Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

United States I finished first at the Nations Cup CDIO3* in Wellington, Florida Friday, but a protest on behalf of Mikala Gundersen of Denmark over penalties when her horse, My Lady, bolted could move the team from Europe into second place, knocking United States II to third and pushing Canada out of the medals.

The protest was filed by Team Europe’s Alexander Meyer-Hiestand of Austria after medals were awarded–gold to USA 1, silver to USA 2 and bronze to Canada 1.

And the teams that were initially declared as placing first, second and third had participated in a news conference lauding the competition that was a test event of mixed Prix St Georges and Grand Prix combinations for the Pan American Games as an Olympic qualifier.

But the hearing by the appeals committee–Sandra Hotz of the U.S., Lorraine McDonald of Canada and Marianne Cunningham of Peru–will not take place until Saturday so the results that were posted as official have been labeled preliminary.

The protest on behalf of the Florida-based Danish rider was over the scoring of one-tempi changes by Mikala and My Lady which has a coefficient of two, so points awarded are doubled.

After the end of the line of one-tempis while My Lady was on its way to turning back to the centerline for the next movement, the horse bolted, circled then resumed the course it was on.

The judges each removed three points from her scores for the one-tempi movement, and as that was a coefficient and there were five judges that penalized her by 30 points. The protest said the pair should have been penalized for an error of course which means a deduction of two points for each judge for a total of 10. Further, the judges are supposed make an independent determination as to the points to be awarded to each movement.

The difference in points would move Europe to 209.662 and place them second behind USA 1 with 219.313, putting USA II in third place with 208.675. Canada I had a total of 205.346 and would thus lose the bronze medal.

News of the protest came long after the event was over–though the actual protest was filed within the legal time period of one hour–and had no impact on the daylong competition in which 10 teams with riders from 10 different countries rode at Prix St. Georges and Grand Prix in the first ever Nations Cup of mixed levels.

Only the second non-championship Nations Cup outside Europe that was held at the Global Dressage Festival’s Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, as was the first staged in 2012, was a highlight and a finale of the CDI-packed Florida winter circuit.

First-time team member Kimberly Herslow of Stockton New Jersey on her Rosmarin posted the top Prix St. Georges result of the day that helped USA I grab the gold.

The ride on her eight-year-old horse was the latest highlight in an “amazing journey that has been so huge for me I’m almost in shell shock.”

Christilot Boylen, one of the most experienced riders in the competition and whose ride on Dio Mio led the Canada I team to a provisional bronze medal, recalled the times when she competed at the Pan American Games when the level was Grand Prix.

This Nations Cup, she said, “was a wonderful start for discussions on the actual format that will be used at the Pan American Games that could be very good for developing dressage in the Americas, not just North America, and that’s going to be important for us.”

Cesar Parra who rode Van the Man for United States II said an event like the Nations Cup “keeps the dream alive. I think that’s very important for the sport. The dream is what motivates people to do thing.”

Complete Provisional Results