The Dutch were expected to give Germany a run for the gold in Olympic dressage, but after the first day of team competition, Aug. 13 in Hong Kong, the Dutch had a few mistakes, and the Germans—although they’ve only started one rider so far—may be too far ahead to catch.

Heike Kemmer of Germany and Bonaparte lead the event on a score of 72.25 percent, ahead of Emma Hindle of Great Britain with Lancet (71.12%) and Imke Schellekens-Bartels on Sunrise (70.87%). Courtney King-Dye’s ride with Mythilus scored 70.41 percent and has her in fourth place individually. Like the Germans, the U.S. team is not yet ranked until a second rider competes.

Although King-Dye said she couldn’t quite ask for as much as usual, due to a few down days shortly after Mythilus arrived in Hong Kong, she was happy with her test.

“It was a stellar first test for the U.S.,” she said. “He was very lethargic a couple days after we came, and I’m very particular and paranoid about the health of my horses. I’m glad we have such fantastic team vets, who told me he’s totally fit and ready to compete. We lost a little time, and it took some time to build him up, but he’s getting stronger.”

King-Dye said Mythilus needed a few extra days to acclimatize to the heat. “He didn’t feel taxed after this [test], so I can ask for more if I make it to the Special,” she said.

Although the evening wasn’t unbearably hot (in the low 80s with 80 percent humidity) he warmed up for an hour and kept going into the air-conditioned indoor arena. “I’d walk a few minutes [in the cool arena] and took tons of breaks to let him catch his breath,” she said.

Although she’s riding in her first Olympic Games, King-Dye said she wasn’t nervous because her two FEI World Cup Final experiences had prepared her for the level of competition. “The first time I was at a World Cup I was warming up with Isabell [Werth] and Kyra [Kyrklund] and all my idols and hoping not to get in anyone’s way, and you can’t concentrate when you’re doing that,” she said. “I was perfectly happy to go first. Now I get to watch all day tomorrow, and that will be fun.”

Dutch Disappointment
Hans Peter Minderhoud of the Netherlands was disappointed with the test that started off the evening. Drawing the first slot in team rotation was a blow to the Dutch, and his score of 69.62 percent for fifth place overnight wasn’t quite what he’d hoped to achieve.

“When I heard about the draw I was not that happy, but I thought I would perform really well and put the pressure on the other riders,” he said. “But my test was not good enough to get really high points.”

He had one piaffe that wasn’t level, but he was especially disappointed with his canter zigzag, where he did seven strides instead of six. “It was a stupid mistake,” he said. “But the rest was not that bad—the trotwork, the passage, the canter and the extended walk.

“I thought I’d get a 74 and it would be hard for others, but I didn’t do that,” he added. “Just before he went in he was a little tense, but when he got in the ring he was totally fine. The [Jumbotron], the camera, were no problem. I couldn’t blame anything else but myself.”

Schellekens-Bartels said Sunrise wasn’t quite as strong as usual on his way to a score of 70.87 percent and third place. “He was a little behind my leg in the canterwork, probably because of the heat,” she said. “With coming behind my leg, he put his tongue behind the bit [in the canter half passes], which cost us a lot of points. I still could fix the canter zigzag, but it was not like it should be.”

She said she didn’t feel any extra pressure due to Minderhoud’s lower than expected score, but she also didn’t feel as if the Dutch could be competitive against the Germans at this point.

“I think there is something decided; I’m afraid so,” she said. “We wanted to try to beat the Germans, but after today that’s going to be tough. The first American was strong, so to get a medal is even in question.”

British Highlight

Lancet, Schellekens-Bartels’ stallion from the 2004 Olympic Games, is competing in the 2008 Games, this time for Great Britain and Emma Hindle, who scored 71.12 percent to put the British team into second place behind the Netherlands among the six nations who have completed two riders.

In what she called one of her best performances, she liked all of her lateral work, she said, because her horse has so much Thoroughbred blood, he has long legs and a narrow body. “It makes crossing his legs easy, and it looks spectacular,” she said. “The whole British team is building up to a medal in London [in 2012], and this is a big stepping stone.”

Bad Start For Canada
Canada’s Leslie Reid was disappointed with her test aboard Orion, who was impressed with the atmosphere and scored only 59.75 percent for 22nd place. He gave a little rear and spin just as she started to enter the arena and continued to be tense, especially in the first part of her test.

“He was pretty scared in the arena; he was nervous about the Jumbotron,” said Reid. “He started to relax in the second part of his test, and he did his ones and pirouettes fairly well. He just needs more experience. If he would relax, he’d give a better performance.”

Youngest Rider
Luiza Almeida, 16, became the youngest Olympic equestrian ever by riding into the arena for Brazil aboard Samba, who at 9 is the youngest horse taking part in the dressage competition. She scored a 60.83 percent for Brazil and stands 21st.

“I don’t have any expectations,” she said. “I just want to do my best. My horse is young, me too. I want to show that age doesn’t matter.”

Brazil had already lost team member Nilo Vo, whose horse Clementino did not pass the veterinary test. “The team was very sad,” said Almeida. “We really try to focus. [The Olympic Games] is not our final goal. This is just a start.”