might have taken a risk, but now that option was over,” she recounts. Though qualified riders inquired about taking on her
horse, she felt she would be spinning her wheels if the fed- eration was not interested. While visiting other horses she owned in Spain, she met with Jean Bemelmans, then the Spanish Equestrian Federation’s dressage coach, who was very interested in the bay stallion. Of the Belgian-born Ger- man Bemelmans, Kim says, “He has trained so many horses. There is no one of his caliber and experience with Spanish horses to bring them along to this high level.” The package was completed when they put the horse together with Spanish dressage rider Daniel Martin Dockx. “I had the rider, the trainer and their federation sup-
port,” Kim explains. Soon after the combination was formed, Grandioso and “Dani” were named Champions of Spain at the National Dressage Championships. They went on to compete for Spain at the Lon- don Olympics where they placed 29th out of 50. Kim points out that, as of the end
of February this year, the pair’s world ranking puts them in twenty-sixth place, “ranking him higher than all the Americans except Steffen Peters.” “I am committed to my relation- ship with Dani,” she says. She has a young horse that she bought in Spain, brought to the U.S. for training and now will send back to finish at Grand Prix. She also has two horses in train- ing with Dani for her American young riders (Rachel Chowanec and Kerrigan Gluch), who will go to Spain to train with him for a month before their hors- es come to the U.S. “Someday, when Dani retires, these
Kim favors sending a horse with international potential
to Europe for a couple of years, but warns of how impor- tant it is to know the people and the situation well. “I only know Spain. I am confident that they are such good horse- men and really care about their horses. I know how Dani trains and that he cares. He has the best people at his fin- gertips and if something isn’t quite right, he is right there. And the community is close knit. It’s kind of a family. They want to see everyone do well. But still, you have to get on the plane to check on things. That’s the hard part. And I’ve heard horror stories.”
Willkommen in Deutschland On the other hand, Vicki Bauer, a dressage trainer at Cedar- woods Equestrian Center in Williams, Oregon, bred an ex- traordinary horse that led her on a less than joyful path, one that is still unresolved.
Vicki bred her Thoroughbred mare
two young riders will take over all my training. Now the plan is to keep work- ing with Dani. I wish we had more trainers in America that can take a horse to Grand Prix and do the riding and training in a kindly way, and not finish them at 16 years old. I’m not unpatriotic. It’s just the best thing for the horses at the time,” she says. “America needs to rebuild its depth. We have very good
Sandro’s Star gallops cross country at the 70-Day Stallion Test in Oklahoma. After competing in the Bundeschampionat, he is currently for sale in Germany.
Poetic Patter to Sagnol (Sandro Hit x La Belle x Landadel) with visions of an im- pressive future dressage gelding or mare. Instead she got the near-death birth of a black stallion-quality foal who would later demonstrate a love for jumping and cross country. Life for Sandro’s Star began with a dif- ficult and dangerous delivery. “I saw the white bag before the placenta. The vet said we had 20 minutes to get the baby out. We worked for an hour and a half,” Vicki recounts. “The legs would come out, but the neck was so long that it would drop into the cavity. Finally the mare changed position and we got him out.” Vicki administered mouth to mouth
resuscitation and the colt survived. But one leg was injured and would need to be casted. “I had never wanted a stallion,” she says. “I felt they had to be so special that
they made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Well, this one did.” Unexpected results continued. His huge, ground-eating
top riders now, but we have an age gap, with only two or three people between 25 and 45,” she continues. “It’s a good time to invest in America. I’m doing that by bringing my trained horses back for our riders to compete in the U25 (under 25) category.” The world is getting smaller, she says. “On a recent trip I
saw a horse owned by an Austrian couple shown by a Dutch rider for the Netherlands. I see a lot of ex-pats who live in the south of Spain. I know the daughter of a Russian couple who had the choice to ride for Russia or Spain. Because the coun- tries are so close, the crossover is more common. Americans are just getting used to this idea.”
canter earned him an invitation to the North American 70-Day Stallion Test at Silver Creek Farms in Oklahoma, where he jumped under saddle for the first time and faced his first cross country course, all with great joy. In fact, the inexperienced four-year-old won the cross country, besting six-year-olds. The judge and inspection supervisor were impressed and advised her to try qualifying for Germany’s young horse championship, the Bundeschampionat, as an eventing horse and as the first American-bred horse to compete. (See more of his story in Warmbloods Today, January/February 2014, “U.S. Breds Make their Mark Overseas.”) What to do for the horse at this crossroads was a tough personal and financial decision. Vicky was not savvy in event- ing. “I asked my instructor, Jeremy Steinberg, if he would be
Warmbloods Today 15
Angela Pritchard
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