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.
Kasey Perry-Glass, 28, and Goerklingaards Dublet are in Europe training for a tour there and seeking scores to qualify them for Team USA at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
They were named one of four horse and rider combinations to compete for the United States at the CDIO5* at Compiègne, France on May 19-22.
Since their seventh-place finish at the Longines FEI World Cup Finals (Sweden) in March, Callan Solem and VDL Wizard have been spending some quiet time at their home base in Chester Springs, Pa., getting ready to leave for Europe in a few weeks to fight their way from being named to the short list to a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Laura Graves and Verdades have been enjoying some quiet time between the end of the 2016 Adequan Global Dressage Festival and catching a plane for the European tour. Before leaving Wellington, Fla., for their base in Orlando, Fla., Graves and “Diddy” got some quality training time in with their coach Debbie McDonald.
Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen finally got their first run of the season in at the Belton Horse Trials CIC*** (England) on April 15-17. They won the class last year, and this year they placed 17th out of 126 entries, with a 42.0 in dressage, one rail in show jumping and 7.6 time penalties on cross-country.
Loughan Glen and Clark Montgomery got their first cross-country run of the year at Belton. Photo by E.S. Photography
In this series, the Chronicle follows six riders as they seek to fulfill their Olympic dreams in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. We’ll check in with them every few weeks as they pursue a team spot, seeing how they’re getting their horses ready and preparing mentally.
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