Boyd Exell and his mostly-black team of mixed Warmbloods had a near-perfect weekend at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Exell took an early lead in dressage and held it throughout the competition, ultimately walking away with individual gold in the combined driving competition.

In the final day of combined driving, drivers navigate a course of pairs of cones with balls balanced on top of them. They can choose their route to a certain degree, but must go through the numbered pairs in order and in the right direction. Knocking down a ball or going over the optimum time results in penalties. Four drivers completed this phase with no penalties, but Exell’s lead was great enough that the 3.52 penalties he incurred did not put him out of first place.

Exell was impressed by the top competition he faced at the WEG, saying that normally he would relax after earning such a great dressage score on the first day of an event. “The other competitors made me work all weekend,” he said. “I had to concentrate and pretend I’d had a bad day the first day.”

Ijsbrand Chardon of the Netherlands, who has been neck and neck with Exell on the European circuit this year, came in a very close second with just over one penalty point separating the top two placings. American driver Tucker Johnson earned the bronze medal in what he says is his final combined driving event.

“I’ve loved the time I’ve spent driving,” he said, reflecting on the end of his decades-long competitive career. “I’m glad that I got the chance to win an individual medal. Now it’s time to move on to more family time and more work time.”

In the team competition, the Dutch team came out on top. Along with Chardon’s second place, team members Koos De Ronde and Theo Timmerman came in fifth and sixth, respectively. Johnson’s success helped lead the United States to a team silver. Team members Jimmy Fairclough and Chester Weber both had fault-free rounds in the cones competition on Sunday, but problems in Saturday’s marathon knocked them both down in placings. They were ninth and tenth individually, but still posted respectable scores to help the U.S. team take home a medal.

The team from Germany won the bronze medal in a close race with the Swedish team for third place. A costly error in the cones by Sweden’s Tomas Eriksson, who had been having a phenomenal event, put Sweden out of contention. At the end of the cones course, Eriksson steered his team through a gate in the wrong direction, which is a fault penalized by elimination. Sweden needed two scores to be in team medal contention, but Eriksson’s elimination left only one score for the team.

“We are not happy that we won [the bronze medal] by the Swedish driver’s error,” said German team chef d’equippe, Friedrich Otto-Erley. “But we are very happy to drive home with a bronze medal. We didn’t expect that result yesterday.”

Germany’s team members but in a respectable finish, coming in fourth, eleventh and thirteenth individually.

The next four-in-hand combined driving world championship will be held in Germany in 2012.

For full results, visit www.alltechfeigames.com/results

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WEG Combined Driving Medal Standings
Team	Individual
Netherlands	Boyd Exell (AUS)
United States	Ijsbrand Chardon (NED)
Germany	Tucker Johnson (USA)

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There were no surprises for the top spot on the leaderboard after the completion of combined driving dressage at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games on Friday. Australian Boyd Exell, the gold medal favorite, took an imposing lead with a score of 30.08. Exell and his mixed team of Warmbloods earned several tens throughout the test and placed first under all five judges.

Dutch driver Ijsbrand Chardon and American Chester Weber, the co-leaders after Thursday’s competition, are now in second. In an unusual coincidence, another Dutch-American pair of drivers is sharing the next spot down on the scoreboard. Theo Timmerman and Tucker Johnson are tied for fourth.

Exell drives a team of black geldings consisting of a Holsteiner, an Oldenburg, a Gelderlander and a Holsteiner/Orlov Trotter cross. The horses range in age from seven to nine years old and are only in their second season of competition. Exell was pleased with how his horses performed in their dressage test.

“The horses tend to thrive in a big atmosphere,” he explained. “They were sort of on rails today…I was sort of just a passenger.”

Tucker Johnson earned the second-highest score of the day, positioning him to be one of the top contenders. When asked if he’d watched the previous tests and if he felt he’d be competitive, he was confident.

“I was able to watch the tests yesterday,” he said. “I was pleased for my countryman Chester Weber. I thought there was a good chance I’d get a little closer than I did [to the top scores] but I’m very happy with my scores.”

Johnson’s horses are also a mixed group, ranging in age from six to 19. The six-year-old Black Shadow is owned by Boyd Exell, who loaned the horse to his competitor for the WEG. Exell only broke Black Shadow to carriage driving this spring, but in spite of his inexperience, Johnson says the horse has helped improve his team’s dressage performance.

Johnson has announced that this World Championship will be his last, and after the WEG, he will retire from international competition. He plans to continue his longtime dedication to the sport of combined driving by coaching.

In Saturday’s marathon phase, the teams will be tested on their ability to navigate eight hazards on a course similar to eventing’s cross-county. The course at the Kentucky Horse Park is fairly open, allowing for long, fast stretches in between hazards. However, the hilly terrain means that drivers will need to rate their horses’ speed to ensure they will have enough energy for the end of the marathon.

For full results, visit www.alltechfeigames.com/results.

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Mario Deslauriers of the United States and the Dutch Warmblood gelding Urico jumped clear in the speed competition at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games to take first place with a 71.25 over a course that proved difficult for many riders. Fellow teammate McLain Ward also went clear with his famous mount, Sapphire, to finish second with a time of 71.79. Hungary’s Sándor Szász 73.24 put him in third.

“When I posted a 71, I thought top five for sure, but you never know,” said Deslauriers in a press conference following the competition. “My horse is pretty quick, and he looks a bit deceiving when you watch him go. But if you want to catch him, you have to be quick.”

