Show jumper Devin Ryan is, in a sense, back where his rise to the top of his sport began. The venue is different but the event is the same, the Longines FEI World Cup Finals.
In 2018, longshots Devin and the brilliant Eddie Blue were a surprise second place at the Cup finals in Paris. They went from there to a spot on the gold medal team at the FEI World Equestrian Games.
From the highest level on the podium, they were on track for their attempt to make the 2020 Olympics, until a bone bruise on Eddie’s hind leg derailed the effort.
Now Eddie is back in form, and the venue is Omaha for the 2023 Cup finals.
“I’ve been taking it a little easy with him,” Devin said after a training round in the massive arena at the CHI Health Center.
He had a good season in 2022, but the plan going forward involves “saving him and having short- and long-term goals and see what happens. I thought about this in the beginning of the year, the World Cup Finals. He’s really more of a championship type horse, we get outrun often in jump-offs, but he likes to jump clear rounds,” Devin pointed out.
“I thought we’d come here and see what we could get done.”
What has been different over the last few years?
“He’s a little older, things change with horses,” the Long Valley, N.J., rider said of the 14-year-old Dutch warmblood.
“Their programs change and you have to figure them out, so it keeps the sport interesting.”
“My goal with him is just to coast a little bit and do this. It’s a good venue for him. He’s always been really good indoors. The important thing is Paris (the 2024 Olympics). I think it’s in anybody’s sights who has a horse they feel can do it. The horse has to be strong and healthy. We have to also as a country not over-use our horses.”
“I’m so lucky to have Eddie in my life. These animals bless us in a way. Once you have one and you do it with them, you understand what a difference it is when you have a horse who is good at his job and likes doing it, goes out there and performs.”
The U.S. is still trying to qualify as a country for Paris, which puts importance on the Nations Cup finals in Barcelona and the Pan American Games this autumn.
Devin Ryan and Eddie Blue. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Would Devin be interested in those competitions?
“Wherever they need me, I’d sort of put myself out there,” he said
But first things first; we’re in Omaha.
“It’s one of the strongest fields in a World Cup final. There are some good ones who have been doing really well,” observed Devin.
That includes world champion Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden with King Edward and Cup defending champion Martin Fuchs of Switzerland on Leone Jei. And then there’s the USA’s McLain Ward, riding the Holsteiner mare,Callas, as he seeks to repeat his 2017 Cup victory when Omaha put on the finals for the first time.
McLain Ward and Callas. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
So it means even if Devin doesn’t make the podium, finishing well up in the standings would be impressive.
U.S. show jumping coach Robert Ridland made the same point as Devin in assessing the field for the Cup.
The group of exhibitors, he noted, “is as strong a list as it ever had been. Just go down the list from Europe. I was excited to see how strong the contingent is from the rest of the world.”
They do things differently from the U.S. in terms of getting to the finals.
“I don’t think our qualifying system works as well as it does in Europe. Our system stars too early, ends too late. Theirs is much more compact with their indoor circuit.
“Ours, of course, historically combines indoors and outdoors, which is a little bit of an issue. But there’s not much we can do about it because that’s where our top competitions are. I believe we definitely need a revamping of our qualifying system, so that it makes more sense for our top horse-rider combinations. I think if we did that, it would be better for us and better for the future World Cups.”
