A collection of carriages, coaches, sleighs, carriage bells and appointments from the collection of Jeff Day will be auctioned off at 9 a.m. Sept. 10 in Asbury by Paul Z. Martin Auctioneers and Associates..
It’s the culmination of a three-day sale that also includes farm and haying equipment. For information, check www.autozip.com. The auction ID is 27759. For information, call 717-354-2010.
The U.S. climbed to third place (76.971) in the team rankings in Rio, with bravura performances by its last two riders under pressure, Steffen Peters with Legolas (77.614) now standing sixth individually, and anchor Laura Graves on Verdades (78.071), fifth.
Legs behaved himself and was good in his bogey movement, the one-tempis. Things look bright going into Friday’s Grand Prix Special, which will decide the medals.
“It’s going to be a tight, tight horse race, so to speak,” commented Steffen, but he notes team spirit has helped boost the USA.
“There’s so much camaraderie on our team. We’ve been training together for three months, and every day, we all watch each other. Every day we come to the barn and there is a big group hug.”
Laura and Diddy got 9’s for pirouttes and passage, balancing 5.9 in the one-tempis and 6.3 for a less-than-perfect lead change out of the zig-zags.
Laura Graves and Verdades have a special relationship. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“My horse was really super,” said Laura, who is coached by Olympian Debbie McDonald.
“I’m very happy with the feeling he gave me today and the way the training is reflecting in the arena.I’m really happy with the pirouettes and the passage-piaffe, which is a talent for this horse, but not so much in the arena when he’s not sure where to be with his big legs. I feel that’s really improved in the last two months.”
The other team members, Allison Brock (Rosevelt) and Kasey Perry-Glass (Dublet) who rode on the first day of the Grand Prix, also will compete in the Special
Of course, Germany was dominant, with a team mark of 81.295. Britain was able to soar into second among the teams with Valegro’s 85.071 to put the Brits at 79.252. The world record holder in everything GP dressage got bouquets of 10s from the judges for movements from halt/salute to pirouette and extended trot.
This is likely Valegro’s last competitive outing. Why not go out when you’re ahead? Expect a big retirement ceremony at London’s Olympia show. Then maybe he’ll be performing exhibitions, but it won’t be the same without the giant of the sport.
The Netherlands is without the advantage of a drop score after Adelinde Cornelissen retired Parzival yesterday when the 19-year-old horse suffered ill-effects of a bug bite. So the Dutch stand just behind the U.S. on 76.043, which means the U.S. team has to continue to produce top scores for the GPS if they want to fulfill their dreams and stand on the podium. Sweden (75.319) and Denmark (74.270) make up the rest of the six teams that will field all their riders in the GPS, along with the top eight individuals who are not part of a qualified team.
After the GPS, the top 18 will go for the individual medals. If Valegro keeps up his side, he should win his second straight individual Olympic gold medal with Charlotte Dujardin. Hard to believe Britain had never won a dressage medal until it took double gold at the 2012 Games.
World Number one Kristina Broring-Sprehe of Germany on Desperados stands second with an 82.257, even with a 6.4 for her horse’s not ideal zig-zag. Right behind in third was her teammate, Isabell Werth on Weiheigold, with 81.029 as her country’s anchor rider. Depending on how she does in Rio, world number two Isabell is poised to overtake the Olympic medal record of Germany’s legendary Reiner Klimke (whose daughter, Ingrid, was on Germany’s silver medal eventing team in Rio).
Standing fourth is yet another German, Dorothee Schneider on Showtime, world number three. They were marked at 80.986. Figure the individual silver and bronze medals will belong to two of those three Germans.
It was nice to see the stands with a few more people today. The weather was better and the top riders of each team were going, so that was the lure, although as I’ve said, Brazil isn’t a GP dressage country. It finished 10th of 11 teams.
The U.S., seventh after the first day of eventing dressage, moved up to a tie (137.5 penalties) for sixth with New Zealand today after the conclusion of the first phase at the Deodoro complex.
