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. 

Dublet was really hot when I got him. I had a hard time hand-walking him and I couldn’t even turn him out when I first got him. Now, he’s the biggest teddy bear ever.

When I got him from Andreas [Helgstrand in Denmark], I almost didn’t try him. I saw him come out and I told Mom [Dublet’s owner, Diane Perry] I didn’t like him because I didn’t like the way he was moving. She told me I had come all this way and I was going to try him. I got on him and took one lap around at the trot and said, “He is so fun!”

His hind legs are outrageous—he picks them up so well and has good reach behind. He has so much scope. It was between him and another horse we tried in Germany but I just knew that he was the one. We bought him, and then when I got him, it took a little bit for me to understand and channel the power that he has.

I insisted on doing everything myself, and it took me about a year to be able to just hand-walk him. He would get really hot but he was never mean. I spent a lot of time with him. I would hand-walk him twice a day.

He still has those days but when he’s in his stall, he’s the biggest teddy bear. He loves to cuddle and have attention. When I put on his magnetic blanket, I’ll sit next to him and he’ll play with my hat or he puts his head right on my face. He likes to lie down and eat sometimes—he’s lazy like that—and he loves kids. In Europe last year, some kids would come by and he would put his head down and they would just pet his face.

Canoodling with Dublet. Photo by Meg McGuire Photography

I do the everyday work and I don’t have a groom. I noticed my rides are better when he has someone grooming him he knows. He’s more relaxed. He internalizes a lot. He’s definitely one where he can’t be cooped up for too long because it brings back that hotness.

He’s a handful under saddle too. The first two years, he’d spook at the smallest little things and sounds. I got that under control last year a little bit, but he’s still hot. He likes his mind busy.

Training with Debbie [McDonald] really gives him something to think about. He gets tight in his body and pretty fresh with too much time off. So it’s better if I keep him moving a little bit. Too many days off in between are not good for him. If I have too many days off when I don’t ride him, the day back on is going to be a stretchy day.

He’s always used to playing the second role to [Trøstruplund’s] Scarlet [her 17-year-old Danish Warmblood mare]. When I turn out the horses, he has to come in when Scarlet comes in, because that’s his girlfriend. Dublet is really the only horse I can walk close with her and she won’t pin her ears—on a good day. She tolerates him. [Scarlet has gone to Idaho where Adrienne Lyle will ride her while Perry-Glass is in Europe with Dublet].

He travels amazingly well. He’s a hay dunker, which is really good for traveling—when he’s allowed to have water next to him. Sometimes in Europe you can’t put a bucket up and you have to go back every hour to give them water. So I give him watermelon and watery stuff.

When he flies, Dublet is very quiet. He will just stand there—no big deal. He goes with the flow on the plane. When they are taking off, he’s really good about preparing himself.

I haven’t had a physical home for the last four years. I’ve been bouncing around from suitcases. I’ve had two suitcases and the horses and we’ve just been going from Anne Gribbons’ to Wellington to Europe to Idaho [to train with Debbie McDonald in the summer].

I love Debbie, I love Adrienne [Lyle], I love Bob [McDonald]. It is a team there. That’s what I love. This is a team sport. Sometimes it’s individual, but you can’t go by yourself. Debbie has stepped up the game so much and she’s hard as heck on me. She’s tough.

Adrienne’s helped me kind of navigate through Debbie and figure out how I can express what I’m feeling without sounding like I’m a little crybaby. Sometimes with a new coach you don’t really know what they’re thinking. I learned so much last summer watching Adrienne. After I would get done with the horses, or before I got on them, I would sit there and watch her.

It was so fun because she rode so many different kinds of horses. I learned a lot from her by watching. I’ll pick up on little things, like, “Oh that’s what you meant, Debbie.”

Debbie’s been awesome. No matter what, after Europe—and, I hope, Rio—I’ll go back to Idaho. It’s good for the horses. It’s quiet. It’s such a great place. I thought Spokane was beautiful but Sun Valley, Idaho is gorgeous. I love it there.

It was so funny because Adrienne said, “When you go to Europe and when you go to Rio, then when will you be home?” And I said, “The end of August?”

And she said, “OK. In September, I’m booking it for you. We’re going to go hiking. We’re going to go white water rafting. We’re going to go camping. “ We enjoy the same things and we are similarly minded that we can just look at each other and just start laughing. 

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. 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. 

Read all of the Road To The Olympics with Kasey Perry-Glass

We’re also following:

Show jumper Callan Solem

Eventer Phillip Dutton and his groom Emma Ford

Show jumper McLain Ward

Eventer Clark Montgomery

Dressage rider Laura Graves