Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 30, 2018–Kasey Perry-Glass “showed that we’re back” when she rode her Olympic mount Dublet to victory in the Global Dressage Festival CDI3* Freestyle Friday following their Grand Prix win two days earlier in the first competition in eight months.

“We’re both ready, mentally and physically,” said the 30-year-old rider and the 2017 U.S. Grand Prix champion after the pair scored 76.125 per cent in the Freestyle following the Grand Prix result of 73.217 per cent.

Adrienne Lyle of Ketchum, Idaho and Horizon placed second on 74.200 per cent in their first Big Tour Freestyle for the 11-year-old Oldenburg mare.

Yvonne Losos de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic on Foco Loco W, the horse she will take to the World Cup Final in Paris next month, was third on 73.800 per cent.

Kasey and the 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding took a break after last year’s European competition swing in which they were on U.S. teams that won gold at the Nations Cup in Rotterdam and silver at Aachen, Germany. The top sport results capped three years of jam-packed competitions.

At small tour, the duo competed in Wellington and throughout Europe in preparation for the Pan American Games in 2015. The 12-week Wellington winter circuit in 2016 was followed by European summer swing then the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where the team won bronze, the first Olympic medal since 2004.

Wellington was next in 2017, followed by the World Cup Final in Omaha, then the U.S. championships and back to Europe before, finally a break.

“The past couple of years have been really hard on me,” said Kasey originally from California but who has based herself in Wellington to work with Debbie McDonald. “I always thought of myself as being a very strong person in my head. The last couple of years has challenged that a bit.

“So having this break gave me a moment to really fall in love with the sport all over again. Not that I didn’t love it before but when things get really competitive it can sometimes be hard to keep your mind fresh. I’ve really been working on taking one ride at a time, one step at a time; just loving Dublet, loving the horses that I have because I’m truly blessed to have everything I do. I just needed to take a step back and take some time off.”

During the break, he was going to aquatred twice a week that that he loved so much he practically dragged Kasey to it and it has “built up his stamina 10 times better than he has been,” and trail rides. Or, as Kasey describes it, “keeping things simple for him, really protecting his mind.”

“He’s so much more mentally and physically prepared. It’s his third year and he knows his stuff and he’s letting me ride him a little bit more. Debbie and I are really fine tuning things with him. It’s such a great feeling knowing that I really don’t have to be training him all the time. He can be a horse, he can do other things to keep his mind fresh.”

Both horse and rider are mentally and physically ready to push for the high marks.

The next step is the CDI3* World Equestrian Games test event in Tryon, North Carolina next month.

There she will have friendly company as part of the group of riders who train with Debbie McDonald, a cadre that includes Laura Graves, Adrienne Lyle, Jennifer Baumert, Katherine Bateson-Chandler and others linked by what she describes as “great horsemanship and sportsmanship.”

All of us really care for each other,” she said. “We all want each other to to do well. We’re all just so close. I think it’s important that people need to know it’s a team sport. You have to go out and compete individually but we’re rooting for each other.”

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