A year ago Arlene “Tuny” Page was just getting Wild One’s feet wet in the Grand Prix ring. But he was a fast learner, and now he’s earned himself a berth to the FEI Dressage World Cup Final by putting in two solid tests to win the U.S. Equestrian Federation Freestyle Championship and the World Cup’s U.S. League Final in Wellington, Fla., March 17-18.

“I’m tickled because it’s the first time this horse has believed everything I told him,” said Page after her Grand Prix ride.

The freestyle championships were combined with the U.S. League Final (as they have been for the past six years) and were held under the lights in the de Nemethy ring at the Winter Equestrian Festival showgrounds. This was the first time the popular showgrounds have hosted the event, but it won’t be the last as spectators lined the hill and filled the stands surrounding the arena, and riders raved about the management.

Only eight horses contested the championships, all of them among the country’s less experienced Grand Prix horses. “The travel is enormous this year,” said Marilyn Adams, the USEF director of dressage activities. “We have to go to the World Equestrian Games, and it’s the beginning of the qualifying process in the quadrennium for the next Olympic Games.”

But that didn’t make the competition any less exciting. Page, a hometown favorite as a resident of Wellington, started off by winning the Grand Prix (68.79%).

Their test was correct and elegant, and the 10-year-old Hanoverian (Wanderer–Graefin) gelding looked comfortable in the ring. Page would’ve been pleased with his trust and comfort level regardless of the color of their ribbon.

“I was just happy to have a harmonious ride from start to finish,” she said. “This horse has a beautiful frame and a beautiful picture. He’s the essence of a dressage horse. I need to make him secure so he can show himself off.”

The road to the Grand Prix has been a bit rocky for Page and Wild One. She’s had to watch his training carefully to keep him from being overwhelmed by the show atmosphere.

“I go to a lot of shows, making him go into this environment and manage,” she said. “When times were hard, I wasn’t sure if I was brave enough or strong enough to ride him.”

But those days are behind them now, as “Double V” consistently proves that he trusts Page in the ring. “I felt like I could count on him,” she said. “I could just set him up and do the movement. I’m so proud of that horse.”

And for the freestyle they debuted their new tunes. Marlene Whitaker put together a medley of oldies rock songs, including “Wooly Bully” and “My Girl.”

“Americans need to have fun with their freestyles,” said Page, referring to her rock music. She’d only gone through the choreography once to make a videotape to send to Whitaker, and she’d never ridden the test to music before the big night.

“Is this the perfect place to ride a dry run? Absolutely not!” she said following her winning ride. “But three months ago I wouldn’t have been able to put together as difficult a freestyle, so it made better sense to me to wait until he could handle things coming more quickly.”

Page aimed to wow the judges from the beginning of her ride, which opened with a double canter pirouette to a zigzag to another double pirouette.

“I wanted to get points in the bucket so that I had some room at the end of the ride to do chancier things,” she said.

The difficult elements that worried her included a passage zigzag and a piaffe pirouette in front of the judges. But they went off well, and the only thing that marred her freestyle was a spook at the end of an otherwise superb extended walk.


Beware The Shadows
But Wild One’s spook wasn’t the only one of the evening. Although the ring was well lit, the areas around it weren’t, and all the horses saw a few trolls hidden in the dark.

Leslie Morse had to work hard at convincing Tip Top 962 that she’d protect him from the monsters that lurked behind C. Two weeks before she’d ridden a strong Grand Prix at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby in Loxahatchee, Fla., and won the freestyle there.

But it wasn’t to be at Wellington. The 12-year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion (Master–Hortensia) was clearly frightened at the beginning of the Grand Prix when he refused to go to the end of the arena after the halt.

“This is a young Grand Prix horse, and this is a big, dynamic venue,” said Morse. “Tip Top needs to go in these environments and become comfortable and safe in them. I’m really proud of him. A year and half ago I wouldn’t have been able to get him on that side of the arena. He’s getting braver and becoming more trusting of me, but along that road you have good days and bad days.”

They had some mistakes in the Grand Prix resulting from his fear too, including a miss in the one-tempis and a break in the first piaffe, but he was able to recover and show off his trademark passage and canter pirouettes for second place (66.50%).

On the second night Tip Top’s anxiety still led to a few mistakes, but their dynamic swing music (created by Karen Robinson) had the crowd clapping their hands and dancing in their seats. And it was good enough to earn them second place again (73.40%).

O-rated judge Axel Steiner compared Page and Morse. “The difference between the two was that Tuny was very steady and very harmonious,” he said. “Leslie was in some areas technically more dy-namic, but harmony was the low point of her ride. She had some exceptional technical elements and some of the best half-passes I’ve seen. But there was some tension, and she had to fight him to keep him in the arena.”

Two Can Go And Two Will Go
The United States is allowed two representatives at the FEI Dressage World Cup on April 21-23, and Adams declared that the top two would go if they were willing. There was a bit of a hurried consultation between Page and team coach Klaus Balkenhol, discussing whether Wild One was ready, but they decided it would be a good experience for him.

This will be Page’s first chance to represent the United States in an international championship.

