Things did not start well Saturday night for the USA, the defending champion country from a resounding 2025 Longines League of Nations victory at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala.
The only LLN leg in the U.S., the competition thus carries special weight for the home nation. Having Lillie Keenan as the pathfinder boded positively for the squad; she has had a series of double-clears in team competition and being mounted on her usually reliable Argan de Belliard seemed a huge plus.
But after a rail down at a vertical to dim hopes a bit, they got completely shattered when the gray gelding ducked out to the left at the final fence, the Longines oxer standing 1.5 meters high by 1.7 meters wide, and Lillie flew off. Both horse and rider were unhurt.
Hopes rose when Natalie Dean, a late replacement for McLain Ward (out with a hand injury) went fault free on Pedro van de Barlebuis as the second to go. But after that, it was all downhill.
Natalie Dean put in a clear round for the U.S.
Laura Kraut, one of the most successful riders in history, had a shocking refusal at the water jump with Tres Bien. It took expert urging from Laura to get him over the water on a second try, but he had a splash there. A rail at the double and another at that last oxer left her with a total of 33 faults, including time penalties.
There wasn’t much anchor rider Aaron Vale could do to recoup with Carissimo 25. A hometown campaigner from Ocala, he had a legion of fans but they couldn’t help him keep the poles in place. He had a rail the seventh fence, a vertical; a knockdown at the C element of the triple, then toppled a pole at A of the double and at the last oxer as well for 16 penalties. Aaron’s trip was adversely affected by his horse’s memory of a less-than-ideal experience at the water jump earlier in the week, which meant he wasn’t handling the fences in his usual style.
With only eight of the 10 teams coming back for the second round, the U.S. finished its evening early, tenth and last on 49 penalties. A different U.S. team, again with the exception of Natalie Dean who was clear, did not complete the second round of the League opener in Abu Dhabi last month.
U.S. Coach Robert Ridland commented on the obvious, saying “it was a disaster night. It’s good to get all your bad done in one class.”
He observed it was “a bunch of surprises; on paper we had a really strong team,” adding all three of the horses who had problems were “out of their comfort zone. Good to know.”
Robert pointed out that assessing problems earlier in the season and figuring out how to solve them is the way to go with the World Championships looming this summer.
“Every time things go well, that’s great; when things don’t go well, you learn from it,” he pointed out.
He promised, “We can fix these things. By Monday morning, we’ll know exactly what needs to be done. It’s the long game we’re playing this year because it’s the year of the championships. I want things to go wrong now, not in August.”
He praised Natalie, noting how important it is to have riders of her caliber moving up to fill in as necessary for longtime team stalwarts, such as McLain.
“I’m very excited to see Natalie step up,” he said.
The Irish, winners of the Ocala leg of the LLN in 2024, led after the first round on zero penalties, but the Dutch were right behind with only a single time fault. Germany and Belgium were tied on 4 penalties.
In the end, however, three clean trips in the second round from Germany took the trophy on 4 penalties, with Ireland second on 8 after Bertram Allen had two rails in the second round before Cian O’Connor and Shane Sweetnam went fault-free. (Only three riders from each team compete in the second round).
Christian Kukuk of Germany and Checker. (FEI Photo)
Looking at the German line-up, how could you bet against it? The roster included the European Champion (Richard Vogel with Cloudio), the Olympic individual gold medalist Christian Kukuk (Checker 47) and the consistent Andre Thieme with his top horse, DSP Chakaria. Christian and Richie were among the six riders in the class who achieved double clears over the course designed by Alan Wade, who also will lay out the routes for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
An overjoyed Christian said, “I think in general, it was really great sport. Again, it proved that this format is so exciting. I think it’s the most exciting one we have actually.
“When we talk about nations cups, everything can happen in the second round. Also today, it happened. So I think it’s a great format for our sport and especially this show here, Ocala, I said that already two days ago it’s a very special venue for our sport, and I really, really hope that we will have the championship here one day, because it feels like a championship also tonight, especially when you go under the lights in the second round. It’s such an incredible atmosphere.”
Mentioning that for three months, he basically hadn’t ridden Checker, his 2024 Olympic gold medal horse, Christian commented, “I really have to say, he’s 16, but I can’t feel any difference to like, two, three years ago. He feels so fresh, he feels so excited for the sport, and I think, especially the second round, he showed all of us how much he enjoys the sport.”
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