Of Fantastic World Records And Feeling Left Out
What a week of Dressage it has been in Windsor at the European Championships! I dare say the world has gotten to see the finest field of horses (minus a few from outside of Europe) ever competed on one site. World records were smashed time and again, and I LOVE IT!
Sitting over here watching some of it on line, I couldn’t help feeling we North Americans were being left behind, as if our best friends omitted to invite us to their fantastic party, even though a few of us at least thought we were “cool”, just like them. And then I wondered - could the European Championships create special invitations to compete any teams if they were ranked in the top 3 in the world as well as any riders ranked in the top 10, even if they come from outside of Europe?
The thing is, until or unless the rest of the world catches up to where whole continents have competitions in the same year and at the same level as the E.U., there will be nothing to highlight the top combinations from those countries and top teams, unless they fly to Europe to compete in other CDIO’s, will simply be left out of the mix. As I said in a previous post, eventually we must have our Pan Am Games moved to the Grand Prix level. Those countries which say they can’t field teams at Grand Prix have been enabled to keep their bar low and I promise that if the FEI says the competition will now be GP, they will rush out and buy horses at this level, just like they’ve been doing so at St. George/ Intermediare level for decades. We also need to get back to having North American Continental Championships for Grand Prix, and they should put them together with the Continental Young Rider Championships and give everybody a thrill! After all, it would just mean a few more classes at a show where the judges and all other infrastructure already is in place.
Let me hear your thoughts on this and other things, so I don’t keep feeling “left out!” :) And CONGRATULATIONS again to the winners in Windsor!
Cheers!
RD
lita dove — August 30, 2009 @ 10:55 am
In the past the European Championships HAVE been declared “Open”–that was the year Lisa Wilcox and Relevant won individual silver!
I bet that FEI would agree to having Euros open again.
lita dove — August 30, 2009 @ 10:58 am
Just thinking–if this does happen, then riders IN the US will have to arrange competition calendar accordingly–and this could be a problem for riders here trying to qualify for other championships/shows.
How to put together a team to peak for Euros and a team for North American,if that starts up again as well?
And what about who goes to World Cup?
Depth is the name of the game, I guess.
fran Goodsell — August 31, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
Hi Robert!
I was at the European’s in Windsor and OMG!!! It was fantastic. I have never seen this sport in such high quality since my interest sparked when I worked for you in 2001. Let’s talk about Edward Gal! If all of you out there loved him on Lingh, you haven’t seen anything yet. this combination is unbelievable. He rides Totilas with accuracy, harmony, and they dance the dance (I know a little Corny) but true. After Totilas and Edward everyone in the stadium are on the same page and it is like a party with friends. CRAZY!!
Parzival and Adelinde really were the stars of the show according to everyone around me. though the brilliance of Totilas is not there, this horse does not have ONE SINGLE HOLE!! he was so relaxed the entire show and looked like you could put a novice rider on him. BRILLIANT!!
Anky was Anky! always great and such a brilliant rider. But that tension with salinero was always present. He never halted in one test except for the reinback at “C” which I don’t think he is used to.
And she was really smart to use her freestyle from the 2004 Olympics which suits them.
ALLZUMSAYIN is that the right people at the top, in that order, was correct!
I (and many,many others) still have problems with the judging system and their influences, because the rest of the rider placings was not right. I will keep that part to myself, but look forward to what happens in Aachen in September, and hope the Task Force can do some good there.
The Good News !! Dressage overshadowed Jumping in Windsor-
Cheers,
Fran Goodsell
fran Goodsell — August 31, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
OH! one more thing to answer Lita Dove. Robert I am sure knows better, but I think Lisa wilcox got to use the European’s as a qualifier for something else. but it did not count for European’s. Am I right?
I cannot remember and don’t feel like looking it up
Fran
RDover2 — August 31, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
Hi Fran. I believe you are correct. Lisa was allowed to compete in an open class where she was 2nd, but not directly in the EU Championship classes. I think this is so but will check with her tomorrow when I see her and get back to you on it.
