Maryland’s World Travelers, continued...
to duplicate the test I showed Ste- phen Clarke in May at Somerford Park to qualify for the Champion- ships with an 8.4 (or at Hickstead
later with an 8.8), I would have been happy. However, with the tension and inexperience of my mare in that environment, plus being an unknown rider to the judges, the best we could do in Verden was a 7.2. In most worlds, a 72% is a good score, but not when one was hoping for more and has a horse that can do more. How- ever,
there is
no doubt that Royal Coeur is a really good horse with a talent for up- per-level work. Due to her size (she is almost 17.2 hands), she still needs time to gain more strength and more bal- ance and one could see that in the test. It
will come though–she is only six, after all. In hindsight, we would perhaps have been
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34 | THE EQUIERY | OCTOBER 2011
better served to have done a big, busy show in Germany before Verden, as the arena in Verden is very tight and bowl-shaped, completely sur- rounded by tents and people, and the horses can’t see out. My mare never refused or spooked in the test, so I am thrilled at her obedience, but we did have much more tension than we had in the qualifi ers, and that impacted our score. I am of course disappointed that we had our best work in the warm-up arenas and training ses- sions, but the quality of all three of Royal Coeur’s gaits, her ability to collect and her super half-passes showed through. T e positives of competing at the World Championships are that I learned a huge amount about how to prepare my horse better for an event like this. It also gave me a measure of where we are in our train- ing. It is very obvious that the top riders in the world and their mounts reach that level not only through talent and hard work, but also the opportunity to show at larger venues such as this, and both my mare and I are the better for it. I think it is hard for many Americans to realize the diff erence in the showcraft that the Eu- ropeans at these top shows demonstrate. Only through years of being out there
striving to perform at the same level in head- to-head competition will we get there. My fi rm belief is that we need to give more Americans the opportunity to compete in Europe in order to advance our international goals. T ere are so many good people that you meet at and on your way to the World Champion- ships who are willing to give support and to help. I could not have gotten to this point with- out the excellent training I have received with my mare in Europe, my husband’s wonderful encouragement throughout this experience, our friends in England who drove us and came to help at the show, and also the very helpful sup- port and advice from Scott Hassler (Hassler Dressage, Chesapeake City) at the event. One always has the disappointment of not getting a better score with such a good horse, but for my fi rst trip to the World Championships, I think our team left a positive impression that we can build on for the future. I really am privileged to have had this opportunity and thank the U.S. Federation for nominating us. For now, I am happy to have brought a sound horse back from the Championships, and we will begin working on the next stages to move up the levels. T is was a huge milestone for me, but hopefully the real celebration will be to one day do our fi rst Grand Prix together. In the
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