The game gray mare has bounced back from injury and is better than ever with Laura Kraut.

Early in 2008, Laura Kraut chose to let Miss Independent sit out the selection trials for the U.S. Olympic Games team.

It was a tough decision, since “Missy” had been Kraut’s ride for team silver at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (Germany) and was jumping well. But Kraut knew that Missy was still on the road back from an injury that had kept her out of competition for most of 2007. She chose to let the mare return to form on her own schedule. And while Missy wasn’t in the spotlight at the Games, where Kraut rode the young Cedric on the gold-medal U.S. team, she did quite a bit of winning on her own this year.

Kraut and Missy finished their year with a thrilling and hard-fought victory in the Olympia Grand Prix on Dec. 22, the finale of the Olympia London International Horse Show (England).

Kraut thought Missy, 13, would be primed and ready for a big win at Olympia since the game mare had won the Credit Suisse Grand Prix at Geneva (Switzerland) the week before and the Rolex Classic Grand Prix at Brussels (Belgium) the last week of November. 

“In Geneva, I don’t think I’ve ever gone so fast in a jump-off in my life. I was steeplechasing the jumps there,” said Kraut.

But the World Cup-qualifying class at Olympia didn’t go their way. “I made a tactical error,” Kraut said. “Because the time allowed was so tight, I turned back really short on a vertical. 

“I think she thought she was in a jump-off, and when she left the ground, she turned and took the whole wing of the jump down.  After that, I was trying to be the fastest four-faulter because there were only two clear, but she had another one down later in the course. 

“That was Sunday night at Olympia, and so for the grand prix on Monday, I didn’t have that great a feeling. I
thought she might be tired, since she’d jumped four shows in five weeks. But she was unbelievable—she didn’t touch a jump.

“There were only four clear, and I had to go early in the jump-off, so I didn’t go quite as quickly as I could have,” Kraut explained. “I just tried to jump a nice clear, and I think I got lucky. Denis Lynch definitely had my time but had one down, and Ben Maher was just .06 seconds off my time.”

Kraut is thrilled that Missy is back in action. “She’s better than she’s been since the World Championships, so I hope it continues. She’s been really good all year, but she’s been a bit behind the scenes. I kind of used her as a second and third horse this spring and summer, but she actually won more than any of my other horses,” said Kraut.

Missy (Kingston—Jakretia) showed lightly in the beginning of the year at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) and then won the BMW Prix at the Antwerpen CSI (Belgium) in May. She placed second in the Warsteiner Prize class at the Aachen CHIO (Germany) in July and in the Mercedes Benz Championat von Hamburg (Germany) in April. 

It’s been a long road back for Missy, who injured her deep digital flexor tendon within the heel of her hoof in the spring of 2007. 

“A tendon problem in the leg would have been much easier, since when it’s in the foot you can’t do anything other than rest them,” said Kraut. “She spent a lot of time in the stall and a lot of time just walking, so she lost loads of fitness. She’s always been a really lazy horse at home, so it’s very difficult to get her fit with just working and not showing. But when she shows, she gets wild and could hurt herself, so it was difficult to bring her back. We really didn’t even get the fitness right until late this summer.”

Kraut believes Missy has matured since her 2006 WEG appearance. 

“She can still be a nutcase, because she doesn’t like crowds,” she said.  “At those indoor shows in Europe—with lots of spectators—she was ready to have a nervous breakdown whenever they clapped. But I trust her so much now. We know each other’s strong points and weaknesses, and I have a lot of confidence in her. I don’t doubt she can do what I ask of her.”

Kraut isn’t planning to make a bid for the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Final (Nev.), but hopes to be named on teams for the Super League Nations Cup tour in the summer. She’s also considering the Global Champions Tour shows.

“With any luck, I’ll have her, Cedric and Anthem going. If she keeps going the way she’s going, I wouldn’t rule out the 2010 World Equestrian Games with her,” she said. 

What’s Cedric Doing?

After the Olympic Games in Hong Kong in August, Cedric, 11, and Laura Kraut contributed rounds with 0 and 1 fault in the Samsung Super League Finals in Barcelona, Spain, in September, then showed at the São Paulo CSI (Brazil) in October. He returned stateside for the Syracuse International Sporthorse Tournament (N.Y.) and the Royal Winter Fair (Ont.).

“Cedric showed quite a bit—probably more than I intended. He was definitely waving the white flag there at the end,” Kraut said.

Since the Royal Winter Fair in early November, Cedric has been enjoying 24/7 turnout on vacation at Kraut’s farm in Wellington, Fla.