AUGUST 2019 THE RIDER /27


Canadian Dressage Athlete Tina Irwin Returns To Podium For Individual Silver At Lima 2019 Pan Am Games


July 31 2019, Lima, PER – Tina Irwin of Stouf- fville, ON made a return trip to the Lima 2019 Pan American Games podium on July 31 in Peru, adding an individual silver medal to her team gold in dressage. After leading the Canadian Dressage Team to


gold on July 29, Irwin, 38, returned to the main sta- dium for the dressage individual final aboard Lau- rencio (Laurentio x Donnerhall), a 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding she co-owns with her husband, coach, and fellow elite dressage athlete, Jaimey Irwin. The pair was making a solid run for gold performing their Intermediate I Freestyle, right up until Laurencio misinterpreted a movement at the very end of their test. “I was super happy with my ride until the very last centreline, where my horse decided to


give a preview of Tokyo and did a bunch of one- tempis,” joked Irwin, explaining that one-tempis are a movement found at the big tour level, which the duo had been competing in before making the decision to come back down to the small tour in 2019 with the aim of helping Canada secure Tokyo qualification in Lima. “That was not planned, but other than that he felt great, so what can you do? It cost me some marks, I’m sure, but I was really happy with the rest of the Freestyle, he was great.” Ultimately, Irwin received a score of


77.780%, a close shave off the score of 78.980% earned by individual gold medalist, Sarah Lock- man of the United States and First Apple. Fellow American, Jennifer Baumert took bronze aboard Handsome with 75.775%. Grabbing the attention of both the judges and


the crowd, Irwin began her freestyle test to music with one of the more challenging movements, the two-tempi changes. And, she never let up on the level of difficulty, performing three-tempi changes on a bending, serpentine line, and navigating a pirouette straight into an extended canter. The in- tricate choreography, combined with perfectly synced music made for a crowd-pleasing perform- ance from start to finish. “The people who designed my freestyle


music are really good friends, Wendy Watson and Lewis Manne from Zap Productions in Toronto,” said Irwin of the music, which incorporated a med- ley of songs, such as Hey Brother by Acivvi,(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life of Dirty Dancing fame and the much-covered Life is Life, originally by Opus. “Zap Productions were more into the film industry and documentaries, but they also produce some of their own music. They did the theme song for the Canadian show, Degrassi with the famous Drake. I tell them which pieces of music I like, then I put the choreography together and they com- pose a whole new piece for the freestyle.” While Irwin has a team silver medal under her


belt from the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, MEX, Lima represents her first individual medal. “It’s amazing to get the silver medal. I was


Tina Irwin and Laurencio


obviously thrilled with the team gold, and now to be on the podium individually is fantastic, so I’m


Naima Moreira Laliberté and Statesman


thrilled,” she said. “It was definitely my goal, I was coming to win a medal. I was hoping for gold, but that’s okay. My horse was amazing through the whole competition. We did our best and they’re not machines. At the end of the day, one little mistake can cost you first position, potentially. I’m okay with that, my horse tried his heart out. Now, my plan is to go back to grand prix. We’re going to take a little break after Pan Ams and then we’ll make a new plan for 2020.” Next in the standings for Canada was Naima


Moreira Laliberté, 22, of Outremont, QC, who closed out her major games debut in sixth place in- dividually riding Statesman, a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding sired by Sandro Hit and owned by KML S.à.r.l. Moreira Laliberté was a big tour


Lindsay Kellock and Floratina All Photos: © Cealy Tetley - www.tetleyphoto.com


competitor for Canada, and therefore performing in the Grand Prix Freestyle. As per Pan Am rules, dressage teams can be made up of both big tour and small tour athletes, with scores from the two levels of classes being combined to determine the overall individual leaderboard. Moreira Laliberté was working on a clean and


smooth test until the extended canter, where un- planned exuberance from Statesman created a chain reaction of a few missed movements. “Through misunderstanding, he took off (in


the extended canter), and unfortunately that was very, very costly,” explained Moreira Laliberté, who took over the ride on Statesman in 2018, com- peting at the Under 25 level before moving up to grand prix in 2019. “I just didn’t think that at this point in the competition, he’d be feeling so fresh. But, we had a good recovery, and I’m also really pleased with the beginning of our test.” For the majority of her test, Moreira Laliberté


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