We are back at beautiful Jewel Court Stud with the Canadian Squad working very hard to prepare for the CDIO Rotterdam.  All of the horses and riders are improving from each show they experience and it so interesting and gratifying to watch this happen.  Rotterdam will be the first time that we show as a team, the combinations being Ashley Holzer with Pop Art, Belinda Trussell and Anton, Shannon Dueck with Ayscha, and Bonny Bonnello and Pikardi.  We also will have both Wendy Christoph and Pfallstaff and Cheryl Meisner and Paganini competing in the National CDI which will be judged by exactly the same panel which I love since this will also be the panel judging the World Championships in Lexington, Kentucky in the fall.  Ashley will also show the lovely Sonnenstern, owned by the Cordia family, in the small tour again.  In case I forgot to mention it, they were super in Lingen earning 3rd place in the Prix St. George and 4th in his very first Intermediare 1. Amazing!

I also want to congratulate Victoria Winter and Cindy Ishoy for a great job winning the Grand Prix Special in Palgrave with over 68%! ( 2 judges had the pair over 70%)  Right behind her was Jacquie Brookes and I want to recognize these two as well as our other Canadian riders trying out for the WEG Team in North America and say, “Keep It Up!”  I will report daily from Rotterdam.

Cheers!

RD

I just returned from a nice little 3 day vacation from all my “horsing around”. I met Robert on Sunday evening in London after returning to Belgium from our very successful show in Lingen, Germany.  How’s that for getting around?

We stayed at 7 Dials, which is a famous place where 7 streets come together like spokes from a wheel and in the center there is an obelisk monument like a sun dial. The hotel was both quaint and lovely and very easy to walk to great shops and dining from.  Naturally, we shopped each day for clothes, but we also took time to see some sites we had never been to such as the London Tower, the pictures of which I am enclosing below for those of you who have never been to see it. I would have taken some pic’s of the Crown Jewels but, alas, they don’t allow photography in the vault where they are stored, but take my word for it, just the jewels from one of those crowns could probably solve the financial woes of the entire country which the queen was speaking of the other day on TV.

Robert and I also got to see some dear friends who live in London and this we always love. We had some very fun dinners and stayed out way too late, but were up bright and early today to get to our flight back to Brussels so I could train our Canadian riders and their horses this afternoon.  Back to work so we can be ready to leave on Tuesday for our next big show in Rotterdam.

Cheers and enjoy the pic’s below!

RD

The Tower Of London

A Look At London From The Tower Wall

Today marked another milestone for our Canadian Squad in Europe as Belinda Trussell and Anton broke the 70% barrier achieving a 70.45% in the Grand Prix Special. I must admit that for me it was already achieved, truth be told, from their first test in Wiesbaden, but finally she is just beginning to prove to EVERYONE that she and Anton are owed scores worthy of the best class combiantions. They placed 8th today in, once again, a very strong class which was won by British rider, Laura Bechtolsheimer with Mistral Hojris, an amazingly powerful, big chestnut gelding. The pair earned a huge score of 79.45, over 2 percentage points ahead of top German rider, Isabel Werth with Satchmo. I have to say that even more amazing for me was watching two young German riders who are starting equally young horses in the Grand Prix. Christoph Koschel and Donnperignon and Anabel Balkenhol were 3rd and 4th respectively. Christoph is a very nice guy and his horse is about as lovely, honest and giving as any horse I have ever seen. And Anabel’s riding has, over the last years, truly improved immensely and she and her wondeful horse, Dablino, are proving to be among the very best combinations around. Knowing both these “kids” as long as I have, I can honestly say I was proud to see them excel.
It must be our job in North America to not only mentor our younger riders better but to recognize that our best hope for ongoing success is to ensure that not only our top professionals are wonderfully mounted, but that we bring along and furnish our stars of the future with the very best horses we can find.

With every show I feel the Canadian riders and their horses growing and it is in large part due to the environments in which they are competing week after week. Nothing can replace this kind of experience and we must remember this always.

