BATTLE of By Judy Wardrope Y
There was a time when medal podiums were disciplines have long provided a venue for ma
ears ago the majority of competition horses were male. They were either stallions establishing their abilities in hopes of a more successful breeding
career or gelded males. Mares were kept on the farms for breeding stock. In those days, the experts would say mares did not have the right temperament for competition, nor the right pelvis, particularly for dressage. Some were even convinced the same theories applied to female riders.
FEMALES RISE TO THE TOP Brentina was certainly a door-opener when it came to mares being taken seriously in dressage, and Blue Hors Matine shone brightly a few years later. Now it is mares the likes of Bella Rose, who scored brilliantly at the recent WEG, who lead the way. Female riders Nicole Uphoff, Anky van Grunsven and Isabell Werth dominated the sport for many years, but we would be remiss if we did not mention the contributions of Monica Theodorescu (GER) and Debbie McDonald (USA), both former riders and now coaches at the WEG 2018. Joe Fargis had a stellar reputation in the jumpers with
mares: Touch of Class (1984 individual Olympic gold), Mill Pearl (1988 Olympic team silver) and Diams III. Ludger Beer- baum still refers to Ratina Z (individual silver and team gold at the 1992 Olympics with Peit Raijmakers plus Olym- pic team gold in 1996 and WEG team gold in 1994 with Ludger), as one his very best rides. And let us not forget the long and successful career of Sapphire under McLain Ward. Mares can jump! As to the temperament issue, Joe Fargis once told me that geldings can get lazy, stal- lions can get distracted but a mare just keeps fighting for you. And how can anyone describe riders like Beezie Madden, Malin Baryard-Johnsson or Laura Kraut as anything but
Axel Nordlander of Sweden rode the mare Lady Artist to earn the gold medal in event- ing at the 1912 Olympics.
16 November/December 2018
consistent when they have the horse power? In eventing, mares the likes of Jenny Camp, Head-
ley Britannia and FischerRocana FST made sure their male competitors understood the definition of girl power through all three phases of their demanding sport. But maybe that isn’t so new. In 1912, the Olympic gold medalist rode a horse named Lady Artist, and the bronze medalist was aboard Cocette. These sound like female names. Regarding female riders, Sheila Willcox won Badminton three consecutive years (1957, 1958, 1959), and was the first internationally success- ful female rider for Great Britain. Karen Stives and Virginia Holgate earned Olympic medals in the sport (individual silver and bronze in 1984, respectively).
TRYON 2018 Although the 2018 World Equestrian Games competition was not a “normal” competition, thanks to the extreme weather, it also wasn’t so “normal” in terms of the winning females.
DRESSAGE
In the team competition, there were a total of 15 teams of four horses that consisted of 31 geldings, 22 stallions and seven mares. Once the scores were all in, two mares were on the gold-medal team and one was on the bronze medal team. The team in fourth also boasted a mare. Amazingly not one of these mares represented the drop score for their respective teams. In fact, three of them had the highest scores on their teams, and the remaining mare was already on a team with two mares. As the medals were presented, the podium held three
women and one man from Germany earning the gold, three women and one man from the United States taking home the silver and three males and one female from Great Britain settling for bronze. In the individual competition (Grand Prix Special), there
were a total of 30 horses: 16 geldings, 10 stallions and four mares. Three of the mares scored high enough to make the cut (down to 15 horses) for the freestyle, but sadly, never got to strut their stuff to music as that portion of the competition was cancelled. In the Grand Prix Special, those three mares placed first, third and fifth. Of the horses qualified for the freestyle, nine were geldings, three were stallions and three were mares. And the medal podium was entirely inhabited by female riders.
IOC - Official Olympic Report, Public Domain
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