Au Revoir

This French phrase usually is used to mean "goodbye," but the literal translation is "until we meet again."

It seems a fitting way to end both this blog and the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, for the equestrians of the world will of course be meeting again in four years, at the 2014 WEG in Normandy, France.

With the Lexington, Kentucky, Games now behind us, we take stock of the event, and we recall the highlights and the indelible moments. For American dressage enthusiasts, no moment could have surpassed that on Wednesday, September 29, when Steffen Peters became the first US dressage rider to win an individual medal at a world championships. His joy and emotion at the achievement, and his elation at the superb performance of his mount, Akiko Yamazaki's Dutch gelding Ravel, in the Grand Prix Special, will stay with me always.

Breaking on through: Steffen Peters and Ravel smash the glass ceiling to become the first US dressage WEG individual medalists, in the Grand Prix Special

Only slightly less burnished was Steffen's second individual bronze two days later, in the Grand Prix Freestyle. In the first few seconds after a competitor's final halt and salute, the facial expressions and body language express pretty plainly how the rider felt about the performance. In Steffen's case, the smile was not quite the grin of before, and the body language showed that he knew his freestyle hadn't quite matched the heights of his previous test. But the pride was still genuine and the performance was still world-class.

My one WEG regret is that I was not able to stay in Lexington for the second week of competition. I so wanted to see the para-equestrian dressage competition. I watched some of the para competitors schooling while I was at the Kentucky Horse Park, and I was awed at their skill. On the other hand, had I attended the para events, I wonder how well I would have been able to maintain my facade of journalistic impartiality. Watching some of the para competition highlights on demand back home on my computer (they're archived on the US Equestrian Federation's online network if you missed them or other WEG events), I got a lump in my throat. Heaven knows what sort of state I would have been in had I seen them in person.

Our US para-equestrian competitors did us proud. Grade IV rider Susan Treabess, of Winters, California, was the highest-placing American, finishing tenth individually in her freestyle class with a score of 69.65 percent aboard Moneypenny, owned by Katy Peterson. The US para-equestrians finished eighth in the team competition.

Owner Akiko Yamazaki had already had her share of emotional moments with Ravel's medals. She was in for another heart-tugging day when she watched her other WEG horse, the Dutch gelding Kranak, complete his final test with US para-equestrian Jennifer Baker, of Loveland, Ohio. Kranak, Yamazaki's former Grand Prix horse, had come out of retirement when Baker's intended WEG mount sustained an injury and was unable to compete. His Grade IV individual freestyle test with Baker was his last, as he's headed back to a well-deserved retirement.

Of course, there were many other shining moments for US competitors at the WEG. The reining team swept team gold as well as the gold and silver individual medals. The driving team won silver, and Tucker Johnson clinched the individual driving bronze. And Team USA won the gold medal in the vaulting competition.

I hope you have enjoyed following this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you weren't in attendance in Lexington, I encourage you to consider attending the WEG in Normandy. This region is perhaps best known as the site of the D-Day Allied troops invasion during World War II, and no visit would be complete without a trip to the beautiful and moving American Cemetery and the famous beaches on which the landings took place. What you may not know is that Normandy is France's horse country -- its Lexington counterpart, if you will. The region is home to famous Thoroughbred farms and the French national stud, Haras du Pin. It's gorgeous country (I know; I have family there), and the French are determined to put on another WEG for the memory books. They got off to a good start at the Lexington WEG, cooking up a storm and offering all manner of French delicacies at the "Rendez-Vous in Normandy" booth.

Au revoir!

Two More Historic Firsts at WEG Grand Prix Freestyle

With something of an upset in the team medals (Netherlands atop the podium, Great Britain winning its first-ever World Equestrian Games medal, a silver) and with Steffen Peters collecting the first US individual world championships dressage medal in history (bronze in Wednesday’s Grand Prix Special), the sellout crowd of 25,000 was primed for more history-making in tonight’s Grand Prix Freestyle at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky.

Sellout crowd at the start of the WEG Grand Prix Freestyle

Sunset over the Kentucky Horse Park stadium

The top fifteen finishers from the Special contested the Freestyle, which left only Peters and Ravel to represent the United States. At the end of the first rotation, Germany’s veteran, Isabell Werth, was atop the leader board with a score of 80.000%. But that score didn't stand for long because Britain's Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris, the GP Special silver medalists, came in and shattered it with a delightful, accurate ride to surf-themed music that earned a score of 85.350%.

