The national championships later this summer are going to offer an opportunity for Jerseyans to watch top-level dressage close to home
Steffen Peters, the top-ranked U.S. dressage rider with Ravel, is planning to compete with him in the national Grand Prix championships in Gladstone later this summer.
Next month Steffen Peters is competing at the high-profile Aachen, Germany, show on Ravel, with whom he won two bronze medals at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
After Aachen, Ravel -- a prime candidate for the 2012 Olympics -- is headed back to the States, as Peters focuses on the Pan American Games trials at the foundation with his Small Tour horse, Weltino's Magic. But Ravel probably will be along for the ride.
"We are planning on taking it easy in August, and since the whole procedure for the Pan American Games is quite lengthy, most likely he will come with me to Gladstone and do the Grand Prix championships," Peters revealed in an interview, referring to Ravel, with whom he is ranked 11th in the world.The championships run Sept. 8-11 concurrently with the trials.
Fans missed seeing Ravel at the 2010 championships in Gladstone, when the U.S. Equestrian Federation show doubled as the trials for the WEG. Because of his stellar record, which includes a World Cup championship, Ravel got a bye from the screening process.
Weltino's Magic is leading the qualifying standings for the trials. The Pan Ams, to be staged during October in Guadalajara, Mexico, are run at the level of the Small Tour, the Prix St. Georges/Intermediare I level.
"If Magic makes the team, I would be in Gladstone for about a month," said Peters, then added it actually could be five weeks, counting preparation. He is considering bringing two other horses, Shiraz and Sundance 8, since he will be away from his California home for so long, but notes it would be an expensive trip to fly them east.
Meanwhile, finances permitting, Germany-based Catherine Haddad also is hoping to spend August and September stabled at Gladstone with Winyamaro, the U.S. reserve team horse for WEG, and Cadillac, her other Grand Prix mount.
Haddad noted, "I really want to make a journey to New Jersey this summer with my horses, so I'm trying to pull together enough money to cover their travel expenses"
.
In December, she married Califon veterinarian Greg Staller, whose Running S equine practice will handle the trials and championships. Under those circumstances it would be a conflict of interest for her to compete in the championships.
"Greg and I both want to support the USEF and all the horse shows it hosts, so we have agreed that Running S will cover the Festival in non-selection trial years, and I will ride in the competitions when it is really important for team selections," said Haddad.
"I don't have a candidate for the Pan American Games, so it's Greg's turn this year. I would love to do an exhibition or two at the Festival, especially with Cadillac, since nobody in the USA has seen him, but that possibility is still in discussion," she stated.
Haddad, the defending Dressage at Devon Grand Prix freestyle champion with Winyamaro, would like to return to that show. Peters also expressed interest in exploring participation in the iconic competition, which runs Sept. 27-Oct. 2 in Devon, Pa.
"I have a series of clinics planned throughout the U.S. in August and September, including a two-day session at Randy Leoni's Hawk Hollow Ranch in Bedminster Aug. 9-10. I'm looking forward to showing in the United States and spending time with my husband," Haddad continued. The couple takes turns visiting between Europe and the U.S.
"We will work on some renovations to our house in Califon and we are both anticipating some evenings of good fly fishing on the Raritan River,'' added Haddad, who is planning to move to the Garden State permanently after the 2012 Olympics, for which she will be a candidate.
ROBERT DOVER SYMPOSIUM -- The six-time Olympian is giving pointers this weekend to riders from First Level to Grand Prix at Michael Rucci's WoodsEdge Farm in Califon.
Those participating included such big names as Olympic judge Marilyn Payne, Olympic aspirant Sahar Hirosh and the versatile Heather Mason, as well as young people striving to learn.
Each year, Dover only gives four symposiums, which play to a larger audience than his private clinics that generally are for high-level riders and tend to have just a few people looking on.
The symposiums "show the training scale from the basic, just beginning, horse and rider through the Grand Prix," he said.
Dover likes providing education to a bigger group.
"It gives me a chance to go back to my own roots and my own basics of what I am as a teacher and a trainer," he said.
"It allows me to touch of the lives of way more people at one venue, and make more people understand the basic principles of the art of dressage."
Clinics and symposiums are among the many phases of retired competitor Dover's busy life that includes a weekly radio show on Tuesdays; the new Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla., which is his base, and the new Emerging Dressage Athletes Program.
