FEI World Cup Finals Omaha 2017 app for iOS and Android, narrated what turned out to be a master class in how the world’s top riders deal with the same issues that you and I face with our own horses at home and at shows.

 

Great Britain's Carl Hester and Nip Tuck. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Great Britain’s Carl Hester on Nip Tuck was first into the ring, along with Marcela Krinke-Susmelj of Switzerland on Smeyers Molberg and Danish rider Mai Tofte Olesen on Rustique. “Barney” is notoriously spooky, and so Hester spent time schooling transitions as well as riding down center line toward C. Directly behind the short side at C is a VIP seating area with table drapes and waiter service, so competitors want to be sure they have their mounts’ full attention, even during halts and salutes.

The Argentinian rider Maria Florencia Manfredi on Bandurria Kacero, who competed in Wellington, Florida, this winter, has less experience in indoor venues than many of the other World Cup Final competitors, according to Steiner. The 12-year-old Argentinian gelding (by Wonder Boy) handled the atmosphere well, however. More rattled was Dejavu MH (De Niro x Anamour), a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned and ridden by Wendi Williamson of New Zealand. Dejavu looked tense and “on the muscle,” and Williamson left after only about 16 minutes. Steiner speculated that the rider may have decided to resume the training session in the comparatively more private setting of the warm-up arena.

Manfredi and Williamson were accompanied by Ireland’s Judy Reynolds on Vancouver K (Jazz x Ferro). Some American audiences saw this pair last year when they won the Grand Prix and the GP Freestyle at Dressage at Devon (PA) in September, and that same month claimed the GP Freestyle championship at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show in New York City. Reynolds, who is ranked 19^th in the world, showed three quality gaits and accurate riding. It was around this time during the familiarization sessions that the audience began applauding the riders when they entered and departed, as well as breaking into spontaneous applause when they saw movements that impressed them. Left alone in the arena after Manfredi left, Reynolds drew applause for Vancouver K’s piaffe.

 

Supporters and coaches from each nation watch intently when their representatives are in the ring. The USA contingent looks on as Kasey Perry schools Goerklintgaards Dublet. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The first American of the day entered with the next group of riders. Kasey Perry on the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Goerklintgaards Dublet (Diamond Hit x Ferro) was accompanied by the Netherlands’ Madeleine Witte-Vrees on Cennin, a 10-year-old Dutch stallion (Vivaldi x Donnerhall); and by Hanna Karasiova of Belarus on Arlekino, an 11-year-old gelding (Aromats x Gudvils). Witte-Vrees left the arena after less than 10 minutes, leaving the two remaining horses as an interesting compare/contrast opportunity for Steiner. The expert commentator helped the audience to see that Arlekino’s extravagant foreleg action is not always matched by equal activity and engagement from his hind legs, and that he occasionally lost the rhythm of the passage gait, with his legs not always in diagonal-pair sync. “Dublet’s” canter work was strong, the passage somewhat less so, Steiner said. But his walk was excellent.

 

The USA's Kasey Perry and Goerklintgaards Dublet. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The final group of three riders included both the oldest competitor at this World Cup Dressage Final (Russia’s Inessa Merkulova, 52) and the youngest (Brazilian Joao Victor Marcari Oliva, 21). They were joined about seven minutes later by past World Cup Final champion Edward Gal of the Netherlands, riding the 15-year-old KWPN stallion Glock’s Voice (De Niro x Rohdiamant).

 

Even though his mount Glock's Flirt went lame and was unable to travel to Omaha, Dutch rider Hans Peter Minderhoud (right) made the trip to support his partner, Edward Gal, who is competing with Glock's Voice. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

Merkulova and her mount, Mister X, a 13-year-old Trakehner gelding (by Egeus), are World Cup Dressage Final veterans. The newbies are Marcari Oliva and the 15-year-old Lusitano stallion Xama Dos Pinhais, although they seemed composed in the electric atmosphere of the CenturyLink Center. Steiner draw his listeners’ attention to the precision and tactfulness of Gal’s riding. Glock’s Voice entered the arena short and tight in the neck, but through Gal’s skillful riding the stallion relaxed and showed why he’s predicted to be among the top finishers in Omaha. Extremely active hind legs and great suppleness made for eye-popping trot half-passes and canter pirouettes.

The USA’s own Captain America, Steffen Peters, got a big round of applause from the largely American audience when he entered the ring on his new international mount, Rosamunde, along with Australia’s Kristy Oatley on Du Soleil.

“I judged ‘Rosie’s’ first Grand Prix ever, at a small show in [Peters’ home state of] California,” Steiner said. The Rhinelander mare (Rock Forever x Fidermark) is only 10 years old and can be a bit unpredictable, he added, pointing out that “Rosie” is the greenest of the US World Cup Dressage Final entries and is not yet as secure and confident in the Grand Prix as the more experienced (and higher ranked) Dublet and Verdades. Peters, who occasionally stopped to confer with US chef d’équipe Robert Dover during the session, gave the mare plenty of walk breaks and did a substantial amount of stretching work on a longer rein, starting and finishing in rising trot. He also rode a number of movements on a longer-than-usual rein, seeming to be staying out of Rosie’s way and allowing her to loosen herself up and find her balance in a relaxed manner.

 

Steffen Peters on Rosamunde chats with US chef d'equipe Robert Dover during his familiarization session. Photo by Jennifer Bryant.

The 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding Du Soleil (De Niro x Caprimond) looked more “finished” by comparison. There were a few moments of tension, but Oatley appeared to be concentrating largely on increasing the activity and closing her mount’s hind legs to the bridle.

Steiner did everything but sing the praises of the number-one-ranked rider, Germany’s Isabell Werth, as she worked through some tension and a tight back with her mount, the 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Weihegold OLD (Don Schufro x Sandro Hit). Werth, who as of the 2016 Olympics became the most decorated Olympic equestrian in history, is a true master who’s probably dealt with every possible equine situation. Going back to some simpler work, such as three-tempi flying changes, she slowly loosened up Weihegold’s body and gained her focus; then there were no problems with the Grand Prix-level work. Werth executed several outstanding pirouettes, prompting Steiner to remark that “Isabell can ride a pirouette on a serving plate.”

Werth shared the arena with America’s top-ranked pair, Laura Graves on her Dutch Warmblood gelding, Verdades (Florett As x Goya). Dressage enthusiasts know that “Diddy” can be hot and spooky, and that he’s not always crazy about indoor arenas. He may not have had much opportunity to be in an indoor since the 2015 World Cup Final in Las Vegas, so Graves could be seen using her ring time to help Diddy overcome his own tension, which he showed by becoming a bit tight in his body and strong in the hand while his hind legs can be a bit more “open” than Graves would like. Like many riders, Graves schooled the halt and rein back at C, and also practiced the transition from passage to extended walk. (USDF members will learn more about that transition, and Graves’ other training techniques, in the May issue of USDF Connection.) Graves also sweetened the deal for Diddy by occasionally halting and feeding him a lump of sugar.

Final pre-competition rides completed, the next and last hurdle on the journey to Omaha is the dressage horse inspection, scheduled for later this afternoon.