Saturday June 19, 2004

Robert Dover and Kennedy Again Brilliant in Grand Prix at 2004 Olympic Dressage Selection Trials

Aragon Gets 10 for Piaffe

Guenter Seidel received a ten today from a judge for Aragon's piaffe, but he said it wasn't the first time, it happened before in Europe.  Seidel said Aragon's relative lack of experience won't matter if he goes to Athens, “There's maybe a few horses on the team that are really solid, so even if he's a little bit of a gamble I think he'll be worth it.   On his preference between which horse to take, Nikolaus or Aragon, he said, “I would take either horse, it usually works itself out anyway.  I really don't want to make that decision. I think it should be made by the scores, Klaus and other things.”

Steffen Peters continues to be amazed by Floriano who seems to improve and relax more each time he competes at Oaks Blenheim.  “It's pretty amazing where Floriano has come from,” he said.  “Six months ago I had to make a Grand Prix horse out of him and now we have to make a team horse out of him.  It's just amazing how he came along.  He's pretty solid.  At this point I simply couldn't ask for more.  I've ridden a lot of Grand Prix tests there's not too many where I came out of the ring and I was a little choked up.”

Seidel translated for Klaus Balkenhol who gave his impression of today's impressive performances, “In the last few weeks we worked a lot with the horses and now it shows up a lot in the way the horses are going and how they're being scored.  Most of the top horses made relatively few mistakes and that gives a lot of security to the team, and we can even build higher scores.”

Chef d'Equipe Jessica Ransenhousan summed up the day, “we struggled long and hard to get where we are today.  All of these riders here, these top ones, have been on the team before and have the most experience, they will make us very, very proud in Europe.”

Images copyrighted: Terri Miller

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