Steffen Peters and Ravel were absolutely superb today to easily win the World Dressage Masters Grand Prix in Wellington with over 76%. And here is why- Ravel had all of the expression and volume over the ground that Isabel and Anky show with there horses, but at the same time exhibits the harmony we always saw in Brentina with Debbie McDonald at their best.
A couple of days ago, if you had asked me, I would have said that Isabel and Satchmo looked like the victors. She rode through the Grand Prix with all the brilliance she is know for plus a very relaxed attitude, but yesterday the horse appeared more resistant, especially on the center-lines going to the pirouettes. And that was the story of today, where Satchmo fell out of passage into canter, missed the 2’s and had less than stellar pirouettes, the second one almost being more of a turn on the center. Still, what I love about Isabel is that she shows the fantastic impulsion she is able to manufacture with every horse she rides and fearlessly produces highlights no one can ever deny, and these earn her very high scores which are well deserved. 

Anky did the same thing with Salinero, showing again why these riders are at the top of the world. The volume within their trot half-passes and extensions is unmistakably top class, and Salinero performed all halts perfectly still. Where they lost points was in the passage tours which Anky holds back to the point that they become to piaffe-like. Other than this and some swinging in her two-tempis, I thought that Salinero actually looked very lovely  and that he could easily find himself up in the high 70’s once again with a more flowing  and ground-covering passage.

Fourth in this great competition was Ashley Holzer riding Pop Art for Canada. I have to say that, other than a tiny glitch in her first piaffe where he slightly lost his cadence, and six instead of five steps in the rein-back, this pair did a wonderful test! As a matter of fact, they were only .085% behind Isabel and Satchmo, showing that Ashley is truly in that very elite group of riders who are consistently able to achieve top results.

The scores dropped quite a bit after Ashley’s fourth place marks, with Ulla Salzgeber getting only a bit more than 68% for her ride. Along with her, the other Dutch and German riders rounded out the top eight places with Americans and Canadians not coming up to the standard of the leaders.

But even with this, I have to say that I was very proud of both Belinda Trussell on Anton and Diane Creech on Devon L. You see, these two riders and their ten year old horses are both in a very evolutionary phase in their training. They were used to going, perhaps clean through the Grand Prix, but without enough expression or high level frame to earn the big points I know they are capable of. I remember back to 1987 when Jessica Ransehousen came to Europe with Orpheus and rode in Stuttgart. The pair went through the Grand Prix without one mistake, but in a frame far to much like a lower level horse. After placing toward the bottom of the class, I met up with Jess and said we had to get to work, and by the next big show two weeks later, Orphy was in a magnificent frame. The only problem was that Jess now had created tension which caused her to make many mistakes in the class. I mean A LOT OF MISTAKES!  And so we went back home and 3 weeks later arrived at the next CDI where, with a brilliant and mistake free ride, the amazing  Jessica Ransehousen proved again why she was a great Olympic rider, placing third in a very large class. She went on to easily make the Olympic team in 88  in Seoule.

This is the same evolution that both Belinda and Diane are going through with their horses, and is the exact same thing I am working to improve all of our other WEG declared combinations in as we speak. As a matter of fact, this show could not have come at a more opportune moment, as it allowed my Canadian riders to come and see exactly what I have been trying to impress upon them. A picture truly is worth a thousand words as well as  a hundred video’s!  So, my Canadian friends, I am looking forward to our lessons tomorrow on the day off from the show, to see exactly what you all learned from watching. We should  all see some more great rides in the Special and the Freestyle on Saturday and I will report them as I see them.

Cheers!

RD

Posted: Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized