The elements were out in full force at the Classique Internationle de Blainville CDI***, June 28-July 1 in Blainville, Que. When it wasn’t pouring, strong gusty winds kept the horses on high-tail alert, and even some of the more seasoned campaigners came a little unhinged.

Black clouds were not only in the skies, either. Just weeks before the show, Dressage Canada’s high performance committee informed the Blainville organizers that the selection trials for the World Equestrian Games dressage team were cancelled. Since only four riders and five horses met the minimum criteria to participate in the trials, it was concluded that they would be redundant. Officials from Dressage Canada agreed to a request from the riders to waive the trials so that they could go to Europe earlier to prepare for the WEG.

Kim Goodyear is the chairman of high performance for Dressage Canada. “In my five years in high performance we have never changed or broken criteria. The biggest thing stopping us from doing it [this time] was the disappointment to the competitions.”

The Blainville CDI has been a selection trial for every major international championship since 2002, and the trials were billed as the main event this year.

Said Blainville president Jean Pierre Arvisais: “We’ve been forced to renege with our sponsors. There is an inevitable loss of credibility for us and for dressage.”

Arvisais decided to cancel the TV coverage they’d scheduled. “Usually, we only televise the Grand Prix riders, so it’s become a non-event,” he said.

“It reflects a short-sighted view on funding and fundraising,” said Cara Whitham, a competitor, judge, Dressage Canada board member and show organizer. “The only way we can get more funding is by gaining sponsors. If the riders don’t support Canadian competitions, that is difficult to achieve.”

The riders expressed regret that they did not have their WEG horses at Blainville, but they made the point that having a trial when every contestant will make the team is meaningless.

Ashley Holzer, who has qualified for the team with two horses–Imperioso and Gambol–said, “We’re only doing this to be the best we can for Canada. I feel incredibly moved by the support of Canadians, and I feel horribly for the shows.”

With a departure to Germany on July 5, three of the team members deemed it unwise to compete with their horses so shortly before major air travel.

Nevertheless…
The show at Blainville did go on without the trials, and it featured the most entries it’s ever had in both the national show and CDI. Although there was only one horse from the WEG team at Blainville–Evi Strasser’s Quantum Tyme–Strasser, along with teammates Jacqueline Brooks and Cindy Ishoy, did compete on their younger horses.

The Grand Prix division was predictably dominated by Strasser and Quantum Tyme. Strasser, who is originally from Germany, lives only half an hour north of Blainville at her Good Tyme Stables.

Quantum Tyme has been at the level long enough that consistency can be expected, but it will be interesting to see if the judges reward her at the WEG with scores like she received at Blainville. She won the Grand Prix on a score of 67.33 percent, but two judges had her second behind Jon Costin and Wholio, who did not meet the qualification criteria for WEG.

Wholio’s score (66.16%) was evidence that the 10-year-old Hanoverian belongs in the same league as those on the team.

The FEI jury didn’t often seem to get on the same page over the four days of the show, and they were the most disparate in the freestyles. Strasser won in the pouring rain (73.67%), and all but one judge had her first.

“I cannot tell you how great it is to perform here in Blainville in front of so many enthusiastic spectators,” Strasser said after her decisive victory.

But for those that came behind her, the scores were all over the map. Second-placed Julia Vysniauskas, who rides for Lithuania on Syntax, had a spread of nearly 8 points from the highest-placed judge to the lowest. Peter Engell of Germany had her fourth (65.87%), and Cara Whitham placed her above Strasser (73.50%).

Perhaps in anticipation of next year’s Pan Am Games, the small tour classes swelled to unprecedented numbers. There were almost 50 horses in the Prix St. Georges between the CDI and national show, with 25 competing in the CDI. Canada has had a good track record in dressage at the Pan Am Games, and the chance to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics by winning a medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, makes Canada’s performance in next year’s Pan Am Games crucial.

In the CDI small tour, scores among the top five were often less than a point apart. Gillian Sutherland won the Prix St. Georges on Great Tyme (66.10%), but some issues in the canter tour in the Intermediaire I put her well down the field in that class.

Wiona, a Hanoverian mare ridden by Diane Creech and owned by Doug Leatherdale, improved on her second-placed Prix St. Georges test with a powerful and correct Intermediaire I, winning the class with 68.25 percent.

