Kasey Perry-Glass Developing New Mount “Heartbeat” as USA Team Prospect
2 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Kasey Perry-Glass Developing New Mount “Heartbeat” as USA Team Prospect
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
WELLINGTON, Florida, April 13, 2023–Olympic medal rider Kasey Perry-Glass has reported on her newly acquired 11-year-old Heartbeat W.P. as “a hidden jewel” she is developing to succeed Dublet as an American team prospect.
Heartbeat, 17.1 hands/173.7cm (Charmeur x Ferro), was bought by Kasey last November from a Dutch amateur who had found the horse as a youngster and trained it to Grand Prix.
“It’s a pleasure to introduce Heartbeat W.P as a new addition to the Team Believe family!” Kasey declared in an Instagram post.
“He has so much power and quality,” Kasey told dressage-news.com. “I feel I’ve gotten so lucky with Heartbeat doing what he has done.”
Kasey, 35, is working with Rio de Janeiro Olympic team mate Allison Brock in developing Heartbeat and is remaining at her Wellington training center for the year rather than moving to her family home in California as she has done in past summers.
“I’ve already enjoyed several months to get to know this beautiful boy, and I can’t express how grateful I am.”
“I would love to shoot for a team,” said Kasey when asked whether the Paris Olympics is a target, “but I don’t want to push him.”
The U.S. has qualified a team for Paris scheduled for late July in 2024.
U.S. team prospects are most likely to make a short list for Paris after the winter circuits in Florida and California in 2024, followed by competitions in Europe to make the final selection of three riders and horses and a reserve.
Kasey retired her Dublet, a Danish Warmblood gelding, after a career in which the pair was on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team for bronze, the 2018 Tryon World Equestrian Games for team silver and World Cup Finals in 2017 and 2019. She was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 but retired Dublet when the Games were postponed for a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Heartbeat was found shortly after he was saddle broken by Fleur van ‘t Laar and her sister Marlous in looking for a replacement for a horse they sold to Japan.
He felt “amazing,” Fleur told dressage-news.com. “He has so much power and always wants to work for you. My sister and I knew this was him! We trained him calmly and wanted to give him a lot of competition experience.”
Marlous started him in the lower classes and Fleur, a lawyer, up to Small Tour. However, both sister became pregnant and Fleur’s former trainer moved Heartbeat up to Grand Prix.
“He was started Grand Prix at nine years old because his qualities were best expressed in that test,” Fleur said. “Soon he was running 70+% scores and we knew there was much more potential in him.
“I always believed in him and knew that with a good (international) rider he can reach even greater heights.”
Micha Knol, a Dutch trainer based in Wellington, introduced Heartbeat to Kasey.
“It is everyone’s dream if your self-trained horse goes to an Olympic rider,” she said.
“Kasey rides with so much feeling and she had immediately clicked with him. And she has so much love for her horses that Heartbeat could not have ended up in a better place. His name says it all… He makes your heart beat faster. He is such a special horse and is forever in my heart. The will surely have a bright future together.”
