PrintAugust 15, Gladstone, N.J.
Tina Konyot ran off with the lead on Day 1 of the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix Championship aboard Calecto V, and she never looked back. She won all four Grand Prix tests over two weekends and finished as the undisputed national champion today, after her freestyle (75.75%).
“It’s spectacular. You’re walking on a cloud; it’s so very special,” said Konyot. “The entire journey has been very special. I had a minor tragedy happen to me where I couldn’t walk for four months in the beginning of my Grand Prix season with my horse, and it was a huge setback. I was very sad about all of it. It was a hard time for me. Literally less than two years later I’m sitting on top in America and in a great place in the world. It’s a tremendous journey.”
Although winning the Grand Prix championship is no small accomplishment, the bigger goal of everybody at the competition was to earn a place on the U.S. Dressage Team for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Consistency was key, and the two riders who rounded out the top three on the first day of competition—Katherine Bateson-Chandler on Nartan and Todd Flettrich on Otto, respectively—finished in the top two spots at the end of the second weekend.
However, they did eventually flip-flop—Flettrich finished as reserve champion with a total score of 71.77 percent on the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood (Rambo Dve 373—Jubel), while Bateson-Chandler grabbed the third spot with a final score of 71.12 percent.
Barring an unforeseen disaster, the nominated entry for the WEG team will be Steffen Peters, who earned a bye with Ravel as the top-ranked horse-and-rider in the United States, Konyot, Flettrich and Bateson-Chandler. Catherine Haddad, who traveled all the way from Germany with Winyamaro, finished fourth in the Grand Prix competition (70.06%) and will likely be named the reserve.
Of the group, only Peters has ridden on a senior team before. Konyot was close in 2000 and 2004, while Flettrich was a four-time participant in the North American Young Rider Championships and won individual gold in 1991. Bateson-Chandler came up through the ranks as a groom for Robert Dover, so while she has attended many international championships, this will be her first time riding in one.
Horses did not put in mistake-free performances today in the freestyle. Calecto, a 12-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion (Come Back II—Bahera) had a major bobble when he fell out of the canter in his last steps in a pirouette—usually one of his highlights.
“I set my horse up for this beautiful pirouette, and the pirouette was lovely, and then everything fell apart,” said Konyot. “He was as shocked as I was. I started laughing. We picked up the canter and we didn’t miss our twos.”
Konyot rode a fun freestyle to KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse And The Cherry Tree” and Beyoncé melodies. Her music was choreographed by Terry Gallo.
