The sun came out in Wiesbaden today, making this already beautiful town even more fabulous! With the sun came summer temperatures which made all of us feel a bit more like we were back home. ( I almost said “in the States” but then I remembered that my team’s homes are, with two exceptions -Ashley and Shannon- in Canada where it may have been colder than what we have been feeling in Belgium or here in Germany.). To make things really great, all of my riders and horses had super rides with still another day, tomorrow, to prepare to compete in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

I must admit, it’s sort of like rehearing for a play and knowing you are ready to go on stage but recognizing there are still a couple of days before the “Grand Opening”. I feel our group is right on track to perform lovely tests on Sunday and can see they are confident in their horses and themselves, for which I am very glad. They should be. I can honestly say that I would have been, back in the days, honoured to ride any one of their horses down the centre-line of a major international show like Wiesbaden.

This evening we all went our for a “team dinner” to The Hacienda Mexican Restaurant which is only a block away form the Castle. We laughed and enjoyed our food and then went next door for ice cream. Thank God there is a very good gym near our hotel because all this coaching does nothing for one’s waistline. I also have been enjoying seeing old friends like Monica Theodorescu, Louise Nathorst and many others who I have not seen in quite a long time. And I heard it was Ruth Klimke’s 70th birthday today and want to wish this most wonderful lady a very happy, healthy birthday and many, many happy returns. She is truly an amazing human being!

The first Grand Prix for the Freestyle begins tomorrow and though Canada has no starters in it, I will give a full report tomorrow evening on how it went.

Cheers!

RD

The Canadian Squad arrived in beautiful Wiesbaden today and had their first warm-up rides in front of the fantastic Biebrich Castle. It brought back so many wonderful memories of horses I rode here over the many years. But I have to say, this show has grown to be so much larger than it ever had been when I was competing. Between having all 3 International Olympic sports as well as many national classes offered, Wiesbaden is huge, but it remains so charming, with the possible exception of the somewhat complicated arrival and departure for all of the exhibitors on the one-way road beside the park. As usual the process of loading and unloading can take hours once one has finally made it up to where one can enter through the gates.

But it is all worth it to be able to ride with possibly the most gorgeous facade in the world as your backdrop, as well as having all the other amenities which this great international show boasts. Tomorrow is the jog as well as another chance for our riders to warm up in the main arena. They all looked beautiful today and do not compete until Sunday morning, so they have plenty of time to fully relax in the environment here. Feel free to send your “good luck” messages to our riders here as they are reading the site every day.

Belinda Trussell and Anton in front of the Wiesbaden Castle

Cheers!

RD

Second part first: Please take note of the ad on the right side of the page which is for our Take The Podium  “Send-off To Kentucky”, benefiting for our World Equestrian Games Team.  This is going to be a great party in the Toronto area and I certainly hope you will come out for all the fun and to meet and support our Dressage Team in person as well as many of the most famous Canadian riders in history. No doubt, I will keep reminding you over the next months about this amazing event.

Here in Belgium, we had our “Dress Rehearsals” today and I was extremely please with the Grand Prix tests of our riders and horses. All of them showed great confidence as well as excellent expression and I am very excited  to see them compete in front of the beautiful  castle of Wiesbaden. We will train tomorrow normally and Friday is the jog, with Saturday being the Grand Prix for the Freestyle.  Sunday is the Grand Prix for the Special and Sunday night is the Freestlyle while Monday morning will be the Special. FUN!

And now for some typical Robert Dover “stuff”.  So, I drove to Frankfurt today after finishing training and, happily, my navigational system worked perfectly to bring me to the Sheraton which is directly attached to the airport. The problem was that, though I could see the Sheraton perfectly, finding the parking lot for it was close to impossible, especially in the driving rain!  I went around and around the circle, exiting from the airport and coming back to find myself in yet another place so close to the hotel but nowhere near what surely had to be an underground parking lot.  Finally, I found it and luckily there was a green arrow showing that there was a free spot down the isle directly next to the opening leading to the hotel.  I was so excited!  I pressed the button, got my ticket and drove down the isle only to find out there was no open spot.  And even worse was that once turning at the end of the isle one had no other alternative than to exit the entire parking lot, as all the isles are one-way. Trust me, I tried to back up the neighbouring isles, much to the anger of people in other cars trying to leave.  So out I went through the exit and once more had to go all the way around the airport to come back to the same parking lot. But this time I stopped and waited until I saw a guy leaving with his car and then nabbed his spot.  If anyone had thought they were going to take the spot before me, I would have gone postal!  I decided to leave my large bag in my car and only bring my toiletry kit and a change of underwear since the plan was to pick up Robert who is flying in tomorrow morning at 6:50am.  The only problem is that they are cutting off the hot water first thing tomorrow morning to fix some problem in the hotel.  Can you believe it?!  Oh well, we will just have to drive on down to Wiesbaden directly to the hotel there, where the sweetest young lady named Martina, who works the front desk, still remembered me from the last time I showed Kennedy there back in 2004!  I love it!

