by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 11, 2023
Devin Ryan of Long Valley, N.J., has been named to the team for the FEI Nations Cup final in Barcelona this month, along with his 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games gold medal teammates McLain Ward and Laura Kraut. Also traveling to Spain for the competition are 2021 Olympic team silver medalist Jessie Springsteen and Karl Cook.
The final will offer one country qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics. No team in the Western Hemisphere has qualified for those Games. The spot will go to the highest-placing team not already qualified.
It’s the next-to-last shot for the U.S. to send a team to Paris. If the U.S. doesn’t qualify there, the final opportunity is the Pan American Games in Chile this autumn. The three highest-ranked teams there not already qualified can get a ticket to the Olympics at that competition.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 24, 2023
The Tewksbury Trail Association will return to Christie Hoffman Farm Park in Tewksbury for its annual Trail Pace Sept. 17. There are opportunities for riders at all levels and ages to participate.
The Tewksbury Trail Association pace at Christie Hoffman Farm Park. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
TTA President Jeannie Shuster said an eight-mile course will offer both trail and pleasure pace options.
“This year, we have an Open and a new 90-plus division. To be eligible for the latter, the combined ages of two riders must be 90 years or over.
“We have a great selection of prizes for all divisions. All TTA-members will enjoy a discount on the registration fee. And we will have a special TTA Trail Pace 2023 T-shirt for the participants,” she said. That will be on a first-come, first-served basis until they run out.
Joy Custer, who leads the TTA Trail Committee, added: “Part of the fun is designing the course of this year’s pace with the TTA team. We worked hard to clear the trails and make them accessible for the trail pace. I can’t wait to see riders from the Tewksbury area and far beyond join our event and enjoy our trails.”
The TTA Trail Pace takes place between 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Teams of two or three riders can enter one of four divisions: Open and 90-plus and Trail Pace and Pleasure Pace. An equine veterinarian will be on site.
For more information, go to the TTA website: www.tta-nj.org .
by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 11, 2023
Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs on Leone Jei was the only combination to achieve three clear rounds in the world’s richest grand prix, the $3 million (Canadian) CPKC International, part of the Rolex Grand Slam series.
Martin Fuchs and Leone Jei. (Photo Spruce Meadows)
The competition at the Spruce Meadows Masters in Calgary, Canada, drew a field of 29 on Sunday, with just Martin and Canada’s Tiffany Foster on Figor going fault-free over two rounds to meet again in a jump-off.
After Tiffany’s mount dislodged a rail, all Martin had to do was put in another perfect trip over the course laid out by Leopoldo Palacios and an international team of designers. That’s just what the former World Number One did. Martin, who lost a stirrup in the first round, is the type who meets every challenge.
Calgary, Alta Sep, 10, 2023 Martin Fuchs of SUI riding Leone Jei in the CPO ‘International Grand Prix presented by Rolex at the Spruce Meadows Masters. Mike Sturk photo.
As he took the last fence, he raised his left arm in triumph, then hugged his horse after landing before taking off his helmet and greeting the fans.
The top-placing American was Hannah Selleck, 26th on Cloud 39 after having 12 faults in the first round.
by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 11, 2023
As I listened on the radio this morning to the names being read at the annual ceremony for the 9/11 terrorism victims while bells tolled, I saw a Facebook post by horse show judge and trainer Jimmy Lee about this day in 2001. He and other show officials were called to fill in for those who couldn’t get there after the attack.
“Twenty-two years ago this morning,” Jimmy wrote, “I got a call and got in my car and drove from Cape Cod to Springfield, Massachusetts, to judge the Eastern States Horse Show for Jim Lahood. In one of the first classes, several of the horses had American flag stickers on their hindquarters. I sure as hell will never ever forget!”
I was sleeping after flying in the night before from a busy week covering the Spruce Meadows horse show in Canada when the phone rang. It was my husband, telling me to turn on the TV.
“What station?” I asked. “Any station,” he replied.
A side note here. Kevin Babington, who was also at Spruce Meadows, did not leave Canada Sept. 10 and when all flights were suspended after 9/11, he wound up having to take a bus across the country in order to get home to the East Coast.
