Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Almost nine months of qualifying a United States dressage team for the Paris Olympics finally comes to an end this week with seven riders and nine horses on the short list entered to compete at two European events.

A U.S. team including short listed riders Katherine Bateson Chandler on Haute Couture and Ashley Holzer on Hansel along with World Cup competitor Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee will compete in the CDIO5* Nations Cup at Rotterdam, Netherlands that kicks off with the Grand Prix Thursday.

Entries for Kronberg, Germany CDI4* include Anna Buffini on Fiontini, Adrienne Lyle on Helix and Lars van de Hoenderheide, Anna Marek on Fire Fly, Marcus Orlob on Jane and Endel Ots on Zen Elite’s Bohemian.

Only top ranked Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper is missing from the lineups, having been given a bye that essenitally assures him place on the team. But he will compete at the premier World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany the first week of July, a week after the Paris team is already selected.

Steffen on Suppenkasper, on the Tokyo Olympic silver medal team, as well as Adrienne Lyle, Katie Duerhammer and Ashley Holzer on different horses earned the team start at Paris by placing sixth at the World Championships in 2022.

Reaching the final competitions in what may have been the longest selection process in the world has been less than predictable.

Selection for the American team began back in October at the Pan American Games where team gold medalist Anna Marek on Fire Fly earned her first Olympic team qualifying score and made it to the short list with the 14-year-old KWPN gelding.

Adrienne Lyle and Endel Ots became the beneficiaries of a last-minute generosity by successful Ft. Lauderdale, Florida entrepreneur Heidi Humphries and her Zen Elite Equestrian Center.

She bought Lars Van De Hoenderheide, a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, and Helix, a 12-year-old KWPN gelding, for Adrienne to compete, and Bohemian, a 14-year-old Westfalen gelding with prefix Zen Elite added to his name, for Endel.

Anna Buffini and Fiontini that she bought almost two years ago had been trained and competed only by males. It took until February this year for Anna to feel comfortable enough on the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood mare before their first international competition

Marcus Orlob didn’t start competing the 10-year-old KWPN mare Jane until March when owner Alice Tarjan decided the horse was too strong for her and turned it over to her long-time trainer, who himself had limited Big Tour experience.

Katherine Bateson Chandler is a veteran of top sport, as a groom for Robert Dover before going out on her own and making the 2020 World Equestrian Games team and since then numerous Nations Cups on both sides of the Atlantic. She took over Haute Couture after Holland’s Dinja van Liere developed the horse from a youngster to competing on the Dutch team at the European Championships in 2021.

Ashley Holzer was added to the short list on Hansel, an 11-year-old KWPN gelding, just days ago after strong performances at their last competition in the U.S. and in the only-head-to-head for the short list squad, as Hagen Germany earlier in June.

Ashley is a four-time Olympian for Canada but opted to ride under the Stars ‘n’ Stripes in 2017.

The final team of three riders and horses and a reserve will be announced by June 25.