In this monthly series leading up to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in September and October, we watch a different competitor prepare for competition each month.

Lauren Hough has known that Quick Study has the talent to jump with the best in the world since she started riding him four years ago. But it wasn’t until this year that he’s been truly ready for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

“I’ve always believed in the horse; it was just a matter of putting all the pieces together. Last year it was all going in the right direction. I felt quite confident throughout all of last year that I would have a shot if I played my cards right,” Hough said.

Quick Study, an 11-year-old Selle Français (Quick Star—Sirene De Plantro), spent the first few years of his career negotiating courses with a joyful enthusiasm that made technical questions difficult for him. As he’s aged and gotten more experience, he’s begun to temper his method of attack.

“He’s always going to be a bit feisty, but I think that’s what makes him good. I think we meet in the middle—I don’t mind him a little out of control. I think that’s what makes him so careful and the horse that he is,” Hough said. “Now, if there’s a line where you have to add a stride, I’m capable of doing it. Before, I would hold my breath and hope it could be accomplished.”

Quick Study’s Equipment

Hough shows Quick Study in an unusual combination of a loose-ring snaffle bit and a long-shanked hackamore. The reins are attached to a converter that links the ring of the snaffle to the end of the shank of the hackamore.

“He’s not a really strong horse, but he’s a bit fussy, and I really can’t put a lot of pressure on his mouth. But I couldn’t hold him in only a snaffle,” Hough said.

“The hackamore together with the snaffle looks probably a lot more severe than it is. It just puts pressure on two different places instead of only the mouth. It makes my control and rideability a whole lot easier,” she added. “It doesn’t make him think that I have total control over him. He’s special that way—it has to be a little bit his idea to do something.”

Hough tries to save the hackamore-snaffle combination for bigger classes. She hacks him in either a loose-ring snaffle or a Myler pelham, and when she shows in smaller classes during the week, she does so in the Myler pelham.

Quick Study wears Verdus front and hind boots and has his own, custom-fitted Antares saddle. Hough uses the OnTyte magnetic stirrups, too.

“I have to say, I wasn’t a believer until I rode in them. I couldn’t grasp the concept until I put them on, and now I wouldn’t live without them. It’s one less worry—you don’t worry about losing your stirrup,” Hough said.

An Unexpected Reprieve

Hough, 33, a veteran of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the 2007 Pan American Games, is eagerly anticipating her first WEG appearance.

“Since the moment I heard it was going to be in America, I knew I wanted to be there,” she said. “Quick Study came into my life at the right time, and he’s the perfect age. All the stars had to line up in the right direction, and luckily they did. And that’s so hard to have happen.”

Hough rode Quick Study in the selection trials for the 2008 Olympic Games, but she knew making that team wouldn’t have been the best thing for Quick Study, then 9.

“I went into it wanting to get mileage more than anything else. Realistically, I knew it was too soon for him,” she said.

Quick Study came into his own during Hough’s summer in Europe last year, however. He jumped on the U.S. team at four Meydan FEI Nations Cups and picked up ribbons in grand prix classes.

Hough and Quick Study stayed in Europe until after the Stuttgart (Germany) indoor show in November 2009, then shipped to Florida with the WEG trials as their goal. Quick Study had a break for a month, then geared up for the five rounds of trials.

U.S. team Chef d’Equipe George Morris had been watching Quick Study develop, however, and liked him. After Hough and Quick Study jumped clean and brilliantly in the first two rounds of the WEG trials, Hough got some welcome news—that they’d been granted a bye onto the long list.

“I went into it thinking I was going to have to jump five rounds and prove myself. I was more than willing to do that,” Hough said. “Luckily, George believed in the horse, and the selectors thought it was the right decision to make.”

Hough jumped Quick Study one more time in Florida, in the $500,000 FTI Consulting Grand Prix, then shipped back to Europe, to Rodrigo and Nelson Pessoa’s stables in Brussels, Belgium, for the summer.

A High-Stress Week

In April, Hough and Quick Study had a disappointing showing at the Rolex FEI World Cup Final. Quick Study contracted a virus before the show and lost some of his verve. They had uncharacteristic rails down and finished mid-pack.

