Caledon, Ontario—July 11

Pressure. 

If you had to sum up the first day of dressage here at the Pan American Games—at least for the U.S. and Canadian riders—with one word, that’d be it. The two teams are battling for an Olympic Games qualifying spot, and so riders on both squads were feeling the need to step up for their countries today. 

In the end, the United States slipped ahead with a team score of 230.50. But Canada’s not too far behind with 226.07 points. 

“I have to be honest, I think this is the most pressure I’ve ever been under,” said Laura Graves, who earned a 75.08 percent for the U.S. team in the Grand Prix. “It’s not just personally but also as a team. How well we did at the [2014 Alltech FEI] World Equestrian Games was like a surprise. ‘Oh great, we finished fourth!’ At the World Cup, it’s a personal thing, and so the pressure is much less. It is a lot of pressure here, but I like the pressure, and I know Steffen [Peters] thrives under it.” 

Members of both teams delivered clutch performances and personal bests today, and U.S. and Canadian riders hold the top eight placings. One of those was Canada’s own Brittany Fraser, who picked up a 76.10 percent, her highest CDI Prix St. Georges score yet. After Fraser got off her horse, she wasn’t aware of that high score for a few minutes. 

“I wanted to do my best for my team, and I did. I got a 74. Wait, it was…76? Oh my God,” she said. “My horse has never been in atmosphere like this. He didn’t let me down. He’s my horse of a lifetime.” 

Steffen Peters won today’s individual lead—though individual medals are not based on the scores today—with Legolas 92 on 77.24 percent, which is close to his personal best CDI Grand Prix score of 77.80 percent. (That score from today does not include the 1.5 percent coefficient added to the scores of Grand Prix pairs for the team rankings.) 

“I think this was his best so far. That I can deliver this for my team, it’s exactly what I was hoping for,” said Peters. “There’s no doubt there’s pressure. We have to deliver under pressure. It’s the only way at the top. I refuse to change anything in the test because of the score. It’s the worst mistakes you can make, to ride the scoreboard, so I just did exactly that what I did at home. I didn’t push him more; certainly not less. But it was an awesome, awesome feeling.” 

Today riders did the Prix St. Georges or Grand Prix, with nine of the riders doing the large tour. Tomorrow they’ll the do the Intermediaire I or Grand Prix Special, which serves as the second half of the team competition as well as another qualifier for the individual freestyles on Monday, and then team medals will be awarded.

(Steffen’s stoked. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.) 

Soundbites From The Day

On riding a tense horse in the ring: 

“He was so wound up going around the outside. But I’m so proud of him. He went in there and did his best, given that he was terrified. When that happens, it puts me in focus! In one way, it’s almost good because you forget about everything else but that I need to get him with me and confident. I rode conservatively in the beginning because he was so wild, and I didn’t know what I had there. I thought he’d get a little up and passage-y in the atmosphere, but the cantering and going sideways into the test runner—I wasn’t expecting that.” —Belinda Trussell, who earned a 73.44 percent for sixth individually. 

On entering the ring with 1 second on the clock remaining: 

“We practice this at home, so we have a pretty good idea from the place where I pick up the canter, how many seconds I have left. With a horse like Legolas, you just have to be prepared for that.” —Steffen Peters 

On being excited to be here:

“[Verdades] has been so on since we got to Toronto. We haven’t shown since World Cup, so maybe two months, and the first day in warm-up, he was like ‘Oh, a horse show!’ ” —Laura Graves 

On doing what you came to do:

“It could not have been better, especially for the first day of competition. We had our goals and strategy to go in and ride a really clean test, and that’s exactly what we did.” —Canada’s Chris Von Martels, who was fifth individually (75.18%) on Zilverstar. 

On making your dreams come true:

“I’ve had this horse since he was just coming 4. It’s a long partnership with him. I’ve always had the idea he could get to the top. He wants to do it. He loves his job, and when you have a horse like that—and he’s beautiful and moves amazing and is amazing to ride, it’s an amazing horse. It’s my horse of a lifetime. I just go in and try to do my best every ride. I’ve been shooting for [these Pan American Games] for two years.” —U.S rider Kimberly Herslow, who was third individually with 75.18 percent on Rosmarin. 

On enjoying this team experience:

“It’s my first time, and I actually didn’t expect it to be so much fun and to be making so many friends. It’s just really fun, and you feel so supported. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is really fun! We shoudl do this more often.’ Normally you pretty much go by yourself, so that’s amazing.” —Sabine Schut-Kery, who earned a 71.79 percent for the U.S. on Sanceo. 

See the full team results at the Pan Ams website, read our play-by-play, or check out a gallery of photos from today’s action.