It was a fantastic week for the U.S. dressage team at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As if taking home the team gold medal wasn’t enough, two team members won the gold and silver medals  in the individual competition concluding today, July 18.

Chris Hickey topped the field of 25 individuals aboard Regent to win the gold medal today, and teammate Lauren Sammis finished right on his heels, winning the silver with Sagacious HF.  Taking home the bronze was Yvonne de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic. 

Chris Hickey entered today’s freestyle in the lead, but with only 1.4 points separating the first and fourth riders his victory was hardly assured. “Before the freestyle it was not a clear-cut contest, everything was possible,” said judge and chairwoman of the FEI Dressage Committee Mariette Withages. “It was very thrilling for the five judges who may as well have been reading a James Bond book.”

Tension in the air at the National Equestrian Center rose after the last break, as the top five riders vied for the individual gold medal. Top-seeded Hickey was last to ride and when his thumping trance music kicked in, the pair marched up centerline, exuding confidence and determination.  

“The horse is quiet by nature,” said Hickey. “When you see him handwalking, he can look like a camp horse. Meredith [Morray], who takes care of him, said today that he was a little frisky when she handwalked him. That was a great indication to me that I could get on him and ask him to rise to the occasion.”

And rise to the occasion they did. Their percussive trot music highlighted Regent’s strong trot work and difficult canter sequences including three-tempi changes on a curve. 

“The freestyle is very complicated,” explained Hickey. “When I make one little mistake, especially at the canter, which I did today, it can go down the drain very quickly, but there are places in that freestyle for me to repeat things.” After a mistake in the tempi changes, Hickey took advantage of this flexibility to sneak in an extra line of changes.

“I intended to re-ride the three-tempis,” he explained. “I came into the three-tempis between the pirouettes, and my brain was saying three-tempis and my legs did two-tempis. I did a few and then thought, ‘Oh my God, these are twos! They are supposed to be threes! It was too late to do anything about it.” 

The judges didn’t seem as concerned with Hickey’s mistake, as they awarded him the high score of the day, 72.10 percent.

After yesterday’s Intermediaire I competition, Hickey and Sammis planned to duke it out for the individual gold medal, but Sammis’ previous look of determination fell away once the silver medal hung around her neck, replaced by a huge grin. Sammis was sincerely thrilled with her second-place finish, and appeared relaxed and happy after her fluid performance which earned her 69.92 percent.

“I think that the strong point was the pirouettes, but also that he’s able to go into the arena and a strange environment and really try his best,” said Sammis. “Movements aside, his temperament is really unbeatable.”

Sammis worked to increase the difficulty of her freestyle since her last competition, the USEF/Collecting Gaits Farm Intermediaire championship where she placed second. Though her extensions weren’t as dynamic as they have been the last two days, and they suffered a mistake in the two-tempi changes, the pair performed their challenging freestyle with grace and flair. 

Taking home the bronze for the second Pan Am Games in a row was Dominican Yvonne Losos de Muñiz. She and her stallion Bernstein Las Marismas moved up from fourth place after an accurate freestyle. Although the ride lacked some of the expression the pair displayed over the past few days, the difficulty of the choreography and the accuracy of the ride helped boost the pair ahead of Canada’s Tom Dvorak to medal position.   

The third U.S. rider, Katherine Poulin-Neff and Brilliant Too, offered their strongest performance of the week, with flowing half-passes and gorgeous two-tempi changes around the end of the ring. Yesterday something in the stands caught “Zeul’s” eye, and tension marred his extended trot and canter, but today the pair looked relaxed and confident, even going into what had been the spooky corner. The judges rewarded Poulin-Neff’s consistent performance with a score of 67.67 percent, which moved her up from seventh to sixth place ahead of Canada’s Andrea Bresee.

Gold medal winner Hickey has little time to enjoy his victory. He flies tomorrow to Verden, Germany, to compete in the World Dressage Breeding Championships aboard Hilltop’s Cabana Boy. All of the U.S. horses will remain in Rio until the end of the games, July 29.

The next equestrian event at the Pan American Games will be the eventing competition. The eventing team consists of: Stephen Bradley and From, owned by Bradley and Charlotte Harris; Phillip Dutton and Truluck, owned by Ann Jones and Shannon Stimson; Gina Miles and McKinlaigh, owned by Miles, Thomas Schulz and Laura Coats; and Karen O’Connor and Theodore O’Connor, owned by The Theodore O’Connor Syndicate. Darren Chiacchia and Better I Do It, owned by Adrienne Iorio, and  Mara Dean and Nicki Henley, owned by Willow Bend Farm, will be competing as individuals.

The first veterinary inspection for eventing gets underway tomorrow, July 19, at 3:30 p.m. local time. The dressage portion of the event begins July 20th at 9 a.m.

Individual Dressage Final Results
1.    USA Chris Hickey, Regent 70.72%
2.    USA Lauren Sammis, Sagacious HF 69.92
3.    DOM Yvonne Losos de Muñiz, Bernstein Las Marismas 69.50
4.    CAN Tom Dvorak, Beaumarchais 69.45
5.    ARG Vera Protzen, Kadirmo 68.02
6.    USA Katherine Poulin-Neff, Brilliant Too 67.67
7.    CAN Andrea Bresee, Raffles 66.92
8.    CAN Diane Creech, Wiona 66.67
9.    MEX Jose Luis Padilla, Lohengrin 65.50
10.     BER Annabelle Collins, Medici 64.55
11.     BRA Renata Costa, Monty 64.05
12.     BRA Rogeiro Clementino, Nilo Vo 63.60
13.     ARG Gabriel Armando, Euclid 63.07
14.     GUA Christa Dauber, Serafino 62.65
15.     BTA Luiza Almeida, Samba 61.85

Intermediaire I Freestyle Results
1.    USA Christopher Hickey, Regent 72.10%
2.    USA Lauren Sammis, Sagacious HF 71.30
3.    DOM Yvonne Losos de Muñiz, Bernstein Las Marismas 71.00
4.    CAN Tom Dvorak, Beaumarchais 69.70
5.    CAN Andrea Bresee, Raffles 69.40
6.    ARG Vera Protzen, Kadirmo 69.15
7.    USA Katherine Poulin-Neff, Brilliant Too 69.00
8.    CAN Diana Creech, Wiona 67.55
9.    MEX Jose Luis Padilla, Lohengrin 66.50
10.     BER Medici, Annabelle Collins 65.35
11.     BRA Nilo Vo, Rogeiro Clementino 65.00
12.     BRA Monty, Renata Costa 64.20
13.     ARG Euclid, Gabriel Armando 63.80
14.     BRA Samba, Luiza Almeida 61.60
15.     GUA Christa Dauber, Serafino 61.25