Cheers!

RD

Last night in front of fantastic crowds Ashley Holzer produced Canada’s first win on our European Tour in the Grand Prix Freestyle. She rode a great test which can still produce easily over 80% but for a few tiny bobbles and we all were so proud as the Canadian flag was raised while the anthem played. Several people joked with me saying they had not remembered what the Canadian Anthem sounded like and I told them to get used to it!

Our group is workimg very hard and I feel that each rider is gaining a huge amount from this tour. Wendy had unfortunate spooks from Pfallstaff but had some nice highlights. Bonny’s, Pikardi also, sadly, got his tongue out which cost the pair too many points from what would definitely have been a very good score. Shaanon and Ayscha are improving with each class and showing world-class potential. Cheryl Meisner and Paganini showed a much better test in the Kur receiving just under 70% and 9th place right behind Ayscha in 8th. And Belinda did another very nice Grand Prix and is about to warm up for the Special which means I have to get back to work. I’ll report on how great she does later.

Cheers and please excuse and spelling errors as I’m on my blackberry and don’t have time to edit.

RD

Before I begin to speak about Lingen I have to say something about its sponsor, Mr. Kampmann. The other day, I hurt my back and was really not sure how I was going to get through this show, no less the rest of the tour. I spoke to Canadian rider, Ryan Torkeli, who is the head rider for Stall Kampmann, and withiin an hour, though no one could be busier than this gentleman, I had an appointment to see a specialist less than 10 minutes away. I was immediately seen by the doctor who could not have been nicer or more professional, and today I am already 50% better from his treatments. I want to thank the Doctor, Ryan, and especially Mr. Kampmann again for their generosity and help!

Now, on to the show. Lingen is devoted to Dressage and is extremely “horse friendly”. Today, in the Prix. St. Georges, Ashley Holzer rode Sonnenstern, the beautiful Oldenburg 8 year old, to 3rd place with just under 69%. This was only his 3rd time doing this test and he shows wonderful talent as well to go on and become a great Grand Prix Horse.

In the Grand Prix, Ashley and Pop Art had a couple of expensive mistakes without which she would easily have won the class, still receiving over 70%. This was Ashley’s first time back into the arena since the winter and she showed her usual top class riding.
Our 2nd Canadian pair in this Grand Prix also did Canada Proud with a score of 67.021% and 7th Place out of 17 entries! Ayscha is a fabulous mare and is growing and maturing every single day. I have very high hopes for this pair as they receive extremely great compliments from the judges.
Cheryl Meisner was our third Canadian in the class and she placed 9th with Paganini, the Dutch stallion owned by John Risley. Cheryl has been in Europe competing her horses and I was pleased that this combination is showing nice improvement and have the capability to produce excellent results.

So, all in all, I was a very good day for Canada, and it’s not quite over as Ryan Torkeli has 2 gorses in the class for 4 year olds still going on as I write this. This young man rides well and surely will be a plus for Canada in the future. One thing is for sure; having Stall Kampman behind you could not be better for his career.

Cheers!

RD

Thanks to the generosity of Dressage Canada’s Chairman of the Board, Karen Thompson-Harry, the squad and I are looking proud in our new Jackets and Polo’s. Tomorrow is the Vet Check in Lingen and we will be turned out in our Red and White’s.

We also want to thank Mr. And Mrs. Cordia and Ms. Wiebke Bank for the lovely Jewel Court/ Team Canada Jackets which they were so kind to give us all. We will wear them with pride!

Cheers!

RD

I read somewhere that people were saying how much they regret that Dressage riders in Europe are not wearing protective helmets as so many including myself are in North America.  How wrong they are!  Our entire Canadian Squad have worn their helmets every minute they are on their horses and only used their Top Hats in the main arena at the show in Wiesbaden.  I am very proud of our Canadian riders for being great role-models and showing that safety is paramount.  Here is a shot I took of Shannon Dueck on Ayscha the day before the Grand Prix in the main arena.  

Cheers!

RD