It’s the end of the first day of the show jumping at the WEG, and the U.S. team is in contention, sitting second.  Beezie Madden began forging the way toward the team medal by winning the speed round aboard Authentic.  McLain Ward backed her up with fourth place individually with Sapphire. 

The team from the Netherlands currently leads, with a combined total of 6.01 faults after their riders’ scores were converted from seconds into faults.  The U.S. team lies second, with 6.85 points, while Brazil occupies third, on 6.99 faults.  Surprisingly enough, the German team—strong favorites for the gold on their home turf—had a bit of a dismal day today, and lie in sixth place with 10.16 points.

“Now we just have to hold our own over the next two days [in the two rounds of the Nations Cup], and we’ll have a medal,” said U.S. Chef d’Equipe George Morris.  “We don’t have to play a game of giant, impossible catch-up.  We’re in a great position with our scores.”

Madden’s blazing round on Authentic really set the standard.  The clever bay gelding glided over the muddy footing and made neat work of all the questions course designer Frank Rothenberger asked. 

“He felt great, and he was jumping beautifully,” Madden said. “His rideability stayed great, even though we were going fast.”

Madden admitted that she was concerned about what the footing would be like following the lunchtime downpours, but it didn’t slow her down. “He usually skips across the ground, and it doesn’t affect him much,” she said.

She said Authentic’s natural speed is the biggest reason for her fast time. “He’s naturally quick away from his fences, and one of his strong points is that he is handy and very careful,” she said, explaining how she could save time by taking the faster left-handed route through the line at fences 11 and 12.  “He was also quick to the triple bar [final fence at 13]; I had a real direct line there.”


The Shortest Way Wins
Rothenberger built a speed round course that didn’t invite manic speed, but rewarded economic lines.  He built options at three different fences—the most influential being at fence 11 to 12.  There, a tall vertical led directly in four strides to another vertical, or riders could slice in a bending three strides left to another vertical, saving ground but risking a rail or run-out.  Both Madden and Ward took the shorter option. 

This fence was the downfall of the seemingly indomitable German, Marcus Ehning.  He and Noltes Kuchengirl were on their way to a really quick round when Ehning didn’t quite get the angle to the left, and Noltes Kuchengirl added a stride and plowed through the second vertical.  They then had another rail at the last oxer, putting them in 24th individually.

Canadian hopes were given a boost when Eric Lamaze rode Hickstead to a very rapid round, finishing in 78.40 seconds to come in second to Madden.  He possibly could have beaten her, had Hickstead not bulged toward the out-gate on the way to the last fence.  “For a couple of strides it didn’t even look like the fence was in sight, but at the last moment he looked left and jumped it—I don’t even know how,” Lamaze said.

As the next-to-last horse in the ring, Dutch rider Gerco Schröder took a determined bid at the lead but fell just short, finishing third on the impressive, big, gray Eurocommerce Berlin in 78.47 seconds.  His teammates all had clean rounds, albeit slower ones, to put them into the team lead.  Their next-highest individual is Albert Zoer, in 17th.

The German team isn’t sitting pretty like they expected.  Ludger Beerbaum was the very first in the ring today, and he paved the way with a clear—but slow—round on L’Espoir in 83.01 seconds.  They’re in 19th individually.  Ehning’s two rails put him into 24th individually.  Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly had an uncharacteristic rail and slow round to be in 20th, while Christian Ahlmann rode Coster to a rail to lie 32nd.

Madden said that the electric atmosphere in the main arena was impressive and more than the usual CHIO.  “This was over the top,” she said. But her strategy was to treat the round as a class she wanted to win. “But there are two more rounds, and a lot more can happen,” she said.

A Slow Start
The mood in the U.S. camp started off not quite as bright.  Margie Engle had a disappointing round on Hidden Creek’s Quervo Gold as the first U.S. rider to tackle the course.  Quervo had his first rail at fence 5B.  Rothenberger had designed a difficult line at the open water.  Riders had to circle around the dressage arena to a tight, short approach to the open water off a tight turn.  Then, in five or six bending strides, came a tight oxer-vertical combination at 5AB.

Quervo hit the vertical at 5B and had it down, then pulled three more rails to finish with a score of 101.75 seconds.  “He was fine starting off, and if I’d kept that pace, he would have been fine,” said Engle. “I had been planning on doing six [strides] between the water and the double, but everyone seemed to be doing it easily in five. When I sped up, he came a little undone.”

But after the ninth fence, Engle slowed down, and he finished the course as well as he’d started it. “I needed to stick to my plan and not try to go too fast,” she said. “If I’d kept if more even, he would have been fine. I tried to go too fast for what he’s comfortable doing. The speed is his biggest drawback.”

“I had a little talk with Margie, and I told her ‘Don’t let down because of today—think ahead,’” said Morris.  “Her horse has unlimited scope.  That’s his strong suit, and he should be great tomorrow.”

As a result of Engle’s experience, Laura Kraut had to ride Miss Independent more conservatively than usual, keeping the team total in mind. She had just the back rail of the oxer out of the two-stride double of liverpools at 11AB, to score 89.57.

“The two [stride distance] is so short, particularly on a big, open step like I had. I held her, worrying about the front rail, and I think I killed the motor, because she didn’t get across,” said Kraut. “I held just a second too late. She doesn’t back off liverpools, so I knew I had to help her.”

But other than that combination, the mare didn’t come close to a fence. Her only other moment of worry came on the way to the final fence, an oxer set on an angle away from the in-gate. “She tends to drift right, and she knows where the in-gate is, so I didn’t want to see my distance too far back,” said Kraut. “She started to go right, but she has such an honest heart—the minute I brought her back, she was fine. I heard George [Morris] yell, though,” she added with a laugh.

Before Engle’s ride, Kraut had been planning on a much faster round but was relieved to have put in a solid score for the team. “She’ll bounce back tomorrow, because Margie does,” said Kraut. “Her horse is green, and the atmosphere is electric.”

McLain Ward posted one of the fastest rounds of the morning with Sapphire—a mare known more for her powerful jumping than her speed—to clock in at 79.35 seconds. He chose the faster option in the tight four-stride line at fences11-12, setting him up for a sharp inside line to the final fence.  Even though his mare might not be the fastest, he said the course suited her because there were several places he could leave out strides.

“It was very big and difficult, but it was fair,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake here, and every round counts. I’ve been working two years to get here, every round, every day, and you don’t want to go in and blow it.”

Morris was tickled with Ward’s round.  “That was as fast as that mare can go—they couldn’t have gone any better,” he said.

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start today,” said Madden.  “But then Laura went in and had a good, solid round.  And McLain really helped our spirits with that round.  We really needed it, and it was exciting to watch.  He rode so beautifully.”

Marian Hugyecz’s Superville took a hard fall shortly after the lunch break, in a drenching rain. Although he stood up, he appeared to be non-weight bearing, and the course was held. It turned out to be just a bruised shoulder.


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