Our new quadrennium started the day after the Olympic Games ended in Athens, Greece, in September 2004. Under Frank Chapot’s stewardship, we did very well there. Our show jumping team’s silver medal turned into a gold medal, and Chris Kappler’s individual bronze medal on Royal Kaliber turned into a silver a few months later, both thanks to disqualifications.

You can’t do much better than that. And yet the universality of the sport seems to constantly broaden, as standards around the world seem to rise. We see more and more quality, as well as quantity, one or both of which will always try to beat you.

That’s why 25 teams embarked in the team competition at the recent World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. I can’t ever remember that many teams in a Nations Cup. And the quality was incredible. Probably, on any given day, any rider in the top 50 could have been one of the top four individual finalists.

We held our own at the WEG, winning the team silver medal before Beezie Madden claimed the individual silver medal on Authentic. While it’s always disappointing not to win (and those who know me know that I’ve never been a good loser!), second isn’t bad.

The day after the WEG was over, my mind was already on the Hong Kong Olympics just a short two years away.

While our base at the bottom and at the middle is excellent (equitation, junior and amateur jumpers), our base at the top is just not strong enough to show every week in international competitions. Our base is especially thin among Olympic-level horses and riders, combinations capable of winning medals, not just participating. It’s not realistic to keep counting on the same horse-rider combinations over and over again to carry us to the podium.

We need more depth at this top level–and that’s the responsibility of each and every rider who aspires to be an Olympic athlete. He or she must constantly evaluate, review and improve their horse-manship, horsemastership, competitive attitude and horseflesh. We Americans tend to get relaxed and complacent when things appear to be going well.

But on the road to Hong Kong, 2007 will be an exciting and vibrant one. “Participation, preparation and selection”–that’s my personal motto, and it will hold true again next year.

Right now, our jumping riders are in the heat of the battle for World Cup points. There’s nothing healthier than good competition to raise one’s sights.

Next year, of course, the FEI World Cup Final will take a higher-profile status simply because it’s returning to Las Vegas. And since it’s not a WEG or Olympic year, there’s nothing inhibiting anyone from qualifying and going for it in Las Vegas. Of course, I hope that when April rolls around, our best horses and best riders will have qualified for Las Vegas and will have a very good show.

Just after the finals, we embark on the main enterprise of my program–the Samsung Super League. While it’s always a nice idea to try to win the Super League, it’s not always feasible or possible. What is absolutely critical is that we don’t end up last like the Irish did this year and get booted out of the Super League. That would be a major disaster, so I expect all of our riders to make personal and business sacrifices to help put forward the best teams possible next summer. No excuses!

Tour No. 1 heads to La Baule (France), Rome (Italy) and St. Gallen (Switzerland), from May and into very early June. The selection process next year won’t use trials for anything. We’ll use our own computer list, plus the possibility of two subjective choices to choose teams.

Nothing is written in stone, but I’m hoping to use potential Pan Am Games horses and riders on this first tour. There is ample time to get from Las Vegas to La Baule. And the first tour will provide perfect preparation for the Pan Am Games.

Tour No. 2 is short but very high profile: Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Aachen.

I’d like the strongest team we have for these two shows, so it will probably include some of our 2006 WEG horses. I definitely don’t want some of these horses to go to the Pan Am Games, a plan to which the riders have already agreed. But one or two might be on that team, and there’s enough time to fly from Aachen to Brazil.

Next on the agenda will be those all-important Pan Am Games, taking place in late July in that paradise-on-earth, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since we’ve qualified for the Olympics, Rio is not a life-or-death event, but it’s still very, very important to me. As Bert de Nemethy used to say years ago: “It is not a question of winning the Pan Am Games; it is a question of not losing the Pan Am Games.”

I can guarantee that I will be a very intense chef d’equipe on that mission.

Those who don’t make or choose Aachen or Rio have a wonderful option with the availability of tour No. 3 to Falsterbo (Sweden), Hickstead (England) and Dublin (Ireland). But don’t think those shows are soft touches. They’re very tough.

I believe Linda Southern and company will pull out all the stops next September in Calgary (Alta.) because they see their incomparable Spruce Meadows Masters as an Olympic-preparation show. The prize money will be even higher, the courses will be even tougher, and the competition will be second to none. I’ll want a very strong team at Spruce Meadows, and our American selectors will be watching very closely.

Let me be perfectly frank: From a selector’s perspective and from my own perspective, 2007 is a very important year, starting at the various winter circuits. Of course, some of the proven veterans shouldn’t do much there, especially in the beginning. But next year is the time to expose the newer faces that might help us in Hong Kong. Don’t be shy about applying for these tours and learning something.

Barcelona (Spain) hosts the Samsung Super League Final toward the end of September. Of course, we want the best there too, especially if we’re in contention to win. The problem is we won’t be able to send the same horses to Spruce Meadows and to Barcelona as the shows are back to back.

That’s why I’m constantly harping about depth. There is so much to do, and it’s all so important and all so difficult.

Remember too that even though we can’t all ride in the Olympics, we sure can try. I’ve always found that it was the day-to-day quest that was the most fun anyway. Getting there is the icing on the cake.


George H. Morris