Five one-hundredths of a percentage point! That’s all it took for Steffen Peters to defend his World Dressage Masters Palm Beach title and that’s all it took to keep Charlotte Dujardin of Great Britain in second place. What a slim margin! A Dressage Master was challenged by one of the ‘new kids on the block’.
Transformation!
I arrived at the Jim Brandon center on Thursday January 26 in time to see the WDM veterinary inspection. The Jim Brandon is, by North American standards, a very compact showground with three outdoor arenas, a large covered one and two large buildings of permanent stables which are used for the FEI events.
Last year was the first year that the WDM had been held at the Jim Brandon and it had been put together at very short notice due to the cancellation of the Palm Beach WDM by another show organizer. This year, however, preparations had been well underway for some time. Nonetheless, I was still surprised at the transformation of the covered arena. Large banks of raised seating had been installed and the sides of the arena, normally open, were draped with screens, also, tents were set up for bars and dining and along one side, elegant tables were decorated for the VIP guests.
I found the Press stand and knew immediately I was in for a good weekend! The press stand was located just behind the judges at C and M with a good clear view of the arena. Good sized work tables with plug ins and full internet access were on raised platforms so on each level your view would not be blocked by anyone in front of you. There was a lunch of cold meats, cheeses and salads as well as cold soft drinks, water and coffee. There were representatives from Phelps Media to answer any questions. What more could I ask for?
The new kids on the block are here!
I watched the jog with my coach Luis (Lou) Denizard who was there to compete in the CDI3* GP that afternoon. As Adrienne Lyle and her horse Wizard jogged for the Ground Jury, Lou asked if I knew this pair. "She’s a very nice rider," he told me. I had certainly heard of them but had not seen them in person before. Soon after came Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro. Adrienne and Charlotte: the new kids on the block were here! Immediately after Charlotte came Carl Hester and Wie Atlantico and then the WDM Palm Beach 2011 winner Steffen Peters and Ravel. The masters were here too!
That afternoon the CDI3* Grand Prix took place in the indoor arena. For horses familiar with the arena, the changes were a surprise. The towering banks of seating and the tents impressed some horses rather more than their riders would have liked! The top two finishers would qualify to get wild cards to compete in the WDM, so a lot was at stake. At the end of the class Ashley Holzer and her tried and true Pop Art were at the top of the class with Heather Blitz and her 17.3 hand Paragon in second place. Third place went to Tinne Vilhelmsen-Siflven and fourth to James Kofford.
I knew something was up...
Why am I mentioning the top four when only two can go forward to the WDM? At the time I did not know it but these placings presented a serious problem for the organizers that had to be worked on until late in the evening. Ashley was already entered in the WDM on her new horse Breaking Dawn and it is not permitted to ride two horses in the WDM. So then Heather Blitz moved up to take the first spot. But….Heather, a member of the US gold medal team at the Pan Ams with Paragon, had only recently brought him up to the GP level and only had one of the two necessary qualifying scores for a CDI5*. Then there was the sticky problem that Carl Hester who had never competed Wie Atlantico before and Yvonne Losos de Muniz, also with a new mount (Liebling II), did not have qualifying scores. During the evening I received emails from the show organizers telling me that the order of ‘go’ for the GP the next day still not been decided. I knew something was up!
True sportsmanship
In the end it was decided that to save the show and prevent problems with the FEI, the event would be downgraded to a CDI4*This eliminated the need for qualifying scores , would not affect the prize money or the WDM rider ranking points and would keep the starting lineup. There had been a riders’ meeting and it was unanimously agreed upon. Stephen Clark said: "It is true sportsmanship. It is nice to see how officials and riders are cooperating for the good of the sport." Not to mention the huge disappointment of the audience if a ‘master’ and star like Carl Hester had not been able to ride.
Almost 1700 people had bought tickets for the WDM Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Saturday night Freestyle. The VIP seating, with tables of eight, cost $7500 US or $6500 US and tables of four $4500 US, included lunch each day and a gourmet dinner on the Saturday evening. General admission seating was $300 US with gourmet food take-aways offering a variety of temping menus for ticket holders to purchase. The event had been completely sold out for some time and had already suffered some changes to the starting lineup.