I will update everyone each day from Wiesbaden. Now I’m off to take a hot shower while I still can.

Cheers!

RD

We had another great day at Jewel Court Stud with our four Canadian combinations. I am enjoying seeing them improve from day to day and tomorrow we will be doing a Grand Prix “dress-rehearsal” with each horse turned out as if they were competing.  I love these rehearsals because they allow me to gauge exactly where the riders and horses are before getting to the show and fixing any small but costly details at home.  Further, it is a huge confidence builder when the rider sees how comfortably they are able to negotiate the Grand Prix with both exacting precision and great expression.  I make sure that each and every day is taped with special emphasis on these “schooling shows”, so each rider can see for themselves just how fantastic they are doing.  And, in the case where there is room for improvement, they see that as well and are sure to make the appropriate adjustments to their ride the following day.

We start at 9:00am tomorrow and after the show is over, I will  be heading out to drive to Frankfurt where I will be overnighting at the airport Sheraton where Robert Ross is lying into Thursday morning.  Robert is so great.  He’s coming over twice during the next month in keeping with our rule of not being apart for more than 2 weeks, something we have now lived up to for our 22 years together. I will also get to go home one time after Rotterdam to New York and not only see Robert but also our dog, Simon, who I miss terribly as well!

I will report tomorrow night on our rehearsal day and look forward to a very successful show in Wiesbaden. Of course, I will bring you the results as well as the behind the scenes fun that you only find on Dover’s World.

Cheers!

RD

So I am very interested in hearing from my readers what they think about the diagrams which the FEI has sent out to describe to us all and especially the ring stewards what is or is not an acceptable frame towarm up one’s horse in.  Now remember these pictures and the rules they refer to apply to all FEI sports , not just Dressage.  This I was guaranteed by my friend, Trond Asmyr, who is the FEI Director of Dressage, because the minute the new rules came out, I called him out of concern that “what is good for the goose is good for the gander”.  Am I right here folks?  I mean, if this is all about animal welfare and protecting our horses from abuse, surely every warm-up arena in every sport must be scrutinized with the same standards our sport of Dressage is.  Further, we need to get on the same page about the carrying as well as the use of the whip, shouldn’t we?  Look, does it really make sense that Dressage riders are no longer even allowed to ride around the outside of the main arena carrying a whip while in other sports riderscan not only hold their whips, but can actually hit the horse with it.  What do you all think about that?

I want to be clear here that I am not a proponent of using the whip or doing anything which is abusive to a horse. I’m just curious as to whether you all agree with me that where it has to do with welfare of the horse, the FEI should hold all horse sports to the same standard. I’m always astounded that Dressage, the sport where we prance around doing fancy movements for 6 to 8 minutes is the one that constantly seems to get held up to the strongest standard of of regulations.

Please tell me what you think. OK?

Cheers!

RD

OK, I’ve been hearing from many of you that I haven’t quite been living up to my responsibilities regarding my posts from beautiful Jewel Court Stud here in Belgium with the Canadian  Squad. I promise some pictures in the next couple of days, but will try to give you a better description of the farm as well as how our gang are working. The truth is that my laptop just started working by some miracle which I just do not understand, since the first 3 days it absolutely refused to go online with wireless connection. Oh well, it’s working now so all is perfect!

Jewel Court is owned by the Cordia Family and it is truly gorgeous!  The barn is lovely and the grounds are even finer, with amazing plantings including what one is astounded by in this part of Belgium, that being trees which are trained to embrace their limbs parallel to the ground as if they were each holding hands, sort of like looking at people doing just that except their arms bloom with beautiful foliage. It is quite remarkable. There are so many wonderful homes in this area and the Castle of Brasschaat, where the famous Schoten CDI was held for many years still is the scene for almost daily special events.  So 7:00am came way to early and now, as I write this at 7:15pm, still not having had my dinner, I am ready to keel over. Naturally!

Now to our gang. I started with Shannon and Ayscha today and they are just getting better and better each day. The mare is the youngest of our group and she also travelled longest which, for her, was not easy. But she is fantastic and I can’t wait for her to show the Europeans just how remarkable her scope and talents are. Shannon has done an excellent job of bringing her along from Prix St. George one year ago to making the squad for this tour this season. We took it a bit easy for the first few days but had a full work-out today and tomorrow we will go through most if not all of the Grand Prix as we ramp it up going into next week before leaving for Wiesbaden on Thursday. This is an amazing pair to watch progress!

I had a lot of fun today riding Wendy Christoff’s, Pfalstaff, for the first time. This horse could not be more kind or willing to please and he has a really good “go button”. We worked on the basic gaits and throughness, always the way we do with each and every horse each and every day. Once, with the help of Wendy to let me know exactly when Pfalstaff’s frame was in the optimum position, I had the feeling I knew exactly where to put him, he was like playing a fine-tuned instrument. I guarantee that this combination can easily earn well over 70% with just a bit more time.

