Since being named to the U.S dressage team, Laura Graves has utilized some time away from the competition ring to focus on the details with Verdades since trainer Debbie McDonald has been on hand at the farm in Belgium for some last-minute assistance.
Since we last checked in with Kasey Perry-Glass and Goerklintgaards Dublet, they competed at the CDIO***** at Rotterdam (the Netherlands) where the U.S. team finished second in the Nations Cups. The pair was originally slated to ride in the CDI**** at Aachen (Germany), but after some lower than average scores (74.58 percent in the Grand Prix and 71.76 percent in the Special) Perry-Glass elected to skip it and go back to the drawing board.
Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen traveled from their base in England to The Plains, Va., in early July to compete at the Land Rover U.S. eventing team’s final preparatory outing at the Land Rover Great Meadow International CICO***. They won the division and led the U.S. team to a Nations Cup victory.
The U.S. eventing team was announced on June 20, and Phillip Dutton aboard Fernhill Cubalawn will be joining Boyd Martin, Lauren Kieffer and Clark Montgomery (as well as reserve rider Maya Black) to represent the United States in Rio De Janeiro.
After the second day of competition in the CDIO5* at Compiégne, France was rained out, Laura Graves rethought her schedule with Verdades. Because of some tension due to atmosphere she elected to compete in the Roosendaal CDI4* (the Netherlands) to iron out the kinks.
Callan Solem and VDL Wizard completed their first observation event at the Rome CSIO last week, where Solem jumped to 8 faults in Round 1 of the Nations Cup and 4 in Round 2. The U.S. team finished in a tie for second overall.
We didn’t have the result I was hoping for in Rome. There were a few things that didn’t go to plan, and we had to make some decisions that were in Wizard’s best interest, but that didn’t help the results in the ring. That’s sports, and that’s horses.
McLain Ward kicked off his spring at the Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows in North Salem, N.Y., where he won the $50,000 Old Salem Farm Grand Prix with HH Carlos Z, the $35,000 Grand Prix of North Salem with Rothchild and the $130,000 Empire State Grand Prix with the up-and-coming 9-year-old mare, Tina la Boheme.
This point in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro marks a quieter period in rider Phillip Dutton and head groom Emma Ford’s preparations.
All of Dutton’s top horses have had their spring outing (Mighty Nice, Fernhill Fugitive and Fernhill Cubalawn at the Rolex Kentucky CCI****; Indian Mill, Mr. Candyman and Z at the Jersey Fresh CCI***). Selectors for the U.S. eventing team will let Dutton know which horses they are interested in vetting shortly, and those horses will be vetted on June 18-19 before the U.S. team is announced June 20.
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