A friend and colleague has called me ‘hardcore’ because I got up at 4 am yesterday to watch the Dressage Nations’ Cup in Aachen. But if truth be told, I’m more insomniac than dressage obsessive. And I hope to catch as much of the GP Special of the CDIO as I can in tonight’s wee hours, as long as I can count on my insomnia and an appetite for middle-of-the-night popcorn.
I actually watched an awful lot of clipmyhorse yesterday, between the Nations’ Cup Dressage and the NC Show Jumping. Of all the wonderful performances, awesome horses – some of which I hadn’t seen before – and fierce competition, what stands out to me the most, I’m afraid, is not what most riders pulled off, but what a couple of riders failed shockingly to pull off.
I’ll start with Charlotte, since that truly was the biggest jaw dropper of yesterday. Everything looked predictably awesome until the canter started. Right at the first two tempi, Blueberry had a big mistake, and then another on the same line. I’m not sure if Astrid is right about a miscount in the zig zag, but that was nothing compared to the ones, which were a total dog’s breakfast. I have NEVER seen Charlotte make mistakes like that. The pirouettes were just a mess – more coefficients lost there. I am guessing that the main reason the pirouettes didn’t go well was because by then Charlotte was probably in psychological territory where she has not found herself in a very long time, if ever. If you aren’t used to having to put a mistake or two behind you, you get kind of rusty at it. And she has had quite a run – close to three years’ worth of near-perfection, and results that have kept her in a league of her own. Yesterday’s sixth place is a far cry from what we have come to expect from Charlotte and her wonder pony.
I’ve had a few conversations with people about what happened to Charlotte out there yesterday, and I can’t say that an outpouring of sympathy is what I have been encountering. I did feel awful for her as she exited the ring, but more than that I hoped that there was nothing wrong with Mr. Blueberry to have caused all those problems in rapid succession. I have no firsthand evidence to corroborate this, but it seems that of late Charlotte has been coming across just a tad big for her britches. And that’s why not everyone is weeping tears for her bad day. Tomorrow’s Special will reveal all – whether this was just a fateful stack of bad moments, and whether Charlotte can put her mental Etch-a-Sketch into action and go out there with yesterday’s test filed away in the ‘lessons learned’ folder. Which is of course why I’m getting up so blasted early again because I want to see for myself. Personally, I hope to see a full rebound. I think Charlotte has earned her success with riding that is as close to flawless as one is likely to see in a lifetime, on a horse that most of us would kill to have in our barn – if not to ride, then at least to snuggle with.
The other uncharacteristic performance of yesterday was that of Canada’s own Captain L’Amazing in the Nations’ Cup. He was the drop score not once, but twice. Powerplay has been a stunning performer this year, and I can’t remember when I last saw Eric in the position of the weak team member – perhaps with Raphael at WEG in 2002, a very long time ago indeed. Fortunately for Canada, the rest of the team looked really super, particularly in the second round when Chris and Tiffany each had only a time penalty and Yann Candele, our very own Flying Frenchman, had yet another double clear performance with Show Girl. Equal fourth with the Germans on the hallowed ground of Aachen is nothing to sniff at. I can’t begin to imagine why Eric had such an off day, but based on his record as Canada’s absolute top gun for the past eight years, I’m keeping the faith.
So, back to the dressage. I’m not sure how I feel about Totilas winning. The test Matthias rode was undeniably impressive, but I do wonder a bit at 82 and change with those piaffes creeping forward as they did. Now that the piaffes have a coefficient, I would have thought creeping would cost more. Helen and Damon Hill would almost certainly have beaten them if they hadn’t had a couple of little glitches of their own, the biggest one being in the last stretch of passage to the halt, when Damon Hill decided ‘I’ was quite far enough, thank you very much. As for Adelinde and Parzival, I am prepared to say I don’t think I’ve ever seen them look better. Astrid still thinks there is too much Parzival in Adelinde’s reins at times, but I had the impression there was FAR less water skiing going on than in the past. The canter tour in particular was much improved in the horse’s outline. I didn’t see Isabell’s test (my insomnia isn’t bad enough to get me up at 1 am), but I’ve seen Bella Rose before and thought then that she lived up to her name and more. I’m looking forward to seeing her in the flesh in France.
And now I think I need to revise my WEG team predictions. Germany trounced the competition yesterday, winning gold by 20 points with three of the top four spots individually. So far that’s in line with what my crystal ball told me will happen in Normandy. But the contest between Holland and Britain never materialized. Now, if Charlotte gets her game on again, the Brits can definitely still challenge the Dutch in Normandy. The sleeper country I utterly failed to take into account in my WEG prediction was the Spanish, who won team bronze yesterday. I saw the later two of their three-member team go, and was thoroughly impressed. They earned every bit of their scores. So Spain just might be more in the mix than we have seen since Athens in 2004. It’s hard to take yesterday’s US results too seriously without Steffen and Legolas on the team, but I don’t think things are looking any brighter for the Americans than I did a few weeks ago. I think the best they are likely to do is fifth, and Spain is a rival that I had not anticipated. The bright new spark for the Americans is without a doubt Laura Graves and Verdades. They betrayed nothing of their lack of international experience out there when they posted the best result for their team by a good couple of points.
I also watched the four star GP on Wednesday (the hour was civilized) and I watched a few in the GPS today. Megan Lane and Caravella showed the world they belong in that company with 70+ rides in both tests. As a Canadian I was proud to see Megan ride intelligently, coolly, and with maturity. And I’m a sucker for cute little bays so of course I was thrilled to see her mare deliver everything she was asked for with such commitment and confidence.
And now I’m really starting to get excited about WEG!
