Dressage-News

Oct. 5, 2025

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

How likely is the United States able to field a team of three or four rider and horse combinations capable of “consistency of scores over 74%” in time for the World Championships in 2026? Difficult, but history does not rule out the possibility.

With the intensive winter-long Global Dressage Festival in Wellington and the other Florida show grounds of World Equestrian Center in Ocala and TerraNova near Sarasota as well as events in California, current horses will likely improve and new ones will appear as prospects for the team at the World Championships in Aachen, Germany.

The United States team took silver in the 2018 World Equestrian Games Grand Prix in Tryon, made up of Laura Graves on Verdades (81.537%), Kasey Perry-Glass on Dublet (76.739%), Adrienne Lyle on Salvino (74.860%) and Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper (73.494%).

No one questions the quality of the core of top American riders. The retirement of Verdades, Dublet, Salvino, Suppenkasper and Sanceo, however, produced a gap at the team level.

A review of the records show that aside from Laura on Verdades–already among the elite in the world in 2017–the results for the other team members was not much different in 2017 than it is for several prospects the same time this year.

For example, Kasey on Dublet at Aachen, Germany in 2017 posted 68.929% in the Grand Prix and 71.608% in the Special. A year later in Tryon, the pair scored 76.739% in the Grand Prix team competition, a major contributor to earning silver.

On Heartbeat W.P. at Aachen this year Kasey scored 70.783% in the Grand Prix and 71.362% in the Special.

Adrienne on Salvino averaged 71.278% in three Grand Prix the duo competed in Florida and Europe in 2017.

Now, she has several Zen Elite Equestrian horses to choose from, some of which have not yet competed at international CDI Grand Prix.

Among current prospects fulfilling the 74% requirement for the 2022 World Championships have achieved that level in the past two years include Marcus Orlob on Jane that he and owner Alice Tarjan have worked extensively to overcome spooking, and Christian Simonson on Indian Rock.

With the intensive fall and winter circuits about to start, there are only guesses which combinations could emerge as prospects.

The placing of the United States at Aachen will be unlike all other countries seeking to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics as America is the host and thus automatically gets a start in 2028.

The Tryon World Equestrian Games came after the American high performance program led by Robert Dover with Debbie McDonald not only developing coach but also personal coach of all three women on the team was well-established, being in place for the 2014 World Equestrian Games and the 2016 Olympics. Scores for the three women at Tryon were what counted toward earning the silver medal. The program was based on proposals prepared by Robert who also helped raise $2.4 million to implement it.

The USA team of three with Debbie McDonald in charge and Sabine Schut Kery on Sanceo leading the way joined by Adrienne on Salvino and Steffen on Suppenkasper claimed silver at the Tokyo Olympics three years later.

Since then, the US underwent leadership issues that were not resolved until the appointment in January 2024 of Christine Traurig, an Olympic team medalist and coach of Sabine at Tokyo as development coach and chef d’equipe, a position elevated this year to technical advisor.

Most high performance riders have a high opinion of Christine’s coaching and express agreement with establishment of a high qualification bar to improve performances.

Action by some officials also has an impact. This correspondent witnessed a national steward issuing a warning to a rider during warmup at a competition outdoors in Florida in mid-summer the horse was sweating. All the humans were sweating in the heat and humidity. Another recent incident involved a complaint at another dressage U.S. dressage event that a spectator clapped too loudly during a ride that could be construed as a violation of the rules of assistance. The issue raised the question about enthusiastic spectators clapping in unison during the final center line of Olympic and championship freestyles, the volume often depending on the popularity of the rider. Don’t allow spectators?

The turmoil in dressage experienced in recent years, mostly brought to light by individuals and media and not officials, appears in the eyes of some riders to have led to over-reaction to counter under-reaction in the past.

At the latest major dressage competition, the European Championships held just over a month ago, 10 rider and horse combinations of the 61 in the starting lineup breached 74%, the same duos in both the Grand Prix and the Special–three each from Germany and Great Britain with one each from Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and Norway.

At the Europeans in 2017, seven of 65 combinations in the Grand Prix starting lineup that decided team medals were awarded 74% or higher–four from Germany, and one each from Denmark, Great Britain and Sweden.