The combination jumps at 10 and 13, the final line in the course, proved to be most troublesome for the majority of the 121 riders. A couple of riders circled before 10a to gain a better approach, and one rider had two refusals there, eliminating her from competition. Additionally, the water jump at 7 required a powerful gallop to clear it, and many competitors seemed to have trouble reining in their horses afterward on the tight turn to fence 8. As a result, many riders brought a rail down there as well.

The cold fall temperatures caused a spike in energy for the majority of the horses, possibly adding another level of difficulty to the competition.

The riders who made the cut-off in today’s speed event will return to the outdoor stadium at the Kentucky Horse Park on Friday for the individual final. Team competition begins tomorrow. For complete results, visit www.alltechfeigames.com/results.

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A night of music, costumes and beautiful horses marked the end of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games reining competition. Many of this year’s competitors joined their fans in the audience as fellow reiners showed off their moves in freestyle rides to wind down the event.

After American Quarter Horse Youth Association World Champion Emily Winegar and Lil Ruf Sara started a conga line, Pete Kyle, a member of the U.S. reining team at the world championships in Manerbio, Italy, in 2008, rode in on Whizs Bronze Star and showed the crowd that he’s still a guy, as Brad Paisley sings in one of his country hits. Wielding a toy gun and wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, Kyle sped around the arena throwing cans of beer into the enthusiastic audience, skipping the media booth saying, “Sorry. You’ve got to work.”

The show continued with a touching bridleless performance by reining horse breeder and trainer Drake Johnson and Hickory Chic Aholic to Josh Grobin’s “You Raise Me Up.” Trevor Dare, who won the intermediate open division at the National Reining Horse Association Derby in June, had the crowd cheering with his trick riding stunts on Mr. Colonel Dun It, and 2006 WEG team gold-medalist Aaron Ralston rode Spendin Peptos Money bareback.

Champion reiner Stacy Westfall, famous for her bareback and bridleless routines, and dressage Olympian Anky van Grunsven brought the night to a close. Westfall was an outlaw, donning a long trench coat, black hat and a scarf over her face for Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive,” and van Grunsven combined her dressage talent with her reining skills on Whizashiningwalla BB, demonstrating spins, canter pirouettes, tempi changes and sliding stops. It was a wonderful salute to the athletes, both human and equine, who worked so hard to get to these championships.

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My parents, who are not horse people, bought grounds passes and came along to see what the hoopla was all about. The first area we visited contained the Kentucky Experience, a courtyard of tents (but more similar to permanent structures) surrounding a scenic garden area. One of them held live performances from local musicians, while another held Kentucky beer, wine and bourbon tastings and sold work such as jewelry and glass sculptures made by regional artists. The final tent contained floor-to-ceiling posterboards and displays of famous Kentucky locales.

Breyer model horses, Rolex watches, Ariat clothing and Maker’s Mark bourbon also had intricate display tents in this area that were fun to investigate. Some cutting-edge tall boots on display at Ariat caught my dad’s eye, and he asked me, “how much are these, $275?” This nearly caused a riot as horsewomen started swarming from every direction, saying, “Those are only $275?!” Unfortunately we had to crush their dreams of owning the boots (there was no price on them, but I’m sure it was more than that!).

The next several rows of tents housed the tack shops and other vendors, including our Horse Illustrated booth. I was content to jump into every French calfskin saddle set out on the sidewalk and drool over it. I’m currently on a saddle hunt, and it’s nice to fantasize about the top-of-the-line! A man working at the Antares saddlery booth proudly showed me their new helmets, which have washable liners and come in every combination of colors and materials imaginable. One last indoor area contained another wide variety of products on display, such as beautiful custom stalls.

Surely the Alltech Experience was the single largest pavilion on site, covering four acres. The main building led to halls showcasing Alltech’s various global initiatives. Behind the main building was a large courtyard with live music, decorative horse sculptures, and more temporary buildings hosting displays, such as Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.

If you come out, be sure to bring your most comfortable shoes, as you’ll be doing a lot of walking! There are a lot of fun things to see and try out–the things listed above are only the tip of the iceberg. I didn’t even see the shark-petting tank or clinician’s area, but check your newsletter daily for more information on other WEG happenings.

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With a team score of 444, the United States leads the standings after the day one of reining team competition at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), followed by Austria with 432.5 and Brazil with 425 points.

Tim McQuay and Hollywoodstinseltown were the leaders with a score of 220.5 following the morning round, but Italy’s Stefano Massignan and Yellow Jersey presented a stunning run in the afternoon to take over first place with a 224. The United States’ Craig Schmersal also put in a stellar run on Mister Montana Nic, but his score of 223.5 fell just short of a first-place finish, leaving him in second. German rider Grischa Ludwig on Hot Smokin Chex is currently tied with McQuay for third place.

Dressage star Anky van Grunsven and the palomino gelding Whizashiningwalla BB were in fifth place after the first round of competition in van Grunsven’s first WEG as a reining competitor. Originally scheduled to compete in both dressage and reining, the Dutch rider withdrew from dressage with concerns about the health of her mount, Salinero. She is currently in 14th place after day one.

The team competition resumes Sunday, Sept. 26 and individual competition starts on Tuesday, Sept. 28. For today’s complete results, go to www.alltechfeigames.com.

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