All is not lost, with a tough cross-country test slated for tomorrow, in which the riders must be as clever as French course designer Pierre Michelet. Expect a lot of glance-offs on tricky corners if they don’t deal properly with his signature style of distances.
So things could change, but perhaps more among the top four than below that. Germany leads the way as expected on 122 penalties, with 122.2 for second-place France (I told you to watch them in my Rio preview). Australia is third at 126.4, followed by Britain (127.7), whose William Fox Pitt held his first-day edge on Chilli Morning in the individual standings.
Nice to see Ireland in fifth (135.6), as eventing is the only discipline in which that country has a team this time around. (You remember all the controversy over them not qualifying a squad for the show jumping).
A lot was expected of the U.S. team, being coached for the first time at the Olympics by 2000 Olympic individual gold medalist David O’Connor. But it wound up with pathfinder Boyd Martin on Blackfoot Mystery being the discard score (47.7) in 35th place out of 65 starters. Lauren Kieffer stands 33d on 47.3 penalties after a slightly tense Veronica bobbled in the flying change sequence and was marked with 4’s for the collected canter.
Temperatures were in the low 90s, with uncovered grandstands that looked to me to be 70 percent empty (and I’m being generous here.) Beach volleyball, I noticed, wasn’t a sell-out either. The dressage arena still has plenty of atmosphere, which has affected some of the horses.
Lots of breaks in the trot, some jigging in the walk and distracted flying changes. Hey, even defending champ Michael Jung of Germany on Sam had a flying change problem yesterday that moved him down today to fifth place (40.9). His teammate, Ingrid Klimke on Hale-Bob OLD slotted in ahead of him in fourth (39.5).
A lovely ride from France’s Mathieu Lemoine on Bart L earned two 8’s and a 7.5 for his final flying change and he wound up third with 39.2. Do you think the French know how to ride Pierre’s cross-country courses? I’ll bet they do.
U.S. anchor rider Phillip Dutton on Mighty Nice was doing mighty nicely, getting 7’s for his extended and medium walk, and then had a scrambled flying change. That put him at 43.6, good enough for 15th place to become the top American. Clark Montgomery, who had that honor yesterday, moved down to 24th with his score of 46.6 from yesterday.
From the steaming jungles of Malaysia to the scenic fields of Normandy, Meg Sleeper has competed in four endurance world championships. She plans to make it five next month in Slovakia, riding along the Danube river under what likely will be optimum conditions to complete the race.
Meg Sleeper and Shyrocco Rimbaud
The Kingwood Township resident needs help to do it, however. That’s understandable when you learn that the initial estimate for shipping her horse, Shyrocco Rimbaud, was $22,000 round-trip for a variety of reasons. The horse will fly into Frankfurt, Germany, and then have a 10-hour van ride to get to his destination.
The U.S. Equestrian Federation is giving her a $10,000 grant to be used as she wishes, but expenses are many. A friend, Robin Farrington, set up a GoFundMe account in Meg’s name, but it’s less than halfway to the $18,800 goal. (click on https://www.gofundme.com/megsleeperenduranc to read more about Meg and make a pledge).
It is rarely easy to go to a world championship (held every two years) for those in this non-Olympic FEI sport, because a large crew is required by each competitor. Meg will have four people to help her.
The race originally was supposed to be in Dubai, and expenses for that would have been covered by the organizer, Meg said, but horse welfare issues prompted the FEI to change venues. Slovakia (where the lavish Samorin equestrian center is a contender to host the 2018 World Equestrian Games) didn’t get the nod to hold the championships until June, which left little time for fundraising.
Although Meg was originally part of the U.S. team, one of the three horses selected had to drop out, so she and Thomas Hagis of Virginia will compete as individuals.
The championships are usually a financial struggle (and of course, there’s tons of work to condition and qualify a horse), yet the highly regarded University of Florida veterinary cardiologist has no thought of giving up on her opportunities to compete at the top of the endurance game.