Bechtolsheimer and "Alf" in the Freestyle

From there, the excitement just grew. Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz of Spain brought the house down with a crowd-pleasing freestyle aboard the PRE stallion Fuego XII to (what else?) Spanish music, complete with extended trot that drew spontaneous cheers and a flamboyant finish of one-handed one-tempis down the final center line, with Diaz pumping his free hand to encourage the clapping and shouting. He got the audience so pumped up that Fuego XII scooted and bolted at the raucous applause that followed his final halt and salute. But his score of just 81.450% drew equally loud boos and whistles from the crowd, which clearly thought Diaz deserved better.

Showman Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz of Spain plays the showman aboard Fuego XII

Then it was the golden boy of these Games: blond Dutchman Edward Gal and his black KWPN stallion, Moorlands Totilas. Having clinched both team gold in the GP and individual gold in the Special, Gal was expected to deliver something extraordinary in the Freestyle. And he did -- a final total score of 91.800%, with American judge Linda Zang, sitting at "C," awarding him an astonishing 93.500% -- but Gal's ride was not up to the standard that he set in the GP Special, with Totilas breaking to canter in one extended trot, walking out of a halt, and stopping momentarily during a passage. 

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas

Steffen Peters' freestyle also did not quite equal his performance in the Special, with a little buck at the start of a line of tempi changes and some momentary losses of balance. But Ravel's suppleness and elasticity, to what Peters later referred to as a "turbocharged" version of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" and Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance" freestyle that they used at the 2008 Hong Kong Olympics, earned the pair a score of 84.900% and the bronze medal.

Steffen Peters and Ravel

"It's amazing how high the standard has risen," Peters said afterward. Of his second individual medal, he said, "Tonight we sprinkled a little more icing on top of the cake. It's a pretty wonderful cake."

Peters tonight becomes the first American rider ever to win one -- much less two -- individual medals in world-championships dressage competition.

Same medalists, same order: Bechtolsheimer, Gal, Peters

Gal accomplished the other WEG first: winning three gold medals. "It's just now sinking in," he said of his historic achievement.

"Tonight we had three totally different types of horses," said Zang, who was president of the ground jury. "Totilas has so much power but seems so easy and light. Laura's horse has a lot more power, a very big horse. Sometimes it's a little hard for Laura to keep that propulsive power balanced. Ravel's strength is that he's so elastic and soft."

Gal confirmed that Totilas has been bred to Brentina, who achieved much success under Debbie McDonald. I wonder what kind of super-foal that will be!

There was a poignant moment during the awards ceremony, when Peters entered the stadium wearing a helmet instead of the top hat in which he'd competed. Asked about the headgear switch, he replied: "I sent an e-mail to Courtney [King-Dye, who suffered a severe head injury last March] today. I said tonight I want to dedicate my ride to you." (King-Dye was in attendance tonight.) 

A helmeted Peters dedicated his victory gallop to injured rider Courtney King-Dye

"I saw her after her accident," Peters continued. "It was one of the hardest things I've seen in my life. So tonight I wanted to dedicate my honor round to her."

A New World Order

Dressage enthusiasts have been wishing for a long time that some nations would emerge to challenge the usual European powerhouses in international competition.

2010 WEG dressage team medalists: Great Britain (silver), Netherlands (gold), Germany (bronze)

Yesterday, in the team competition at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, they got their wish.

For the first time ever, British riders stood on the medal podium at a dressage world championships. Buoyed by their dressage superstar, Laura Bechtolsheimer on the 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Mistral Hojris (by Michellino), the team from Great Britain won the silver medal. Bechtolsheimer finished in second place individually with a stratospheric score of 82.511%. She was one of only two riders to achieve scores in the 80s, the other being -- of course -- the Netherlands' Edward Gal on the horse that has been called "the Secretariat of dressage," Moorlands Totilas, with 84.043%.

"It was the best score and the best ride I've ever had," Bechtolsheimer said afterward. Of "Alf," she said, "I've never been able to ride him with so much energy yet really relaxed."

Her teammate, the veteran Carl Hester on Liebling II, said, "British dressage has been waiting for a superstar like Laura and Hojris. We are all having to work harder to try to match her. It makes us all ride better. I am old enough to remember being on a team when the best British score was a 66 percent, and we thought we were doing really well," he said with a chuckle.

Dutch drama 

Dutch gold medalists Adelinde Cornelissen, Imke Schellekens-Bartels, Hans Peter Minderhoud, and Edward Gal

Led by Gal on his ten-year-old Dutch fantasy horse (by Gribaldi), the Netherlands handily won the team gold medal. But the victory was bittersweet for Gal and teammates Imke Schellekens-Bartels on Hunter Douglas Sunrise and Hans Peter Minderhoud on Exquis Nadine.

