WEG - Day 4

Dressage Team Rides Sessions 3 and 4

After some very frustrating computer problems the night before, Cindy and I headed over to the games and on our way over on the shuttle we talked to a nice lady who had this little radio thing that she bought. It was an official WEG radio that you buy for $45 and you can get live broadcast on one of two channels. The broadcast is live commentary about what's going on in the ring at any time. It sounds like a really cool thing for people who might not be familiar with a discipline or who don't want to miss anything. Might be something some of you want to try if you're coming out here.

I did some more fiddling with my computer to work out the issues during breakfast at Bourbon Village. While I was at the booth business center (where they have banks of computers hooked to the internet) Cindy watched the dressage rides on the HD monitors.

Adelinde Cornelissen from the Netherlands riding Jerich Parzival was eliminated due to blood coming from the horse's mouth. I didn't see the ride or the elimination, so the horse could have bitten it's tongue or had the corner of it's mouth pinched. It's a huge bummer for the team because they were in first place in the teams standings, and now they won't have a drop score.

I abandoned the computers so we could go see some dressage in person. Michael Rapcewicz on Randon from Poland had a really nice ride – flying changes were really fluid and ground covering, and the passage and piaffe were nice. He scored a 69.234% which put him 9th in the standings.

Haley Peresford riding Relampagodo Retiro from Austrailia was excused from her class. I had just said that I thought the horse looked a little uneven, and then they rang the bell. It was announced later that the horse was disqualified for irregularity of movement,. Bummer!

Tina had some errors, a break to the canter at the extended trot, and breaks in the second piaffe set, both of which got her some 4's. She still ended up

Susanna Bordone rode in a military uniform – short coat, black breeches with a wide red stripe down the leg, and a military dress hat. It was interesting to see a rider dressed differently! Then there was a lunch break, where I almost scored an interview with Steffen Peters. Unfortunately it didn't happen, and I was pretty bummed. Also another bummer was that the video of Team USA Tina Konyat's ride was deleted when I was downloading it and the camera fell off the table and disconnected from the computer. Sigh.

After the break we started with the last dressage session for the team competition. These were the anchor riders for all the teams, so we were expecting to see some nice dressage. Norway, Switzerland, Poland and Japan had nice steady rides. Totilas and Edward Gal were blow-your-mind fantastic. I'd never taken the time to watch a whole video of a ride of theirs, and wow, it was just great. Of course they put themselves and their team in first place.

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas




Juan Manuel of Spain wore a grey coat, and I think all of the team from Spain might have done so. I thought it looked ok, but I'm not a huge fan. I know I just said above that it's nice to see something different but I don't know about those grey coats.

Isrbel Werth had a really nice ride but there were some things I didn't really like. I thought her horse was a little tight in the neck, behind the vertical at times, and had an earthbound piaffe. The rest of the test was nice though and her ride put her and her team in second place.

Then Laura Bechtolsheimer came out on Mistral Hojris and kicked some butt. Her test was fantastic and just looked effortless. That put her above Werth and also put Great Britain in second place.

Denmark I liked that the horse wasn't overly cranked in the neck. Really flowing changes, I didn't care for the frame on Portugal's horse – too cranked in the neck, low in the poll, and behind the vertical at times. I know his neck is big but it still seems like you could give him a bit of room in there. The test has some nice moments though.

The last Swiss horse was super leggy! I thought he was also a little too tight in the neck at times. He had some problems with the piaffe that earned some 4's and a 3. Ouch. Then the last Australian horse went and he looked great in the neck. Much more comfortable. But then he broke to the canter at the extended trot. Nice passage and flying changes.

Italy's last horse has these great floppy ears and lots of room in the neck. I know I keep harping about the necks but really how comfortable can it be for those horses to em cranked in so tight? Anyhow, he had some problems with the piaffe,

Then Steffen Peters and Ravel rode. He had a really nice ride, except one little bobble in the beginning where he broke form the trot into the canter.

Steffen Peters and Ravel




He ended up with a score that put the US in fourth by just a little bit, so no medals for us in the team competition. We still have a chance in the individual! Netherlands took the gold, Great Britain took the silver and Germany had the bronze.

Then we met up with Laura Goldman and had one last lovely dinner experience in Maker's Mark Bourbon Village. We made plans to meet up next week, and then we headed back to the hotel so I could blog baby, blog!

Day 5 - Individual Dressage Finals