“I just love the sport. I love seeing the different trails and meeting new people and also some of the people I see just at these events,” said Meg.
Discussing the Slovakia location, 90 minutes by car from Vienna, she said, “I’m really excited about it. It will be an adventure.” But less of one, happily, than riding through that rain forest.
It’s a family effort. She rides homebreds and her husband, Dave Augustine, works as the shoer and a crew member. (He’ll be accompanying the horse on the plane as a groom.)
Her mark of seven hours, 49 minutes for 100 miles, set four years ago during the London world championships (where she was 11th) is the fastest off-continent time recorded for a U.S. horse. Meg’s mount for that event was Reveille, who sustained a fracture more than seven months ago and is still in rehab.
It seems unlikely Reveille will compete again, but she will be represented by Rimbaud, her Anglo-Arab half-brother out of a thoroughbred mare, Poetic Pride, a Northern Dancer granddaughter. Reveille’s half-sister, Shyrocco Rabia, who is also by Rimmon, will be ridden in the championships by Fernando Paiz, representing Guatemala.
Of the fundraising effort, Meg noted, “It’s really emotional for me. I feel really awkward asking for financial assistance. Some of the responses have been really emotional for me. I’ve had clients from years ago contacting me.
“It’s been a really interesting voyage. I feel like I’m going to have all these people with me in my pocket as I’m riding, because the support has been really incredible. I’m hoping we can do well because I really feel like I need to do that for everybody.”
I know the Olympic show jumping has been a bit hard to follow, with the teams and individuals on seemingly separate tracks, as the opener on Sunday was only to place teams in the order of go, while for the individuals, it counted big time.
Lucy Davis, the youngest member of the U.S team, was clear today on Barron
So although the U.S. was down the line on Sunday, today American riders shone, with clears from Lucy Davis (Barron), Kent Farrington on Voyeur (the only one who also was clear Sunday) and McLain Ward (Azur). Just the best three out of four count, so anchor rider Beezie Madden’s toppled pole and water jump fault with Cortes C was the team’s drop score. Together with a rail from Sunday, that knocks her out of individual contention.
“It was a short seven up the first line, and maybe I was a little casual about the back rail, and then he clipped that,” Beezie said about her knockdown at fence 3.
“The water has been riding difficult all day. I just didn’t quite get across. I think he actually finished better than he started in the course, so hopefully tomorrow we’re in good shape.”
I had been thinking Cortes, her individual and team bronze horse at the 2014 WEG, wasn’t at his sharpest this season. It’s quite an art getting a horse ready for the Games, what with all the observation events and fitness required to get them to peak at the right time.
But as expected, the USA is leading after the first round of the team jumping, tied with the Netherlands (world champions), Germany (the faves to medal in Rio) and Brazil.
Brazil?
Let me blow my horn a bit; I did pick them as a key contender in previews, and not only because they are “at home” and the crowd is behind them. Having former U.S. coach George Morris on their side as coach is a big plus in any team’s book.
I spoke to George after today’s jumping at the Deodoro Equestrian Center and he emphasized, “I have two teams.” While he’s in the kiss-and-cry stand (where team officials and family observe competition) when the Brazilians are going, he is still thrilled that America is doing so well.
“I’m beholden to the States,” he said, and of course, the U.S. is beholden to him as well–not only for his team coaching, but also for his system of equitation and horsemanship that has been a key to American success.
He emphasized that he isn’t changing the riding style of his Brazilian team members; that isn’t his function in the relatively brief time he has had with them. Rather, he calls himself “a supporter,” who tries “to keep it all structured.”
One of his methods is going over and over–and over–the route of the course with each rider, to get it into their subconscious and give them confidence.
There had been a small kerfuffle when Rodrigo Pessoa–a former Olympic and world champion–was not named to the squad and selected as alternate, but based on current form, it turns out the right four were picked. Brazil had three clears and one 8-fault round today, and they’re riding high.