“After the World Cup Final, I came home to the U.S. and gave him three weeks off. I didn’t even see him,” Hough said.

When she returned to Europe, they shipped straight to the Global Champions Tour show at Hamburg, Germany, in mid-May. “I went to Hamburg feeling not completely prepared. He actually didn’t jump that well on the first day, but once he was back in form he jumped three clean rounds and won [the Global Champions Tour of Germany Grand Prix],” she said.

Hough then joined the U.S. team in mid-June at the Rotterdam CHIO (the Netherlands) for the Meydan FEI Nations Cup. She and Quick Study contributed to a stunning all-female team victory there.

“He jumped wonderfully at Rotterdam, and it was a special day. I felt very confident walking in there, and he jumped two double-clear rounds,” she said.

After Rotterdam, Hough planned to show Quick Study in Estoril, Spain, the first week of July in the Global Champions Tour event. But Quick Study came up lame with a stone bruise. His shoe was pulled, and Hough and her groom, Sara Rudberg, and barn manager, Justine Raven, treated the foot. But the Meydan Nations Cup at Aachen (Germany) loomed the next week. Hough knew that to be named to the WEG short list, she had to jump well there.

“I wasn’t able to do much between Estoril and Aachen. I jumped him once on sand. But having to put studs in at Aachen and jumping on the grass irritated it just a little bit,” Hough said “I knew I needed to push the envelope for the Nations Cup, and I thought he performed really well. He jumped clear and 4 [faults].”

The U.S. team finished third at Aachen. But Hough decided not to jump Quick Study in the Grand Prix of Aachen because she felt he wasn’t 100 percent.

“I took that risk on my own, hoping that George and the selectors knew the horse well enough by then. Luckily, that was the case. Aachen was a little bit of a high-stress week!” Hough said.

Just Keep Doing What You Know

Three weeks after Aachen, on Aug. 11, Hough’s decision paid off. U.S. Equestrian Federation officials named the short list for the WEG team, and her name was third with Quick Study.

After Aachen, Hough jumped Quick Study at a small national show in Belgium. “He jumped two 1.45-meter classes. I just wanted to let him have an easy show with no pressure,” she said. They then competed at the Valkenswaard (the Netherlands) Global Champions Tour show in late July, where short list cohort Laura Kraut won on Cedric.

“He was clear the first day, but then I didn’t ride very well in the grand prix,” Hough said.

Quick Study didn’t show in August but headed to Spain for the Gijon CSIO on Aug. 31-Sept. 5 and the Madrid CSIO after that. Kraut and Cedric will be showing there as well; it’s the final WEG prep for both horses and riders.

“These two weeks in Spain, I’ll show him two or three times a week. The [team competition at] WEG is four days of jumping including the warm-up. I’ve always found that he gets better the more that he jumps at a show, so I think that’ll be an advantage for me come time for the WEG,” Hough said.

“As you lead into these championships, you have to stick with what you know and not try to be a hero and change things and make them better or stronger just because it’s leading up to the WEG. Whatever’s working for you so far has to continue to work on your way there,” Hough added.

She said she could relate to Boyd Martin’s Journey To The WEG story in the Chronicle. “It’s so tempting to want to do more,” she said. “I was reading what Boyd Martin said about always wanting to do more and make it better, so I know I’m not alone! But I feel very confident right now, and the horse has been jumping very well. I have to stick with what I know and go in as prepared as I can.”

Hough’s support staff in the barn includes Raven, who has been with her for 16 years, and Rudberg. They’ll both travel with her and Quick Study to Kentucky.

There, another crucial supporter will meet them. “It goes without saying that I’m indebted to my owner [Laura Mateo and her daughter Meredith] for allowing me to have this horse and seeing us through these championships,” Hough said. “She’s been a lifelong family friend, and she allows me to make the decisions. I think that’s been a key ingredient to my success—her belief in me.”

Hough and Kraut are doing their final WEG prep in Europe, but they keep in close contact with Morris about their plans and training. They’re looking forward to joining fellow short-listed riders McLain Ward, Mario Deslauriers and Candice King in late September.

“I’m really excited. I feel very confident in the team, and it’s an honor to be on it. I am really looking forward to it, and I expect good things from it,” Hough said.