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.

Callan Solem earned a spot on the Olympic short list thanks to finishing seventh at the Longines FEI World Cup Finals (Sweden) with VDL Wizard. You can learn more about Solem and VDL Wizard’s challenge-filled path to the top of the sport in our One To Watch article about her. 

I’m so crazy about Wizard. I spend a lot of time with all the horses; it helps you be on the front end of if they’re not feeling good. Sometimes you can be ahead of a problem if you’re familiar with him, if you know they’re feeling tired, or whatever. Having spent the amount of time that I have with Wizard I’m his biggest fan.

I felt a lot of pressure to do right by him at the World Cup Finals, to do a good enough job that the world of show jumping could appreciate him as much as I do every day. I felt like I owed him the best job I could do.

On the way to Sweden the horses laid over at Guido Klatte’s farm in Lastrup, Germany. He was so wonderful and made everything great for the horses and people, as did the shippers, Tim Dutta and Roger Gellison. They made everything as easy as possible for the horses.

I did some flatwork there and made sure he felt loose. Wizard was excited to work. After all that travelling he was eager to get back to our routine a little bit. I felt happy about that.

They had a long trip to Gothenburg, so he rested the rest of Monday then I rode him Tuesday and same thing: he felt great and he likes to work, part of what has been so great about him. He likes to practice and so do I.

The first highlight of my trip was when I got there on Saturday morning before and Gunter Siedel was riding his horse Zero Gravity. I was like Oh my God! You’re so famous; you’re amazing! That was really fun, He’s such a nice person. That was my first celebrity I saw.

Jessica [Kürten] was my second celebrity meeting. A friend of mine from VDL Stud was introducing me to Jessica because she rode some horses over the years for VDL.

After the round on Saturday I said, “Hi, nice to meet you.” He said she’s doing the commentary. She said I’d like to talk to you tomorrow and I said great, no problem. Then she left and we were talking about her more. I said, what is her last name? And he said Kürten.

I said “That’s Jessica Kurten! Get her back here! Why didn’t you tell me!” He brought her back and I shook her hand again and said, “It’s so nice to meet you, you’re my hero!” and she said “Well you’re the one at the World Cup Final.”

For 20 years I’ve been watching her, she’s such a strong rider and passionate competitor and horseman. Then it turns out that the new horse I just got she’d had, so we got to talk about him, review with her some of the revelations I’ve had since he came in February. It was really cool to get to talk to her about him. It made me feel better about the way I’d managed him. It was so cool—I was excited to meet her.

Getting To Seventh

Before the speed round, Robert had said it was really important to be in the top 10 or 12 in the first day. He said you can’t win World Cup Finals the first day but you can lose them, so he cautioned me against a slow clear.

Wizard is a long horse nose to tail, and he doesn’t start and stop that easily. So I always feel like my fastest rounds are my smoothest rounds; he’s not one you can yank to go inside somewhere. It takes a little while to wind back up after something like that. I tried to keep that in mind and just be tidy and keep moving through the turns.

He was great. It didn’t feel like it took anything out of him—he was wilder the next morning. I think I was hoping this would be the case and for me it was the case.

Callan Solem sharing a moment with VDL Wizard after one of their rounds in the Longines FEI World Cup Final. Photo courtesy of Callan Solem

When we talked about if we needed to go over and show indoors before the Final I said I don’t think so. He’s so good indoors and I don’t think that’s super necessary. Having come from an outdoor circuit, I felt like he was really fit. He was galloping fitter than some of the horses who had been jumping indoors for a while. And where he’s been training in the heat of Florida, he got over there and it was between 30 and 50 [degrees] the whole time we were there. It definitely put a little wind in his sails.

Saturday I thought I had sort of an unlucky one down. The triple [combination] was triple bar, skinny oxer, vertical, and I thought he misjudged that a little bit. He maybe landed a little low in his balance after the triple bar, but it wasn’t a huge mistake.

He was the fastest in that round, so that was the difference between being eighth or 21^st in that round—time was important. That made it so I was in sixth overall after the second leg there. That was nice that he was that prompt. That was helpful.

Callan Solem and VDL Wizard on their way to seventh in the Longines FEI World Cup Final. Photo by Kat Netzler

Then he had an easy day on the day of the grand prix. I flatted him really lightly, gave him a chance to stretch his legs to leave enough in him for the two rounds on Monday.