Course designer Guilherme Jorge (who we see so often in the U.S., he’s setting up house in Wellington, Fla.,) did it again with a route that enabled 21 of 69 starters to sail through with no penalties, while posing puzzles that stumped those at the lower end of the scale. That’s how it should be, and he’s a master of bringing the best to the top. Brazil is lucky to have one of its own so eminently qualified to lay out the floorplans on the country’s biggest-ever equestrian stage.
The 4.3-meter water obstacle was pesky once again, as it had been in Sunday’s round, and 19 faulted there, including Australia’s Scott Keach who fell off before the jump when his horse refused. It was seven strides from an oxer to the water (laid out going away from the ingate, which makes it harder), so riders really had to rev without overdoing it at the oxer as they thought about the H20.
The teams you’d expect to be near the top are France, fifth with just 1 time fault total (those time faults can be expensive, though) and Canada, with 4, in sixth place. (Keep an eye on them, they have Eric Lamaze, the 2008 individual Olympic gold medalist with the stellar Fine Lady).
Tied for seventh on 8 are Sweden and Switzerland. It was disappointing to see the latter’s defending champ, Steve Guerdat, have 8 faults–including the water–on Nino des Buissonets. The 2012 Olympic gold medalists in eventing and dressage repeated their feat here in the individual standings, and if Steve could have done the same, it would have been an unprecedented sweep for former champs. But he’s behind the tide right now, so it seems unlikely.
In the individual standings, Kent, the USA’s only double clear (Sunday and today), is tied with Germans Christian Ahlmann, Daniel Deusser and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum; Peder Fredericson (Sweden), Pedro Veniss and Doda de Miranda (Brazil), Harrie Smolders and Maikel van der Vleuten, (Netherlands), Sergio Alvarez Moya (Spain) and Eric Lamaze (Canada).
“I wouldn’t say it’s massive in size yet, but I am sure that’s to come,” Kent said of the round one course.
Like George, he noted, “I think tomorrow will be significantly bigger. It’s exactly what you would expect at a championship level. The time allowed is quite short, which I think is going to be a factor either through time faults or rails down because of people worrying about the time. Obviously, I am thrilled with my horse. It was a great start for Team USA.”
Tomorrow is the team finals for the top eight nations. Be sure to check out my running commentary at www.twitter.com/@nancyjaffer.
You may have thought things would calm down once eventing moved out of the Deodoro Equestrian Center and the spotlight shifted to Grand Prix dressage, but no.
The biggest surprise of the day was Adelinde Cornelissen’s decision to retire from the ring partway through her ride with the 19-year-old Parzival, leaving the Dutch with a three-member team, no drop score and a real job to take the bronze medal they were predicted to win.
The horse had a bad reaction to an insect bite, and after treatment it was decided he should go for it. But it wasn’t working and Adelinde retired early in her test. I remembered when he was eliminated for blood in the mouth at the 2010 WEG, and it was a bit of deja vu today to see him sadly leaving the ring.
Germany was as predicted, with Dorothee Schneider and the lovely Showtime getting the only score over 80 percent, 80.986, with Sonke Rothenberger, the youngest on the team fairly close behind aboard Cosmo at 77.329. That brought up another memory, his parents on the podium at the Atlanta Games 20 years ago.
Germany leads with an average of 79.157 percent, while Britain is at 74.921 after Fiona Bigwood finished third on 66.157 with Orthilia. Her score and that of Spencer Wilton on Super Nova, tied for seventh on 72.686, might be a case of “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet” after Brits Carl Hester (Nip Tuck) and Charlotte Dujardin (Valegro) get finished tomorrow on the second day of GP dressage.
