Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Oh Canada!

Hugo and Red Bull- My road trip friends

What a month! Much of my life has changed of late. I'm now living in Canada and working independently again. It was a tough decision to leave my mentor, Oded Shimoni and his beautiful base at Stillpoint Farm but I also felt it was the right timing. I have to admit, I was glad to escape sweating through another tropical summer with heat and relentless humidity. After I packed up my Wellington apartment Hugo, my French Bulldog and I took a pretty major road trip up the east coast. One speeding ticket, a sleepless night in a budget hotel, 26 driving hours and a few too many cans of Red Bull later, we arrived safe and sound and warmly welcomed at David Marcus Dressage.

DMD is situated in Campbellville, Ontario. It's a picturesque area on the escapement around 40 minutes north west of Toronto. To me, the landscape bares resemblance to Arcadia in the Hills District of Sydney, Australia where I was based for many years. The facilities can be viewed here at David marcus Dressage website http://www.davidmarcusdressage.com/facility.htm

I'm such a proud Aussie. This mounted Australian flag really made me feel welcome upon arrival
A day later Fiero HGF, owned by Robert Dover arrived after being transported commercially. Despite a few paperwork issues with another horse at the border entering Canada, Fiero arrived fresh and feeling great. The weather north is significantly cooler than South Florida so Fiero, Hugo and myself all enjoyed the cool change.

Fiero HGF eased gently back into a program after the long trip however, I put myself to work immediately. With David focussing on selection for the Canadian team for London and planning on being based in Europe for much of the summer, I have taken over the training on some of his horses and students. This will likely include traveling back to Lexington, Kentucky (I was just there a few weeks ago as eyes on the ground for David at the CDI***) for the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships held in July. Some of my new rides include an incredibly talented (and for sale) 4 year old Stedinger/Gribaldi mare named Diaz who will start in her first competitions in Canada this summer and an exciting 6 year old dutch mare. See short video


I'm currently in Quebec struggling with yet another foreign language at CDI Blainville. This is the final qualifying event before the cut off date for the Canadians to qualify for the Olympic Games. Once again, I'm the eyes on the ground for David Marcus who is starting two horses in the Big Tour here. Chrevi's Capital who will do the Special Tour and Don Kontes who will do to Freestyle (to a musical program that I put together) I'm also overseeing two young riders who are chasing scores for the NJYRC.

It's fascinating and also a little heartbreaking watching the process of Olympic dressage team selection. I'm seeing it close hand for the Canadians and USA riders and following as closely as I can for team Australia. What is interesting for me is observing the three incredibly different selection processes each country uses and I'm still not really sure which one is the fairest! Australia in a similar fashion to the USA, had two final selection trails where each combination competed head to head. Australia had eight combinations (although one of the combinations missed the first trial and I believe is still in considerations for team selection) and the USA has 15 combinations (with Steffen Peters not being required to start with his best horse Ravel) The Australians competed twice in different countries with a different panel of judges and the USA riders compete at Gladstone, back to back weekends riding the GP and GPS (no freestyle!?) where at least six combinations will head to Europe to further prove their form. The USA riders are currently half way through these back to back selection trials with Steffen Peters leading on his number two ranked horse, Legolas. 

The Canadians have an entirely different process altogether and one that I feel is the most taxing on their horses if one is really wanting to safely secure a place on the team. The criteria requires a combination in the last 12 months before June 17, to gain two CDI scores at Grand Prix and two CDI scores at Olympic Grand Prix Special over 67%. The combination must have an average score of over 68% and these scores must be secured in at least three different shows. This sounds simple enough except this means a rider only has to produce one score in 2012 and can rely on previous huge scores from within the 12 month period. No matter how many disastrous scores a rider gains at CDI's, only their four best scores are taken into consideration. To me, his really doesn't reflect a combinations consistency and forces riders to keep starting their horses at CDI's to make sure they aren't overtaken by another rider. For example, David Marcus and Chrevi's Capital were unbeaten in the GP and GPS at Milton and Kentucky CDI but in order to make sure another Canadian doesn't overtake them, they are basically forced to start again at Blainville CDI. Currently ranked number two in Canada behind Ashley Holzer doesn't actually secure them a team spot. David and Chrevi's Capital can technically have their worst performance ever here and still make the team, providing that the Canadian riders ranked below him fail to raise their average scores to be ranked above him. However, if a combination that has previously always scored below David produces just one crazy high score that raises their average, David can lose his position.

Anyone following the Australian selection process (or ANY of the previous Olympic Australian selections for that matter) will be well aware of the drama and scandal and rumor mill that's clearly in overdrive. What I find disheartening is that fact that only three riders make the team, I know most of these riders personally and I know how much they have sacrificed to get to this point. Many are going to be left disappointed and off the team fighting a valid argument that they deserved selection. What has been interesting in observing these three different selection processes, is that a combination left off the Australian team may well have been selected under the criteria of the USA or Canada and vice versa…

It's an exciting and nail biting time for all involved and I wish everyone the very best of luck.

Don't forget, it's the journey, not the destination (still, it's a bitter pill to swallow if the destination is London, one of my favorite cities!)

Cheers,

Nicholas