While focusing on the symposium participants, he never forgets the audience.
"At the very least, I hope they'll go home saying, `Well, that was entertaining.' But my hope inside myself is that I can actually make them go home saying they had a life-changing experience," Dover commented.
The symposium, sponsored by County Saddlery, continues today and is open to auditors for a $90 fee.
Hirosh will be making a return appearance on the promising Fourth Level mare Sacro Santa by Sandro Hit, who is getting ready for Prix St. Georges.
Although to the average eye Hirosh looked as one with his horse, Dover asked him to shorten his stirrups, which put him in even better balance and a position to ask for more from the Rhinelander mare, nicknamed Prima, as in Prima Donna.
The work on tempi changes, which had been a problem before, suddenly improved.
"I think he is an amazing trainer," said Hirosh, who has worked with Dover before, noting, "I learned everything from him."
Robert Dover in action at the WoodsEdge symposium this weekendThe day began with a lecture that included basic principles, such as the goal of controlling tempo, rhythm, the length of stride and the frame of the horse.
"What else is there?" Dover asked spectators with a smile. In connection with the length of stride, he emphasizes use of the suppling rubber band exercise, in which the horse moves forward and comes back in quick response to the rider's aids.
With two Third Level riders, Emily Blumberg, 18, and Lilli Matusow, 17, he talked about the importance of the independent hand and seat. He suggested the "legs away" exercise in which the legs are taken off the saddle, that helps the riders balance and improve the seat. He recounted his own experience at age 13 as an experienced vaulter making the transition to dressage, working for nine months on the longe line with a German instructor to develop his seat.
When an independent seat is achieved, he told the teens, "You will go like meteors up in your ability level."
ON THE RAIL -- A U.S. Eventing Association Instructor Certification Program dressage workshop will be offered July 11-12 at Windswept Farm in Augusta with Eric Horgan of Ireland as the clinician. Horgan, who rode in the 1976 Olympics, was the bronze medalist at the 1989 European Eventing Championships.
The session, the only one in this region during 2011, will enable instructors to take their first step toward certification. Auditors also are welcome and riders are needed to be demonstrators.
Those interested in watching or participating may contact Patricia Lutfy via e-mail at yogaandhorses@gmail.com, or call (570) 296- 8223.
The N.J. Quarter Horse Association is inviting people to meet and chat with American Quarter Horse Association President Peter Cofrancesco of Sparta at the NJQHA youth show Saturday at the Gloucester County Dream Park.
ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE
Today: Emma Dressage Show, U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation Headquarters, Pottersville Road, Gladstone; Half-Arabian Show, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; Harding Township/Green Village Bridle Path Association/Crewe Hill Show, Spring Valley Showgrounds, Sand Spring Lane, New Vernon; Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Western and Draft Show, DVHA Showgrounds, Route 604, Sergeantsville; Palermo Stable Show, 1555A Burnt Mills Rd., Bedminster; Colts Neck Polo, Buck Mills Park, Colts Neck (2 p.m. start, coltsneckpolo.com).
Wednesday: Applewood Farm Dressage Show and Combined Test, 30 Fox Hill Rd., Califon; Good Time Farm Dressage Show, 278 Jackson Mills Rd., Freehold; Sussex County Benefit Show, Sussex County Fairgrounds, Plains Road, Augusta.
Thursday: Middlesex County Horse Show, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown (through next Sunday); N.J. Quarter Horse Association Youth Show, Gloucester County Dream Park, 400 Route 130 South, Logan Township (through next Sunday); Thursday Night Dressage Show, Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Showgrounds, Route 604, Sergeantsville.
Saturday: Sussex County Benefit Show, Sussex County Fairgrounds, Plains Road, Augusta; Tinicum Park Polo, 963 River Rd., Erwinna, Pa.(1 mile from New Jersey over the Frenchtown bridge, 2 p.m. start, tinicumpolo.org).
Next Sunday: Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Jumper Show, DVHA Showgrounds, Route 604, Sergeantsville; Oxbow Stables Dressage Show, Combined Test and Horse Trials, 39 Orts Rd., Hamburg; Golden Gait Farm Dressage Show, 323 Sweetmans Lane, Millstone; Colts Neck Polo, Buck Mills Park, Colts Neck (2 p.m. start, coltsneckpolo.com).
Nancy Jaffer may be reached at nancyjaffer@att.net.