The USA’s Olympic debutantes were great. Allison Brock and Rosevelt tied with Spencer, while Kasey Perry-Glass is an amazing fifth with Dublet on 75.229. She was right behind Holland’s Edward Gal with Glock’s Voice, not quite where I expected him to be at 75.251. His total is the only one counting for the Netherlands at the moment, which technically puts the Dutch second or definitely not, if you average it with the non-score of Adelinde..
Kasey-Perry Glass and Dublet had the high score for the U.S. on Wednesday. (Photo copyright Shannon Brinkman)
The U.S., which has an average of 73.357 for fourth (or third, depending on how you consider the Netherlands is, of course, aspiring to the podium that many felt would be dominated by Germany, Britain and the Dutch. As I said in my preview, I saw the Dutch as the weak link, which might enable the U.S. to grab the bronze. But watch out for Sweden, at 73.357. Denmark is sixth at 71.064.
After the second half of the team riders go on Thursday, the top six squads will compete for the medals on Friday in the Grand Prix Special. The standings could change drastically on Thursday, as such strong contenders as Steffen Peters and Laura Graves for the U.S. and Beatriz Ferrer-Salat for Spain have their turn.
Not many people were in the stands on a dull gray day, but then, GP Dressage isn’t a big sport in Brazil.
There was news on the show jumping front as France’s Simon Delestre dropped out following the revelation that his mount, Ryan, had a microfracture of his hock. As number two in the world, Simon was a powerful medal weapon for his homeland. He’s being replaced by Olympic veteran Philippe Rozier.
I hope you’ve been following my tweets at twitter.com@nancyjaffer. I’ll be at it again tomorrow, so check in with me.
The team eventing at Rio ended with France (169 penalties) getting its second-ever Olympic gold medal in the sport (the first was 2004), as New Zealand dropped out of contention with, surprisingly, four rails from Sir Mark Todd.
Australia’s leading man, Chris Burton, had two rails with the 9-year-old Santano II as his team claimed the bronze (175.3) rather than gold as a result, while the usual flawless clear from Germany’s defending individual champ Michael Jung and Sam boosted that nation to silver (172.8) after consecutive team golds at the last two Olympics.
The tight 80-second time allowed on the course designed by the brilliant Guilherme Jorge of Brazil caused problems, as riders pressed their horses to make it and often slid rails in the process.
The top 25 are coming back this afternoon to jump for individual medals. Unlike the world championships, the Olympic criteria will not allow two medals to be given for one effort; hence the second jumping round for individual honors. Just what horses need after a grueling cross-country.
The U.S. did not finish a team after Clark Montgomery and Lauren Kieffer’s problems on yesterday’s cross-country, but Phillip Dutton had only 1 time penalty this morning on Mighty Nice and remains in contention for individual honors, standing fourth with 47.8 penalties, a mere 2.2–less than a rail–behind Chris Burton. Michael Jung leads the way to defend his 2012 title on 40.9 penalties, while Nicholas Astier of France is third with 45.6 after his clean round. Boyd Martin is coming back, too, with Blackfoot Mystery, but the ex-racehorse had two rails in the morning session which leaves him at 58.9 in seventh place.
Other team placings were New Zealand (178.8), fourth; Britain (252.10), fifth; Netherlands (252.6) sixth and Brazil (280.9) seventh with huge support from fans for their home country. Good on them for finishing ahead of such strong eventing countries as Ireland, Canada and the U.S. Only the U.S. and Russia failed to finish without three riders completing through cross-country. The Russians had just three riders to begin with, and one didn’t start cross-country.
I will keep you posted; check back later this afternoon and meanwhile, I’ll log a running commentary with my posts on twitter.com@nancyjaffer.
William Fox-Pitt took the lead in Rio for the first day of eventing dressage. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Good on William Fox-Pitt of Great Britain for coming back from a devastating head injury that kept him off a horse for months last year. He had a lovely dressage test in Rio today with Chilli Morning to take the lead in the eventing with a score of 37 penalties.
“All along Rio has been my target, totally. It was unrealistic, but it was mine,” William said.