Jimmy’s post initiated a flood of memories from so many people about a day they can never forget. You always remember where you were when something that momentous happens, like Pearl Harbor, or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I thought it would be instructive for my readers to see what others remembered about the day.
Sterling D.B. Graburn commented, “I was at the NEDA dressage/sport horse breeders show. We had similar issues with judges having to drive in to replace judges too far away, and it did delay the show. Funny how that day changed how we think, travel, and live our lives. Brought the reality of the economic risk a terrorist attack can put the world under, never mind the horrible loss of life.”
Kim Hewitt Bonstein recalled, ” We lived 20 miles from Ground Zero in Fanwood next to Westfield, NJ, and the fighter jets flew so low over our houses on the way to the city that it felt like they could hit the tree tops.
“Within hours of the (Twin) Towers falling, every house on our street had American flags flying and they stayed up for a very long time. On September 11 we were all stunned, yet proud, Americans no matter our political views or differing backgrounds. We were one country and one people.”
Heather Hunter wrote that she had driven to a store to pick up something “when a woman came running out of the store, screaming her husband was in there. Confused, I went into the store and saw on the TV screen what was happening. I went numb and went back to the church where T2 was and just sat in the parking lot, praying they would not bomb the church. I still get teary and feel the fear I had that morning – the helplessness. I cannot imagine what that woman felt. I will never forget the fear, her tears or her screams.”
Lisa Mitchell “was driving down 684 in Westchester county,N.Y., from North Salem to Greenwich. First and last time I have ever seen that road empty at 9:30 in the morning.”
Judy Siracusa was picking up lighting fixtures that morning. She watched what was happening on TV “with the big guys who loaded the boxes. I was embarrassed crying until I saw every one of these guys weeping buckets. We’re all still Americans.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 8, 2023
So much for the widely touted head-to-head match-up between British World Dressage Champion Lottie Fry on Glamourdale and Olympic (as well as defending European) Champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl of Germany with TSF Dalera BB.
Jessica came out on top guiding the mare, with a personal best of 85.593 percent Friday in the Grand Prix Special at the FEI European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany. But Lottie finished off the podium, a disappointing fourth with a score of 81.763 despite her stallion’s performance having many highlights.
In a quiet moment before the medals were presented, it was possible to get a glimpse of the special rapport Jessica von Bredow-Werndl has with Dalera.
The real matchup turned out to be with Denmark’s Nanna Skodborg-Merrill on Blue Hors Zepter with 82.796, finishing right behind Jessica, as she did earlier this year at the FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha. Interestingly, Nanna had ridden Zepter’s sire, Blue Hors Zach, in competition as well.
She noted she could feel the effect of “some big mistakes” from Thursday’s Grand Prix, in which she finished fourth on 78.556 percent.
Nana explained, “He’s so sensitive, you can feel that the next couple of days.”
During the Special, “It was important for me to go for it in the exercises where I could go for it and also to keep him calm and keep him confident with me.”
As for the freestyIe Sunday, she admitted, “I haven’t put a lot of thought in it yet but I’ll show a brand new freestyle so I’m very excited to show that.”
And then there was the surprise of these championships, Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin on the 10-year-old Imhotep, the least experienced horse in the top group, but not showing his lack of mileage with 82.583 percent for a test sprinkled with a few 10s that demonstrated beautiful harmony, control and precision.
“I feel like there’s heaps more to come,” said Charlotte, who had a baby six months ago and initially wasn’t even expecting to be at the championships.
Always the team player, she noted how special it was that three British riders scored over 80 percent in the Special after the nation took team gold Thursday to outpace Germany on its home territory, with Denmark in bronze.
Carl Hester, Charlotte’s mentor, was fifth aboard Fame–with whom he just started competing this year–on 80.106. So watch out for the British at the Paris Olympics next year, where teams will be limited to three riders.
Carl was all smiles, noting his horse “felt easy, he felt relaxed. I’ve never had him so relaxed. It was like he grew up at this show. I just had a lovely ride.”
