Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

PALGRAVE, Ontario, July 12, 2015–Venezuela has filed a protest over the Pan American Games individual dressage competition that aims to cut Canada and United States combinations to three instead of four with other nations filling the places as a display of more “flags” contesting the medals.

The protest came after a meeting of the official team managers and the draw for the competition that will be at Intermediate and Grand Prix Freestyle levels and decide the individual medals.

If the protest is accepted, the effect would be to cut the lowest scoring members of the Canadian and American teams that currently have four horses and riders in the individual final and replace them with combinations from the next in line nations, Venezuela one of them.

The protest hinges on whether there are rules enacted by the Pan American Games organization known as PASO or the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) under whose rules the equestrian competition at these hemispheric championships is staged.

The start list for the individual medals has already been published based on a draw Sunday night after two days of the Nations Cup won by the United States with Canada taking silver and Brazil bronze. The individual championship will be based on straight scores whether at Big Tour or Small Tour, unlike the Nations Cup that awarded a “bonus” of 1.5 per cent for each Grand Prix score that counted.

The draw shows that the Canadian combination of Megan Lane and Caravella and Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo of the United States would be dropped if the protest succeeds.

Robert Dover, the U.S. chef d’equipe who attended the meeting, opposed changing the format that allows for all four Americans to move on to the individuals.

While there is uncertainty as to the existence of current rules covering this situation, precedents show only three combinations from team competitions have been allowed to advance to the individual finals in previous championships, both at the Pan American Games and other FEI championships such as the Europeans.

The curent controversy has come about partly because of the unique format of mixed Big Tour and Small Tour teams introduced for the first time at these Pan Ams and partly because of rules that were sloppily written or not at all considered in an environment that is increasingly litigious.

While the aim of adding Grand Prix combinations to Pan Am teams–as many as two on a team of four this year–is to raise the level of dressage in the Americas there is also a belief that the powerful nations of Brazil, Canada and the United States should not dominate to the extent of taking the lion’s share of available places in individual competition that it excludes even the appearance of other countries.

Trond Asmye, the FEI director of director, who is attending the Pan Ams, admitted at a news conference Sunday that the standard of dressage at the championship level in the Americas was improving with the addition of Grand Prix to the teams, the FEI was concerned imposing the change throughout the hemisphere too soon “would lose too many nations.”

It was important, he said, to evaluate how the new system has worked.

He said he was “quite convinced” that if too many Grand Prix combinations had been required this year doe the team contest “too many teams would have been lost.”

The start list for the individual Intermediate 1 and Grand Prix Freestyles that came from Sunday night’s draw:

Start Order		Rider	Horse nº	Horse Name	Time
1		PADILLA Jose	153	DONNERSBERG	11:00
2		EGERSTROM Christer	135	BELLO ORIENTE	11:10
3		CORCHUELO BERNAL..	128	BECKHAM	11:20
4		MORTIMER JONES E..	146	ADAJIO	11:30
5		MENDOZA LOOR Julio	141	CHARDONNAY	11:40
6		DOS SANTOS Joao ..	111	VELEIRO DO TOP	11:50
7		BERNAL Marco	127	FAREWELL IV	12:00
8		DA SILVA Leandro..	110	DI CAPRIO	12:10
9		PALACIOS Jesus	154	WIZARD BANAMEX	12:20
10		MANFREDI Maria F..	103	BANDURRIA KACERO	13:10
11		YARUR Virginia	124	FINN	13:20
12		MARCARI OLIVA Jo..	112	XAMÃ DOS PINHAIS	13:30
13		FRASER Brittany	116	ALL IN	13:40
14		HERSLOW Kimberly	166	ROSMARIN	13:50
15		VON MARTELS Chri..	119	ZILVERSTAR	14:00
16		SCHUT-KERY Sabine	168	SANCEO	14:10
17		DENIZARD Luis	159	ROYAL AFFAIR	14:20
18		LANE Megan	117	CARAVELLA	14:45
19		TRUSSELL Belinda	118	ANTON	14:55
20		PETERS Steffen	167	LEGOLAS 92	15:05
21		GRAVES Laura	165	VERDADES	15:15