“I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and my sight was quite dodgy, I went from blind to seeing double, so when I started jumping, there were two jumps. It’s been a journey, but I’ve had so much support! Mentally I was very tired, I probably still am. I feel like I’m waking up, but slowly.”
With much respect, admiration and congratulations to William, I have to say that personally, I preferred the test of Australia’s Chris Burton, which earned a 37 on Santano II. I like the more flowing way that horse moves.
Everyone anticipated that defending Olympic champion Michael Jung of Germany would top William and Chris, but his score got a debit when Sam FBW anticipated a lead change and switched from the counter-canter in the serpentine, which earned him a lowly mark of 4 for that movement. He wound up with 40.9 penalties, good enough for third individually.
With half the riders on 12 teams gone (the rest ride Sunday), Germany as expected leads the way on 82.5 penalties. Australia is second (83.9), Britain third (84.2) and France fourth (85.4). The U.S. is seventh on 94.3. Boyd Martin earned 47.7 (17th place) with a competent ride on the thoroughbred Blackfoot Mystery, for whom dressage isn’t a strong point. The big anticipation was for today’s other U.S. rider, Clark Montgomery on Loughan Glen, touted by many (including me) as an individual medal possibility.
But Glen kept anticipating, breaking into the canter from the trot on the rail and in the half-pass, as well as switching off from the counter-canter to be marked at 46.6, good enough for 10th at this point.
Any hope of a comeback to medal territory for the U.S. will hinge on how tough the cross-country is and whether it can scramble the scores for those able to handle it. You probably can bet Michael Jung will finish on his dressage score, but what about the others?
She was the guardian at the gate, the one who presided at so many VIP areas, always gracious but firm if someone without a wristband tried to cajole their way to a table. It won’t be the same without Kiki Umla, who has left us.
How Kiki kept her sense of humor and equilibrium I’ll never know, but she handled a tough job with aplomb.
She was a real pro, and the presentation to her of the Welles Trophy for service to the horse show industry at the 2012 National Horse Show was so well-deserved.
From Lake Placid to Wellington and so many shows in between, Kiki will be sorely missed.
A decision by the Canadian federal government not to provides funds for the 2018 World Equestrian Games scheduled for Bromont, Quebec, leaves the event in a fiscal hole from which there may be no way out.
The WEG has been in trouble from the start. Bromont got the original nod for the competition, which subsequently was re-bid, with Bromont again selected as host when alternatives weren’t forthcoming. The Wellington, Fla., showgrounds were out because Rolex is a major sponsor of the Winter Equestrian Festival there, and Longines is the big sponsor of the FEI (international equestrian federation). The Rolex stadium is the focal point of the Kentucky Horse Park–scene of the 2010 WEG (which ran at a loss)–so it cannot be the venue either.
FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez acknowledged that, “The FEI has been officially advised by the Bromont Organising Committee (COJEM) that the Canadian Federal Government has made the decision not to fund the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Bromont and obviously this is very disappointing. As the international governing body, the FEI has a responsibility to ask the right questions and protect the future of our flagship events so, as a matter of priority, we will be meeting with the COJEM Board and the National Federation, Equestrian Canada (actually Equine Canada), to get a full picture of the situation and to look at next steps.”
With only two years before the WEG is scheduled to get under way, the FEI will have to move fast. It may be time to scrap the WEG concept that began in 1990 and go back either to individual world championships for the eight disciplines that make up the WEG, or do them in groupings, such as show jumping, dressage and para-dressage, which has been presented for the European Championships.
Problems with putting together the WEG are nothing new. The venues that won the bids for the WEGS of 1994 (Paris) and 1998 (Ireland) both dropped out and other nations pitched in with little time to spare. The 1994 Games in the Hague, Netherlands, were a financial disaster. The 1998 Games in Rome were well put together, despite the short window organizers had for arranging their competition. Rome did not, however, include endurance, reining and para-dressage, all of which are part of the eight-discipline package at this time.