Lottie, who spent the night before the Special doing “not much sleeping and a lot of thinking,” had a blip in the one-tempis but got marks of 10 in her two-tempis.The changes and extensions are hallmarks of Glamourdale, who has an extravagant reach that strikes awe in the extended canter.
Lottie Fry and the glamorous Glamourdale. (Photo British Equestrian/Jon Stroud Media)
She said of her mount, “He felt really good in there, much better than yesterday, much more concentrated.”
“To be honest, everything felt really good,” Lottie added.
While that “wasn’t reflected in the marks,” Glamourdale’s rider observed, “I couldn’t fault him.”
As in the Grand Prix on Thursday, Jessica had a rather slow start with Dalera, who stepped back in the initial halt, getting a mark of 6.5. But she moved on from there with the mare’s usual rhythm, exhibiting classical form in her piaffe and passage, her strongest suits.
The medalists: Nana Skodborg-Merrill, silver; Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, gold and Charlotte Dujardin, bronze.
Lottie and Jessica (along with 18 other entries) will meet again Sunday in the championships’ finale, the freestyle.
It’s no longer a two-horse contest; as the Special proved, there are more than two contenders who will be going for the gold. For those who are betting, past performance gives the edge to Jessica, who missed the 2022 World Championships due to pregnancy. If she wins, it will be Germany’s 48th European Championships gold medal over the decades since that competition debuted.
As a player for the home team, Jessica gets a lift from the crowd, and Dalera enjoyed the same.
“Dalera felt so powerful and so focused today. It was just a pleasure to ride her,” said Jessica, who enjoyed the fans’ reaction.
“You really feel it and hear it,” she said.
“Afterward, they went crazy and this is an amazing feeling.”
The fourth member of the British team, Gareth Hughes, also had an amazing feeling with a different orientation. He finished 14th, on a respectable 74.651 percent and with only three riders from each country allowed to compete in the freestyle, he won’t be participating on the last day. But no matter, he was overjoyed with how things went in the first two days of competition. He’s all about sportsmanship.
Gareth Hughes and Classic Briolinca. (Photo British Equestrian)
“I’m very very happy. Do you know what? This is her third or fourth championship and at each one, she gives everything she’s got. She’s 17 years of age now, and goes in there and performs – she’s a true, true professional, she’s beautiful and she tries her heart out. What more could a rider want?” Gareth asked.
“She was brilliant. It’s like a cauldron in there – you go in and there’s no air. But she was really, really focused and she tried her heart out. I think it’s one of the best tests she’s done and that’s all you can do as a rider, go in there and ride the best test that you can.
Reflecting on the team gold medal, Gareth said: “If I retired now, I’d be happy. I’m very lucky because I’ve got a medal of every color now. When you’re young and you’re wanting to do this, you have ambitions. My ambition when I was young was to ride dressage, then my second ambition was to ride in tails, then it was to ride a Grand Prix, then if I was ever good enough, it was to ride on a team.
“To be part of this team, that’s really something special. It’s a medal- winning team and to get on the team is so hard every year, and to come away with a gold at the Europeans in Germany? These are things I read about as a kid – you never believed it would happen – so it’s a fairytale,” he said.
Click here for results
by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 8, 2023
Two big winners from the USEF Dressage Festival of Champions earlier this summer have been named for the squad that will represent the country at the Pan American Games in Chile this autumn.
Codi Harrison, victorious in the Grand Prix competition at the championship with Katholt’s Bossco and Christian Simonson, tops in the Intermediate I on Son of a Lady, will be competing for the U.S.
Christian Simonson and Son of a Lady.
A mixed group of Big Tour and Small Tour is permitted for the Pan Ams to allow teams from countries without a strong Grand Prix contingent to take part in the Western Hemisphere’s version of the European Championships.
Also named to the team are veteran Grand Prix competitor Sarah Tubman with First Apple, individual gold and team silver medalist at the last Pan Ams in 2019, and Anna Marek with Fire Fly, also a Grand Prix entry.
Although the Pan Ams can be used as a qualifier for participation in the Paris Olympics next year, the U.S. doesn’t have to worry about that, having qualified in last year’s World Championships. So it’s a good time for combinations to gain experience at an international title meet.