Next came Belinda Trussell and Anton. I have had so much fun helping this pair. The thing is that Anton is really very similar in many ways to Kennedy. Very hot on the aids but smart and sweet at the same time.  They have continued to improve and grow more confident in each other, showing international “star potential” which will be further realized on this tour - mark my words!

And last today (Ashley Holzer’s daughter, Emma. is being Bat Mizvah’d  in the next week and so she and Poppy will join us after Wiesbaden in time to go with the group to Lingen and the other shows after) was Bonny Bonnello with Pikardi. I have to say, though each of the horses have truly improved a huge amount over the last months, somehow I must give Pikardi a special achievement award for effort. At the beginning of the season, I could see that he was very gifted but much of the time he just didn’t seem to want to “play along”. And as the season wore on, I honestly wasn’t sure if we were going to get him to come through, but Bonny is one of the finest riders I know and she has just done a masterful job of bringing Pikardi to the place where he really looks and acts like a totally different horse than 5 months ago.  The greatness that he showed in Lexington last month has even progressed since and he is a joy to watch go every day now.

Folks, I have to say that this group of riders and horses is on a par with the finest group I have had the pleasure of going on tours with over the span of my long career - ever!  I am truly excited to watch them show and grow as we proceed through the season here in Europe. And what is still better is that there are more great Canadian combinations, both in North America and here in Europe, showing and trying out for the World Equestrian Games. I hope to get to see those over here in some of their shows and give them every bit of support they need. Likewise, I wish the gang trying out back home all the best of luck as well. We have the makings of a long-list that can consist of  more than enough combinations able to achieve over 70% and I wish each and every one of them the very best of luck.  Go Canada!

Cheers!

RD

The Sun came out this morning for all our riders and it was absolutely beautiful here. Even better was that all 4 horses were super, showing exactly what I hoped to see one week out from Wiesbaden.

Did I mention that we are staying in the area very near Schoten Castle? This is the place where Mariette Withages organized a super show during the 80’s into early 90’s. It is a moated castle and very elegantly set in the woods. That was a wonderful competition!

This entire area of Belgium is lovely, with stately, tree-lined roads and very beautiful homes everywhere. So, even though the sun went away this afternoon again, life is nice and we are slowly finding our way to the local gym, supermarkets, and naturally, phone and computer stores.

Cheers!

RD

Four of the five riders and horses are now in Belgium at beautiful Jewel Court Stud. Ashley is coming a little later this month due to family responsibilities, so will miss the forst show in Wiesbaden but will be along for Lingen, Rotterdam and Aachen. The others all rode today and the horses looked great! Jewel Court’s facilities could not be more lovely and the footing is state of the art. We are psyched to be getting ready for Wiesbaden, May 22nd-24th.

On a sad note, I must report the passing of two of my friends - Tim Grubb and Joe Guzman. I can hardly believe that these two young guys are gone!

Tim was a fantastic horseman and an Olympian for both Great Britain and the United States. I am told by his ex-wife, Michelle, that donations in his name are to go to the Equestrian Aid Foundation. My condolences go out to Michelle, Tim’s two great kids, and all who loved him.

Joe Guzman, a friend and hunter trainer who I met while living in the Hamptons, died the other day and my heart goes out to his loved ones as well. Both Joe and Tim will be sorely missed!

RD

I have always loved Belgium. It is perfectly located for travelling to most of the horse shows in Europe, has some wonderful cities and towns, and boasts having the best food in the region. Arriving at Jewel Court Stud, I was very pleased with how horse and people friendly the farm is, and the personal could not be kinder or more helpful. It is simply lovely in every way! The grooms are staying directly on the farm which could not be better, and the riders as well as myself are in apartments not far from the stables. At the moment, after my very long trip, made even longer as the plane had to fly well north of the volcanic ash around the top of Iceland, I am enjoying dinner and planning to be very early to bed. Hopefully, if the last 2 horses arrive tonight, all but Ashley and Pop Art will be here (they are coming later in the month) and we will begin working tomorrow at 9am sharp.

It always takes a little time to get used to a new place, but I have already been to the local supermarket where I spent 40 Euro’s on Orange Juice, Protein Bars and a prepared meal for one. I have a full kitchen in my apartment which, as usual, will mostly go unused. Fortunately, the restaurant here is, as expected, excellent! Now I just need to find a good gym tomorrow so all this good food and lack of exercise doesn’t go directly to my mid-section.

I will report back from here tomorrow after our first Canadian work-out.

Cheers!

RD

I am in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Brussels to meet up with our European Tour Squad at the beautiful Jewel Court Stud near Antwerp. This is the beginning of a 4 show tour - Wiesbaden, Lingen, Rotterdam and Aachen. Both Rotterdam and Aachen are CDIO’s and Canada will be represented by a full team as well as at least one individual. I feel very confident that our riders: Ashley Holzer, Belinda Trussell, Bonny Bonnello, Wendy Christoph, and Shannon Dueck will be terrific and do their country proud!

Now I just have to hope that summer will come to that region of the world really fast because I hear the high for today was only 49 degrees and I’m a true Floridian!

Cheers!

RD