There was some concern over whether or not Morse was qualified, because her Grand Prix score was less than 68 percent, the cut-off for the USEF qualification requirements. But Adams explained that Morse had met the FEI requirements and would be able to go, since she consistently scored above the 68 percent mark with Tip Top at other shows.

Both riders benefited from having Balkenhol in the United States for 10 days before the show and planned to head to Europe early to get more instruction.

“When he comes for three days you can only absorb so much and your horse can only absorb so much,” said Page.

Morse echoed Page. “The extended stay that we’ve been so fortunate to take advantage of has changed our relationship to the horses. We have much more understanding and get to work on a bigger plan toward the future. This is what’s educating us and this is what we’re all dying to have. It’s been phenomenal.”

Morse believes that training with Balkenhol is so important that she intends to take her other Grand Prix stallion, Kingston, to Europe along with Tip Top.

She explained that it actually cuts down on travel to take him to Europe instead of shipping back to Beverly Hills, Calif., where she resides.

“It’s a 24-hour trip to Europe from California with trailering,” Morse explained. Since the World Equestrian Games selection trials will be in Gladstone, N.J., June 15-18, Morse won’t send her horses home at all this spring.

Although Tip Top got most of the attention over the weekend, Kingston won both the Grand Prix (71.58%) and the Grand Prix Special (70.36%) in the concurrent CDI classes.

It was only the second show since the Aachen CDIO last August, and the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion (Voltaire–Gisnette) looked more focused on his job, than two weeks prior in Loxahatchee.

“I won’t stay out of the show ring for so long again,” said Morse. “He was really strong and powerful [at Loxahatchee]. By Wellington we’d ridden through the tests and he’d settled.”


The Joy Is In The Every Day Riding
Cesar Parra has been working toward consistency at Grand Prix. The native of Colombia started riding Horses Unlimited’s Galant du Serein in 2004 and took him to the Athens Olympics, but has had difficulty convincing the 12-year-old Selle Fran�ais stallion (Apache D’Adriers–Sojornet) not to leave his best test in the warm-up.

“He fools me,” admitted Parra. “He looks very good in the warm-up, but I ride too quietly in the ring. I try to ride pretty, but it’s not effective.”

But that hasn’t discouraged Parra. “The joy is in the every day work,” he insisted. Still, he was thrilled when all that work paid off with a big win in the Grand Prix freestyle in the CDI (71.92%).

Parra is a freestyle specialist and showed off the range of emotion a freestyle can inspire with his test. Terry Ciotto-Gallo put together his compilation of Colombian music, including songs by Shakira and Enrique Iglesisas.

“I try to emphasize telling a story,” he explained. “I start with something a little dramatic. There’s a series of pirouettes. I try not to leave blank spaces in the ring, to fill up the space. Otherwise the story gets boring. But it’s difficult because he has no time to relax.”

Parra works with Hubertus Schmidt of Germany and has learned from him that he must ride every stride. “I’m working all the time to show a smooth ride,” said Parra.

He called this win “a dream” because, while he’s consistently in the top five at CDIs, he seldom wins. “I’m aiming for the World Equestrian Games and I hope to be in the top 20,” he said.

He Can’t Be Beaten
One rider whose consistent performances have stood out this spring in Florida is Canada’s Ashley Holzer. She and Pop Art are undefeated in the small tour this season, and they took home their ninth consecutive CDI win at Wellington.

“I’m a little bit in shock that he’s so good,” said Holzer. “It’s fun for him. He’s very consistent in his temperament. He’s an affectionate pet.”

Pop Art’s natural impulsion and enthusiasm endear him to the judges and the audience. The 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Amsterdam–Jody Prinses) even gives hugs in his stall.

He also performed a demonstration of Grand Prix movements with Kingston before the start of the U.S. Freestyle Championships.

“He really enjoyed it,” said Holzer. “He was a little bit freaked out in the beginning, but he calmed right down.”

The Wellington CDI will be their last Intermediaire I. “I really want to go ahead and start Grand Prix,” she said. “We’ll do some Intermediaire IIs for a while. My eyes are on getting him to Grand Prix.”

Another rider with her eyes on Grand Prix is Melissa Jackson, who came out of nowhere to take second place in several CDI classes this spring with the aptly named Wellington 248.

The pair has only been together since last October, when Jackson imported the 9-year-old Hanoverian (Wolkenstein II–Mirabell) from Germany. She was on a buying trip with Cesar Parra looking for resale prospects, but she found something a little bit more special.

“He was one of the first horses we saw,” she said. “He was just so willing and never said no. Every day he’s a pleasure to ride.”

Showing is a family affair for the professional from Parish, Fla. Her husband, John, comes along to barbecue for everyone and to oversee her 5- and 6-year-old daughters.

Although Jackson holds her U.S. Dressage Federation gold medal, she’s never owned a horse of this caliber before. “His strengths are his willingness and attitude,” she said. “He has three super gaits, and nothing ever seems hard to him.”

She plans to ride her first freestyle with Wellington in two weeks and to try to qualify for the USEF Intermediaire I Championships in Gladstone, N.J., in June.
(For more coverage and photos, go to www.chronofhorse.com and click on online coverage archives.)