It’s been a disappointing morning for the U.S. eventing team on the second day of dressage, Aug. 25.  Karen O’Connor, riding as an individual, and team member Will Faudree both had tests that fell short of their usual performances. 

Germany’s Bettina Hoy has taken over her expected spot—at the top of the standings—with a score of 36.50 with Ringwood Cockatoo.  Her country-mate, Andreas Dibowski—who’s riding for Germany as an individual—is in second with 40.90, while Great Britain’s Zara Phillips has moved up into third aboard Toy Town on 41.70.  But dressage powerhouses such as the U.S.’s Kim Severson, Germany’s Ingrid Klimke, Australia’s Andrew Hoy and France’s Jean Teulere, have yet to go this afternoon.

Now, after the morning’s half of the dressage tests have gone, Heidi White is the top American, in a tie for 14th with Northern Spy with a score of 50.40.  Amy Tryon and Poggio are right behind, in 16th with 50.70.  The third team member—Faudree on Antigua—is in 38th with a score of 63.30. The two American individuals are O’Connor on Upstage in a tie for 32nd with a 59.80 and Jan Byyny on Task Force, in 20th with a 53.30.

O’Connor wasn’t happy with her test.  “He’d been training really well all week, but this kind of atmosphere is one thing that he’s not really seasoned at.  His focus was good all week, but as soon as he went into that ring, he changed,” she said of Upstage.  O’Connor’s test had no obvious mistakes, but was marred by an overall tension.

“I thought he was good through all the trot-work, but when I picked up the canter, he got very tense.  The reason they killed me in all the marks was because his neck was too short.  And in the canter work his neck got even shorter. And when you don’t have a connection, and they’re not working from behind into your hand like that, it’s impossible to go forward,” she said.

“I rode him at 7:00 this morning, and he was amazing—very quiet and relaxed.  As I proceeded to my final warm-up, he started to get a little tense and looky—hearing the applause.  But then, he started to get a real connection again, and I thought I’d be OK.  I wanted to walk into the arena and give him time to process everything, and I did.  I thought he was good, but when I picked up the trot, I knew I was in trouble,” O’Connor continued.

Things weren’t much better for Faudree, who also thinks that the big arena, surrounded by stands—even though the crowds are sparse—unnerved Antigua.  “He started out great, and I thought I had him at the beginning.  When we went in, he saw the crowd and kind of lit up.  I got him settled for the first part of the test, but then, at the walk, I think he had time to get aware of the atmosphere again,” he said.

Faudree’s scores were in contention until the first canter, when riders have to canter a figure-eight, with one loop in counter-canter.  Antigua switched leads at the beginning of the counter-canter, and Faudree dropped to the walk to correct it.  But Antigua picked up the inside lead again.  By that time, they were past the point where they were to execute a flying change to the inside lead, so Faudree just continued. 

“When he first changed, I tried to get the counter-canter back right away, so that I could still do the flying change.  But I didn’t, so I blew two movements, which really hurt my score,” he said.  “I’m kicking myself right now, trying to think of what I could have done differently.

“It’s disappointing to get all the way here, know that you could have gone in and done well, and have this happen.  But as Kim Severson and Karen O’Connor told me, you have to ride the horse you have on the day.  I’m looking forward to tomorrow—I want to focus on finishing on this score.”

Tomorrow will be a whole other day, as the riders are talking about the difficulty of Ruediger Schwarz’s cross-country course.  “This track is, I think, extremely difficult because there are so many accuracy questions.  And that’s very mentally tiring for both the horses and the riders.  You’ll have to take really good care of your horse out there,” said O’Connor.  “I have a very fast horse, so that will allow me to take one or two long routes to be safe.  I’ll probably do that at 19A, and at the last water [27ABC], where the angle is very acute and the horses will be tired.”  For a virtual course walk with the Chronicle’s Beth Rasin, click here….

“They have done an amazing job at the presentation of the jumps, and there are a lot of smart long routes.  If your horse loses confidence in the accuracy, there are great long options,” she continued. 

“But, there are going to be some hearts broken out there tomorrow.  There are going to be some good horses and good riders who just zip by a corner or make a silly mistake.”