Thanks for the great descriptions of Windsor though!
RD
Shannon Dueck — August 31, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
Robert - in 2003 the Open Europeans allowed a Canadian Team to compete, which we did in order to secure a team spot in the 2004 Olympics. Obviously we could never get a European medal if we placed in the top 3 (ya ya an unlikely event
lita dove — August 31, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
Lisa Wilcox and others (Australia, etc etc) used 2003 Euros as a qualifier for 2004 Olympics.
FEI allowed the competition to be ‘open’ for that purpose.
SFAIK, Lisa/Relevant won the silver medal. Ulla/Rusty were gold and Jan Brink/Briar bronze.
RDover2 — September 1, 2009 @ 6:37 am
Thanks, Lita! And there is our answer!
RD
Rebecca Pennington — September 1, 2009 @ 4:04 pm
Just got back from Windsor. FABULOUS competition! The atmosphere was electric and some of those horse and rider combinations were breathtaking. It would be wonderful to have something like that here every year! And I’m all for the PanAm games moving up to Grand Prix.
Roberta Williams — September 2, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
Initially the 2003 European championships were totally ‘closed’. Then they were open by invitation but non European riders were not eligible for medals (but countries could qualify for a team spot in the 2004 Olympics). However, after the 2nd day when it became clear that Lisa could medal, let alone win, it was quickly declared to be 2 championships: An “open” European Championship and the “closed” European Championship. How would it have looked if Lisa had won but wouldn’t stand on a podium? Explaining it to the TV media was going to prove to be difficult and Mariette solved the problem by having it be 2 events in one.
Lita, this event was not used by the Americans as a qualifier. Both Lisa/Relevant (2nd) and George/Rocher (10th) were there representing the US but our qualifying system did not include it. The only reason there was an option for other countries to participate was because they needed to be able to qualify to have a team spot in the Olympics. The US had already acheived that.
Robert - it is no longer the Continental Young Rider Championships. You are showing your age, dear. Long ago, when I didn’t have gray hair, the name was changed to the North American Young Riders Championships and more recently (2006), the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships which includes the disciplines of Dressage, Jumping, Eventing and now Reining. Dressage alone sends 18 teams for the US. Canada use to send up to 3 teams.
I think that your idea of combining events is interesting but logistically unrealistic since there is not enough time in the schedule as it stands now. However, why not have the Pan Ams be both GP and the Small tour? Then you can help the countries who cannot send a full fledge GP team along with helping the countries who would use it for a developing GP team. You can then re-institute your North American Championship in conjunction with that event.
lita dove — September 4, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
I love the idea of Pan Ams having BOTH small and large tour!!!
That’s a simply stupendous idea, Roberta!
I mean…the judges are there, the infrastructure has to be there (fingers crossed, LOL) and probably a lot more ’show’ to publicize and market.
And I didn’t mean 2003 Euros were a qualifier for USA, rather for other countries. Was trying to say what you succeeded in saying–that the decision was made down the line to have ‘closed’ as usual, then ‘open’, then amending what all that really meant, etc etc.
RR — September 4, 2009 @ 9:17 pm
Roberta, you are so smart and I feel soooo old!
I love your ideas and you should make them known to our U.S. leadership and see if they agree and would like to help make change happen.
Best regards.
RD
Whisper — September 6, 2009 @ 10:10 am
Most shows will not be able to afford 7 judges per arena. Is the FEI planning to actually use either the scores of all 7 judges (or 5 with highest and lowest scores dropped), or are they using it to see how scores vary based on judge position?
Beth Collier — September 8, 2009 @ 1:12 pm
I went to the European Championships…it was just super! I loved watching the warm-up. Anky worked so hard trying to do good halts– she got quite a few excellent ones in the warm-up but not in the ring.
Edward should have scored higher in the Grand Prix– what is there left for him to improve? I thought he was the absolute epitome of dressage.
Then I went to the Burghley Horse Trials where it was also notes that there is no continential championship for US riders. The European championship for eventing is coming up soon in France. The Europeans have an amazing depth of top horses and riders.
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