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April 2009 update. World Cup in Las Vegas and CDI in Del Mar

April was a very exciting month, because of the FEI World Cup in Las Vegas. Earlier in the year I had been asked by show manager Glenda McElroy to participate in the Olympic Grand Prix Pas De Deux competition, but didn’t have a Grand Prix horse at that moment. As luck had it, my student Cathey Cadieux had just bought a Grand Prix horse from my friend Bent Jensen and after riding him (Liberty Light) for a few days, I asked Cathey if I could borrow him for Las Vegas. She said yes and I had less than 30 days to get ready and find a partner. Glenda suggested Charlotte Nielson from Las Vegas who also just got a new GP horse in training (Dacapo owned by Bonnie Elkanich) Charlotte and I met up at LAEC three weeks before Vegas to practice. I had choreography and music in hand. I can’t say it went well and I am sure we both were very nervous about the whole thing. A week before World Cup I trailered out to the beautiful facility in Las Vegas where Charlotte trains. My friend Liz Gilman came along to help me with Bert. We spent three days practicing and by the third day things were looking good. Then we went to the Thomas and Mack arena and had two more days to practice. It was so much fun to be able to ride with all the top riders in the world as well as watch them in their daily routine. I have to say, even with the best in the world Steffen Peters stands out. The harmony between him and Ravel is outstanding and such a pleasure to watch. I was so happy that he won. We need role models like him at the top of our sport.

Friday afternoon it was time for our Pas De Deux and I was a nervous wreck. It was a lot of pressure riding in front of thousands of people on a horse I barely knew. I had no idea how he would handle the crowd. Debbie McDonald and Adrienne Lyle went first on the two lovely GP horses Felix and Wizzard (both qualified to go to Gladstone) and owned by Perry and Peggy Thomas.  Their outfits were great and even though I didn’t see their routine, I could tell from the thunderous applause that they did well. We were next. Liberty Light was a dream and I was so proud of him. He didn’t put a hoof out of place and gave me 100%. Charlotte and I stayed together pretty good and the judges complimented us on that as well as choreography and music. Our theme was disco and on our last center line we did the John Travolta hand gesture to” Staying Alive” while passaging. It brought down the house and I have never in my life had so much fun in a dressage arena. Since I love disco, I have always wanted to do the John Travolta move, but never dared in a regular freestyle. It was great not to worry about rules. Judges Linda Zang and Markovski were great and went along with the fun. We need more fun stuff in our sport to attract a bigger audience. Guenter Seidel and Beth Ball were next and their theme was ‘Phantom of the Opera”. Their costumes were amazing and their routine very dramatic. They won and we were proud to be second. Friday afternoon was also Brentina’s retirement ceremony. It went off beautifully and as with Steffen, I congratulate Debbie on being a great role model for our sport.

Saturday it was time for me to get nervous again. I am not sure what I was thinking when I also had agreed to be part of the Celebrity Reining Challenge during the World Cup Jumping Final. I had no idea what to expect, but had taken some reining lessons locally the month before. On Wednesday before the World Cup the Reining Association brought in some wonderful quarter horses for us to ride. We got divided into two teams. The International Team consisting of no other than the #one reiner in the World, Ann Funck as well as Anky Van Grunsven who takes reining lessons on a very regular basis and world famous jumper rider Rodrigo Pessoa. No pressure there. My Team mates were Gold medal winner Will Simpson (who I know from the Santa Ynez Valley where he used to live) and top reiner and president for the NRHA Rick Weaver. Rick was super helpful and a very good sport. Will is always game for just about anything. All 6 of us practiced at the same time with help from some great instructors. My instructor was David Hanson and he was an exceptional teacher. While we were spinning and sliding right outside the stabling for the World Cup horses, many of the riders  came by and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Jessica Ransehousen and Gil Merrik came by and for the first time in my life I saw Jessica speechless. She got over it fairly quickly and got into her competitive mode, telling me to beat Anky. Yah, right. When Saturday came, we all got dressed in our finest western gear and for some of us, we had to do our very first reining pattern in front of thousands of people yelling and screaming. My horse Reeboks Rerun had been absolutely perfect in practice, but got a bit fired up in the Mack Arena. Not only was the audience very enthusiastic, but the announcer added serious sound effects like screeching brakes for our sliding stops. I can’t think of too many horses that wouldn’t be affected. When all was said and done our team won. So much fun to try another sport and I absolutely loved all the reining people. They were super nice and made it a great experience for all of us.  If you would like to watch video clips from Pas De Deux and reining challenge click on this link. Las Vegas Pas De Deux and reining Challenge 2009

Saturday evening was the freestyle and the main event. Even though the class had started out with some very difficult moments for American dressage it ended up a magical night when Steffen won with a fantastic ride, ahead of Isabelle Werth and Anky Van Grunsven.  A perfect end to an incredible week. My husband Joel had flown in on Thursday, just in time to be part of it all.

The following week I judged at the CDI at Del Mar. One of the judges on the Grand Prix panel was “O” judge  Stephen Clarke from Great Britain. Stephen is one of the most well liked and respected judges in the world. I have known him for a lot of years and he is one of the most decent human beings I have ever met. I have ridden under him many times and I have sat in the judges box with him many hours to learn. He is so generous with his knowledge and always humble and respectful to others. We should all aspire to be like him. Judging with him and the others was a great experience with lots of good discussion. We had the pleasure of judging up and coming super star Adrienne Lyle on  Felix and Wizzard and she did a great job on both. Leslie Morse also did well on Tip Top.