AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2022 THE RIDER /43 — Saturday August 13, 2022 - Para-Dressage
Herning, DEN August, 13, 2022 – The temperature was not the only thing that has been heating up as the world championships hit the one-week mark in Den- mark. Held over the last two days, steep competition met the Canadians as the Para Dressage teams were gathering to contest for a national medal in the BB Horse Arena. It was a very warm Friday
evening having reached an un- usual high of 30 degrees just an hour before. First to enter the ring for Canada was Grade I Para- lympic athlete Jody Schloss of Toronto, ON, riding her own 18- year-old Danish Warmblood gelding Lieutenant Lobin (Lob- ster x Fanal Prydsholm). Once into the field of play, the pair seemed a little off their game, and unfortunately that was re- flected in their score of 65.179. Schloss made no excuses
and indicated that the day just wasn’t hers, “Lobin is always a really good boy, but I think today he was a bit distracted. I was not expecting him to be difficult, but he’s a horse! And he can’t be per- fect all the time.” Her coach, Karis Van
Essen, a Grand Prix dressage rider herself who has been work- ing with Schloss since 2014, and as her only coach since 2018, was more encouraging. “Jody rode re- ally well, she rode through it like the seasoned rider that she is, she kept him focused and worked on the suppleness throughout the test.”
Wondering if the heat had
any affect on them, Van Essen continued, “Jody and Lobin both
Jody Schloss and Lieutenant Lobin Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
perform really well in the heat, one thing that is different here is that there are spectators here, where we haven’t had that in the recent shows, so that is one thing that adds an additional distraction for him.” With each individual ath-
lete in the team competition aim- ing to score into the top eight
combinations to secure a position in Sunday’s freestyle, this test would not be enough for Schloss who placed 15th and did not ad- vance.
Following closely after in
the Grade I order of go, was fel- low Paralympian Winona Hartvikson of Langley, BC, rid- ing the 19-year-old Hanoverian gelding Onyx (Wolkentanz) that she co-owns with Jane MacDon- ald. The pair’s score of 68.714, wasn’t what they were hoping for and placed them in 11th for the day and ninth overall, narrowly missing the cut-off to ride again in Herning. According to Hartvikson,
one of the symptoms of her mul- tiple sclerosis that has worsened over time is sensitivity to heat. With the custom icepacks that she wears under her show jacket to cool her, she felt the heat didn’t play a factor in their per- formance. “He was still carrying a bit
Winona Hartvikson and Onyx Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
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of tension from yesterday,” Hartvikson said, referring to the spook they experienced prior to her first test. “So he wasn’t the relaxed horse that I would have liked to have, but he was super cooperative, and he did every- thing that I asked him to do, so I am really happy with that test.” Her coach Wendy Christoff,
who is also president of Dressage BC, thought he had a bit of an off
night, like his stablemate Lieu- tenant Lobin. “He’s been so good and really easy,” said Christoff. “He’s been a gentleman the whole time we’ve been here. He got a little fresh tonight.” “On the walk down to the
arena, he had a scare. Consider- ing what he felt like when I first got on him, that was an amazing ride. She rode him well and quite accurately. There was a lot of great stuff in there.” When asked about how
things had gone for the two Grade I combinations, Chef D’Équipe Clive Milkins said, “I was pleased with the perform- ance today. It’s always difficult for a Grade I athlete to go later on in the day, especially with the heat that we have had today. But this isn’t a time for excuses. It’s a judged sport, it is what it is, we accept it, learn from our mis- takes, regroup and move on. To- morrow is another day.” With two challenging rides
completed by her team mates on Friday, Grade III Paralympian Roberta Sheffied of Lincolnshire, ENG was aiming on Saturday to hopefully increase the Canadian team score but also to advance to Sunday. Riding her own Fairuza,
‘Wonky’, a 13-year-old Gelder- lander mare, the combination also had a tougher ride than usual, but with a score of 69.559,
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Roberta Sheffield and Fairuza Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
Roberta Sheffield and ‘Wonky’ Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
it edged them enough to land in seventh place overall and secured their spot in the freestyle. “It was a challenging test
today. Wonky was not as with me as she was on the first day, which is unusual for her, usually she is more with me on the second test,” said Sheffield. “I think pos- sibly having a day between the tests was not so easy for her. But between the two of us I think we managed to pull it back and get it together. It wasn’t quite the clean test that I hoped for but wasn’t a disaster by any means, I think we showed some really nice work in
places.” Milkins agreed. “In the ring
we had a couple of expensive er- rors, but on the whole I was very pleased with the performance,” he said. Milkins also reflected on
the team’s 15th final placing in comparison to the eighth place finish they enjoyed at the last world championships in Tryon, NC. “Our sport has a way of building you up and sometimes putting you down, but I guess that’s what our sport is. All I can say is onwards and upwards. Bring on Paris!”
Team Canada Herning Update
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