The show must go on!
Originally it had been billed as the all-time face off with Steffen Peters and Ravel, Mathias Rath and Totilas, Anky van Grunsven and Salinero, as well as Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro. Both Salinero and Totilas had withdrawn previously and the show organizers had scrambled to persuade Carl Hester to come with a horse to compete. So if there had been another withdrawal the ticket holders would no doubt have been disappointed to say the least. But a compromise was reached and the show was ‘going on’!
The WDM Grand Prix started at 2pm on the Friday afternoon. The showground was packed with shoppers having a field day. I know from one friend, who had a stand that they were busy from morning right through until 7:30 at night. There were also crowds gathered around the WDM warm up ring. In North America there are not many opportunities to see riders from Great Britain and Europe and so this was a big draw. Besides Carl and Charlotte from Great Britain there was Anja Plonzke from Germany, Minna Telde, Per Sandgaard, and Tinne Wilhelmsen-Silfven (Sweden).
Helmets are cool!
Carl was the first to go and was warming up at the same time as the second to go, Yvonne Losos de Muniz on Leibling II, Carl’s former mount. Carl has recently gained the ride on Wie Atlantico and said in an earlier interview that he had only ridden the horse about 10 times and had never competed him. He was phoning Fiona Bigwood, the horse’s owner who is expecting a baby, frequently from Florida to ask: "what do you do with him for the twos" or "what about the pirouettes". Despite such a recent partnership he rode like the master he is and scored 69.979 for 8th place.
Over the course of the afternoon there were many good rides and I was impressed to see riders in the competition ring wearing helmets. Heather Blitz( USA), Pierre St Jacques(USA), Ashley Holzer (Canada), James Koffford (USA), Vicky Winter (Canada), Anja Plonzke (Germany) and the two "new kids" Adrienne Lyle (USA) and Charlotte Dujardin (GB) all wore helmets. The two "masters" Carl and Steffen wore helmets to warm up but wore traditional top hats to compete. At the press conference after the GP Charlotte was asked why she had worn a helmet. She said that soon it would be required everywhere to wear a helmet for competition and she thought wearing one was a good idea in any event. (She looked great in it, by the way!)
Holding on for dear life in the test
Steffen and Ravel won the class with all judges giving him over 80% and a final average score of 81.383. Charlotte and Valegro were second with 78.468. Tinne and Favourit were third with 73.255 and Adrienne and Wizard fourth with 72.149. Charlotte said afterwards that Valegro came into the arena and went "Wow!" and she was holding on for dear life in her test. She excused this by saying he was still young and with more experience, would take things in his stride. Those of us who saw him stand right up on his hind legs in the awards presentation, certainly hope so! The grooms were brought in immediately after that happened to restore order. Ravel took it all calmly with a "been here and done it before" attitude. It is not only the riders who are ‘new kids’ or ‘masters’!
When Charlotte was asked at the press conference if she was going to the WDM in Munich, she replied that Carl made all those decisions. Later when the microphone was handed to Carl he said with a smile: "that’s an absolute lie!" On a more serious note, he did say he would like to have them do different competitions so they would be able to help each other as Carl and Charlotte have a long standing working partnership. Charlotte, after much success in pony showing, left school at sixteen and went to work for British rider Judy Harvey. In 2007 she started taking some lessons from Carl Hester and when he asked her if she would come to work for him for ten days, she agreed. She has never left. She has brought Valegro up through the levels and everyone, including myself, has wondered when Carl would claim the ride back on this marvellous horse. Carl, however, has said he won’t as he feels it is important for Britain to have talented young riders coming along and to give them the opportunity for international competition.
The winning ride
The Grand Prix Special began at 2pm on the Saturday. This was my second opportunity to see Adrienne and Wizard. Adrienne has worked and trained with US Olympian Debbie McDonald for the last seven years and has ridden Wizard for six of those years. Her day at the barn in Idaho involves barn duties, riding seven or eight horses and teaching clients. In this Olympic year, with no less than 11 CDI’s in Florida, the decision was made to bring Adrienne and Wizard to Florida to the State with the hope she can qualify for the Olympic trials. Adrienne says that "Team Wizard", including Debbie McDonald, Wizard’s owner Peggy Thomas and the support team have made a huge financial sacrifice to get her to Florida. "I’m not contributing;" she says. "I’m just an expense."