Second behind Wiona in the Intermediaire I was another mare, Raffles, a Swedish Warmblood owned by Faith Berghuis and ridden by Andrea Bresee.

In the freestyle, Bresee repeated the harmonious and exciting performance that put her into first place at the Ottawa CDI the week before; a score of 71.35 percent this time put her nearly 2 points ahead of second-placed Sutherland and Great Tyme. The judging in that class was so erratic that Sutherland was not ranked second by a single judge, but anywhere from first to fifth. The sixth-placed horse had a first-ranked score from Engell.

Tomorrow’s Stars
In the FEI young horse division, Tygo B won the preliminary and finale 6-year-old tests, with 7.9 the first day and 8.08 the second day. The powerful, bay Dutch Warmblood gelding by Wolfgang, owned by Robert and Frances Bierhuizen of Sunrise Greenhouses, was particularly impressive in the canter.

“He was a hunter until January when I got him,” said rider Lee Tubman, an Ontario-based trainer and coach. “He’s got the wrong canter for hunters,” he added with a smile.

Tygo’s canter was rewarded with an 8.5 in the finale test. “He was a little disobedient in the medium canter, but the judges said it would have been a 9,” said Tubman.

For Tubman, the judges’ feedback about the horse’s impulsion, elasticity and ability to come off the ground were encouraging.

In the 5-year-old class, a tie on the first day between HG San Classic and Klouseau was not repeated in the finale test, where San Classic showed himself to his best ability and was rewarded with a winning 8.28 score.

“I was really happy with his walk today,” said rider and owner Caroline Pepin. The judges liked his walk too, giving it a 9.

“The judges told me he is a top quality horse for the higher levels,” said Pepin of her Oldenburg gelding by Sandro Hit. “I want to keep him for a long time.”

With the North American Young Riders Championships just around the corner, juniors and young riders were on the hunt for qualifying scores. Cecile von Martels, 20, and her horse Downtown earned wins in both the team and individual Young Rider tests.

The 10-year-old Westphalian came from the jumper ring, and von Martels said it’s only been in the last few months that things have come to-gether for them. “He’s been kind of difficult, but over the winter he has matured and grown up,” she said.

Although she has qualified for NAYRC, the second-year veterinary technician student has decided not to compete at the championships. “I feel that since he’s still green, I don’t want to go down and do a mediocre test. I’d rather go next year and be able to medal,” she said. “I’m really happy to have qualified, and I don’t want to pressure him.”

Von Martels trains with her older brother Chris, a former Young Rider who competed in the CDI on Korenbloem Charmeur.

After finishing second and third in both Young Rider tests with Nashua and Jacardo, Tara Dougans managed to better von Martels in the freestyle (68.16%). She rode Nashua, the horse she plans to take to NAYRC. Dougans is from British Columbia but relocated to Toronto to train with Belinda Trussell.

At the NAYRC in August, she will ride on the Western Canadian team that includes Pia Fortmuller and Alex Duncan. “Riders in the west often don’t get seen,” she said. “This will be an opportunity to get recognition. I would like us to medal as a team.”

Flying Frenchmen!
For anyone who goes to the CDI Blainville, the must-see part of the weekend is the Saturday evening freestyle gala. The idea was conceived by Jean Pierre Arvisais, and its goal is to bring the sport to a wider audience by showcasing the most entertaining classes, serving a gourmet dinner and adding extra entertainment.

This year the feature entertainment was a massive hit, even if the act was missing two legs. The Flying Frenchmen have performed at major equestrian events around the world, including the FEI Show Jumping World Cup Final in Kuala Lumpur and the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.).

Three brothers perform amazing feats of athleticism, leaping over show jumps up to 5’10” in bare feet–while stripping down to their skivvies. On the way to the airport in Paris, the youngest of the three Flying Frenchmen had his passport stolen on the train and was not allowed to travel. So the flyers were but two in Blainville.

The largely francophone Quebec audience loved the cigarette smoking, wine drinking antics of the two brothers, whose ability to clear show jumps most people wouldn’t dare to attack with a horse was as impressive as it was hilarious.