GPS Report

World Equestrian Games
Rome, Italy
Dressage
September 30 - October 4, 1998

Grand Prix Special Report

Karin Rehbein and Donnerhall set the pace with the second ride of the day scoring 1576, 73.30%, whose lead held until her fellow German teammate, Ulla Salzgeber and Rusty, turned in a lovely performance. Donnerhall is an established performance stallion who always enters the arena with stallion presence. Their performance was flawless with flowing, strong passage even at the end of the long Grand Prix Special test. Except in the present company of stellar performers, Donnerhall would be a winner.

Coby Van Baalen, Netherlands, aboard the black Dutch stallion, Ferro, wowed the crowd. His strength is passage --- "This thing can passage" "This is a great horse" His canter pirouettes were tight, keeping the canter rhythm - "Right on". Ferro's only weakness (if he has one) is that his trot is not as suspended as some of the others, but he can passage the lights out. Coby and Ferro's 1574, 73.21 took them temporarily to 2nd place.

Ulla Salzbeber and Rusty, the Russian Gelding of unknown Russian parentage, put in a simply gorgeous ride. The extended trot exploded, the trot half pass covers more ground with more suspension than Ferro, but the passage was not as together, not as high as Ferro. The piaffe was a bit low in back. He covered so much ground with the 2 tempis that he used the entire diagonal (in comparison, Anky's Bonfire only took 40 meters for their perfectly centered 1s). Rusty's one tempis on center line between the canter pirouettes were perfectly straight and again ground covering - almost not having enough room between the two canter pirouettes. Seamless, powerful, transition from extended trot to passage. Their brilliance earned the 1579, 73.44 score.

Lars Petersen with the young Grand Prix Blue Hors Cavan in only his 6th GP ever, showed a bit of inexperience in the transition from passage to piaffe even taking a walk step. His canter pirouettes were very tight, the second a bit fast and a bit off balance. The transition from extended trot to passage on center line were much better. In all, a pretty good job - is it enough to make the top 12 for Sunday's kur?

Robert Dover rode the young Lennox in his first year of international Grand Prix carefully putting in a nice ride with few mistakes. The GPS passage work seemed to be a bit taxing for the young horse who appeared quite calm in this large arena unbothered by the construction noise in the background.

The weather has been unbelievably cooperative - apparently it rained every day before the competition started. During the Grand Prix, it was cloudy and poured on one ride, then politely quit. The light wind in the covered stands.

The arena constructed from scratch by Herman Ducek, the Olympic arena builder, provides, of course, perfect footing as do the three warm up arenas. The stabling is new, portable stalls with wide aisles and ample size for warmbloods. The horses and stable staff are delighted with the accommodations.

We are quite impressed with the friendliness of the Italians. Our hotel is spotless, comfortable, a short 10 minute cab ride ($10) from the hotel or a 25 minute walk. The staff has gone out of their way even driving us to a nearby restaurant. Last night, Nancy Benton and Trenna decided we should see some of Rome. So we took a cab to the Spanish steps and had dinner in an Italian tourist restaurant. Then we walked to the Trevi fountains (Three Coins in the Fountain fame) and caught a cab home. We feel very safe, the cab drivers always tell us that 20,000 lira ($12) is too much. The city is very ancient. The streets are narrow and as Rome is built on hills, often short, spokes of wheels, circles - how the cab drivers find their way through the maze of stone buildings always amazes us. The traffic is infamous. Our drivers are skilled -- they could easily be at home on the race course.

We have delivered emails and the competitors so appreciate them! I'll deliver all received by Saturday. The phone and internet connections are dicey. It has been a major accomplishment to be able to post the scores daily. I'll post reports and photos next week from Germany.

We are having a great time and the level of competition is the best I have ever seen.

WEG | Dressage un Ltd. | Join / Renew Dressage un Ltd.