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas

During yesterday morning's session, on day 2 of the team competition, Dutch rider Adelinde Cornelissen was part way into what was shaping up to be possibly a third 80-something-percent-scoring test when, just after her halt and rein back on Jerich Parzival, Stephen Clarke, the head of the ground jury, rang the bell. Clarke had spotted blood coming from the mouth of the 13-year-old KWPN gelding, and FEI rules state that blood from a horse's mouth requires immediate elimination. A stunned Cornelissen patted her horse and walked from the Kentucky Horse Park main stadium to applause as the Dutch riders and supporters sitting in the stands stampeded toward the exit to find out what had happened and to comfort their devastated colleague.

Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival prior to their elimination

What had happened, the Dutch contingent announced in a midday press conference, was that Parzival had bitten the tip of his tongue, presumably sometime after leaving the warm-up. The blood mixed with the horse's foamy saliva to produce a red froth that looked alarming but in fact was a minor injury: The bleeding stopped shortly after Cornelissen left the ring, according to Dutch team veterinarian Dr. Jan Greve.

Cornelissen and Parzival leave the arena. The horse's bloody mouth is visible in the photo.

Of having to "ring out" Cornelissen, Clarke said, "I think that was the worst moment of my career. I thought I would have a second heart attack." He praised the Dutch rider's composure and said, "She was so gracious and professional about it."

"It was a difficult day for us," said Gal. "We are happy to have won, but we are so sad for Adelinde. There were many tears in the stable today."

Cornelissen was permitted to stand atop the podium with her Dutch teammates and received a medal (the announcer called it "special recognition"), but she did not participate in the victory gallop and, having already endured one press conference about her ordeal, she did not attend the post-medals press conference with the rest of the medalists.

I've gotten this far in my report on dressage medals and haven't yet mentioned the Germans. That must be a first! It's because yesterday, they had to settle for bronze, which surely is a color they haven't seen much for the past couple of decades, at least. The team anchor, the much-decorated Olympian Isabell Werth on Warum Nicht, joked afterward about being "one of the old ones" on a team consisting mainly of freshmen international competitors who need some seasoning before they're ready to reclaim top medals for Germany.

Germany's Isabell Werth and Warum Nicht

Werth's teammates were Christoph Koschel on Donnperignon, Matthias Alexander Rath on Sterntaler-Unicef, and Anabel Balkenhol (daughter of Klaus) on Dablino. Balkenhol was the youngest member of the German squad.

A sigh of relief for the US 


A year ago, US dressage-team technical advisor Anne Gribbons's main goal was for the US WEG team to qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Games. The team accomplished that goal yesterday by finishing fourth. (Ordinarily we'd have needed to finish in the medals, but as the home team the Brits have a bye, and so the fourth-placing team also qualified.)

Steffen Peters and Ravel

With the relatively recent emergence of a strong group of players, Gribbons's hopes had risen considerably, and the conventional wisdom going into WEG was that the Americans had a good chance of winning bronze. But the top teams bankrolled scores in the 70s, and US riders Tina Konyot on Calecto V (69.915%), Katherine Bateson-Chandler on Nartan (69.617%), and Todd Flettich on Otto (66.553%) put the anchor, veteran Steffen Peters on Ravel, in the position of having to earn a phenomenal mid- to upper-80s score in order to medal. With a lovely test marred by just a bit of overeagerness on Ravel's part, Peters' score of 78.596% put him in third individually but wasn't high enough for a team medal.

US fans cheer an American rider

"It is one of our higher scores," Peters said after his test. "It's exactly the same score we had in Las Vegas [2009, when they won the FEI Dressage World Cup Final]. "We got a lot of criticism for not showing up in Europe this year, but it was the right decision for the horse."

Peters knew, of course, that his score would make or break the team's chances at a medal, but "I've done the mistake before where I chased the scoreboard, and it was one of the worst tests I've had. I learned I just have to ride -- take what the horse has to offer that day. Today I asked for a little more than he was offering" (Ravel kicked at the leg during one passage transition). "But today, third place, that's awesome, with first and second over 80 percent."

Peters said he was looking forward to today's Grand Prix Special, the first leg of the individual dressage competition. "We usually score a little higher in the Special," he said, citing the lines of "flowing half-passes" in which the extraordinarily supple Ravel shines.

Australians Hayley Beresford and Relampago Do Retiro prior to their elimination

There was one other disappointment in the team dressage competition. Australian pair Hayley Beresford and the Lusitano stallion Relampago Do Retiro were eliminated during their test for irregularity of steps.

The Special


The top 30 pairs from the Grand Prix will contest the Grand Prix Special today. Of those, the top fifteen will go on to Friday night's highly anticipated Grand Prix Freestyle. Both competitions will award separate individual medals.

Photographs by JenniferMunson.com.