Her ride was a truly a pleasure to watch. She was completely focused; lovely piaffe passage and tempis arrow straight; a beautifully ridden test. At the end the score board showed 73.244. The crowd responded with enthusiastic applause and cheering. Coach Debbie, standing by the in gate, jumped up and down pumping her fist in the air. At this moment I doubt any of the Wizard Team thought of Adrienne as "just an expense". Hers was the winning ride, a full percentage ahead of Heather Blitz in second place.
The Freestyle did not start until 7:30 in the evening and I could have got myself into some financial mischief had I gone shopping but….I am in full training with my horse in Florida for the winter season and that is enough of a strain on the bank balance so I walked about and looked but did not let my credit card see daylight.
Dinner for the press corps arrived at 6:30. Catered by the International Polo Club, who was also providing a sumptuous meal for the VIP ticket holders, our dinner buffet included poached salmon, beef fillet, roast chicken and, no…… wait….. if I keep this up Horse Hero founder Fiona Price will want to come herself next year and write this article, so let’s move on!
Fans in Florida
As Minna Telde, the first rider of the evening came in on Deinhardt, a hush fell over the arena. It was a nice test with a couple of small mistakes for a score of 71. Next was Carl. Well, he has fans in Florida now and they clap as soon as he enters the arena. He rode to his Tom Jones freestyle which is great fun and though he and Wie Atlantico are still finding their way together it was a great test. Huge applause greeted his final salute.
To fill in the interval while the scores are tabulated for the freestyles the riders dismounted and were taken to the side of the in gate and interviewed by the World Dressage Masters film crew. Carl was on form as usual and when asked if he was going to phone Fiona Bigwood to tell her how the ride had gone he said yes, he would tell her it had been very good: "but not as good as you darling!" His score: 74.850.
Steffen Peters was the first to go after the break. He had spoken at the press conference after the GP about getting a good feeling from Ravel in the past few weeks and he was going to take more risk with a very high degree of difficulty in his freestyle. He wasn’t kidding! Two’s and one’s on bending lines, piaffe to extended walk on a serpentine line, half pass in fluid flowing trot, changing the diagonal and into passage half pass, then to piaffe quarter pirouette and out in passage. Amazing! I wonder, how much more difficult can you possibly make it? And what about his partnership with the horse? What Steffen thinks, the horse does; hands quiet just above the withers, most aids invisible, seat still ….what a perfect picture. In my dreams I ride like Steffen Peters. In my dreams!
The ride of a lifetime!
At the end of the test the arena exploded cheering and applauding. Steffen took off his hat for the salute and then flung both arms around Ravel’s neck. When he looked up again he pumped the air with his fist: Yes! When he did his interview he said "it was the ride of a lifetime. If I can just keep this going for the next seven months…." I hope he can so more people can see a ride like this. His score? 83.7
Charlotte was last to go. Could she match Steffen’s amazing ride? This pair has very few miles on the clock in the Freestyle. Her music started and she came down the center line. Extended trot…. is there a slight mistake? Was that almost a break to canter? Who cares? I’m not bothering to take notes now. I love the music for this freestyle; it has drama and emotion that suit this pair so well. What a horse! What a rider! She finishes with the audience again up and cheering. Her score? 83.65 So close, just a gnats whisker away from winning the World Dressage Masters.
Later at the press conference Steffen said he felt like he had" kicked a field goal with only one second left to play". Charlotte said she had a "great ride." She said she would go home to work on a floor plan with a greater degree of difficulty as now Valegro was ready for this. Judge Wim Ernes said the deciding factor was the degree of difficulty between Charlotte and Steffen.
It is a privilege to see riders and horses of this quality; to see master riders like Steffen Peters and Carl Hester and masters of the future, the "new kids on the block" Adrienne Lyle and Charlotte Dujardin. I hope to see the all of them in London and again next year at the World Dressage Masters in Palm Beach.
Editor's note: Leueen has also written two other Guest Features for Horse Hero.
Snowbirds and snowhorses & Dressage enters a new era at WEG