I was watching videos that night in my hotel, I haven’t gone that fast two rounds in a row like that and come back to jump bigger. I’m so careful with the jumps that we jump with him; we didn’t go all the way there to lose. So I texted Peter Leone who was there to help me and I said “I’m just watching the videos and I think we should jump bounces in the morning.”

So we jumped nothing major at all, but I used a little bit bigger bridle just to say “Hey buddy, stay with me here.” I do think it was a good thing to do. It didn’t take anything out of him but reset his clock.

It was good to just get him not looking to be aggressive at the jumps. It made it so I could still put my leg on him. The track is so short in there and the ring is so small that the horses have to take your leg well through the turn. Sometimes if they’re being a little aggressive or strong they can talk you into not keeping the same amount of leg that you’d normally need.

I thought the last round was his best round of the week. That’s a big deal for a championship horse that you can get to the end, and you’re seeing the best of him up to that point. I just didn’t know. I’d never jumped him quite that much.

“Looks Like Your Summer Schedule Will Get More Complicated”

Holly [Osman] who takes care of Wizard was tremendous that week, she did everything exactly right times 10. It was great. Every day that I got on him she’d done everything in her power to be as comfortable, happy, as she could do. It made a big difference.

My mom, Kay Hooper, came, and so did [Wizard’s owners] Collin and Virginia McNeil, and their daughter Lee Lee, and her friend who rides with me, Emma Cohen, and Peter Leone came to help me. I felt very supported, which was great.

I am so grateful to have such a great relationship with the McNeils. I never have to think ‘Oh if I have three down am I going to get fired.’ We have such a great relationship. They know me, know I try my best no matter what. They know enough about this sport to know how it goes, and sports in general it doesn’t always go your way. They’re super, super people. They’ve been so patient with Wizard, they did everything right. They had a huge part in him being successful.

They’re being really patient and supporting me in the decisions that I made. We’ve been down in Wellington [Fla.] since Dec. 1. In Wellington Wizard’s jumped in one 1.40-meter [class], two WEF [Challenge Cup classes] and one grand prix. They never said “Oh we want to watch our horse show.” They’ve supported everything I want to do to make it right for him and for everyone in the long run. I don’t think that’s necessarily a given.

After the last round Robert was really happy. He said “It looks like your summer schedule will get more complicated,” because that meant that I’d gotten the short list spot.

Robert Ridland (left) congratulated Callan Solem as she left the ring with VDL Wizard and groom Holly Osman. Photo courtesy of Callan Solem

I’d had a big talk with myself that this whole time I would be competing and doing this I was going to try my best to not make too much room for anything that wasn’t part of a solution for “How am I going to jump this clear? How am I going to have my horse in his best shape? How am I going to do the best job I can?”

If it wasn’t an answer to one of those questions I wasn’t trying to give it much attention. Going into the fourth round I was focused on what I needed to do to have the warm-up I was hoping for, to execute the course the way I needed to. Peripherally I did know that if I had a good round it would mean a lot, but before the last round I was really just thinking about the nuts and bolts of how I need to get this done.

Everyone’s been great. It’s meant so much to me. There are a lot of people in this industry that have watched me for 20 years trying to get the skills organized for something like this, and try to find the right horse. A lot of people have known that I’ve been trying to do this a really long time. I’ve heard such kind words from so many people and it’s meant a lot for sure.

Coming Home

Wizard just landed in Miami, and will be out of quarantine on Sunday. We will assess him from there. I expect all will be fine. We’ll see what everything looks like.

They will release the short list some time [this] week. Once they get all that sorted, everybody will get organized on which tour they’ll do. I’m hoping to do the second [half of the tour], to give him a little break after World Cup I’m thinking that he doesn’t need to go right away to Rome and La Baule [France] which are the second and fourth week of May. So hopefully that works out for everyone else’s plan.

We’ll go home to Pennsylvania in mid-April and get his spring shots and vaccinations and teeth done and all that to get him off and running. Depending, St. Gallan [Switzerland] could be his next show depending on what the travel plans are.

I’m so proud of Wizard. Not that I’m surprised, because I know him. That was so generous of him to give all of that in that week. He totally knew it. He knew it was what it was all about. He’s really smart and he can’t be underestimated. I think he’s a really serious guy and I’m trying my best to keep up.