Dressage, showjumping champs being crowned together for first time

Jeff Butler

Thursday, April 21, 2005 | 9:47 a.m.

Schedule

Elite equestrian riders from 13 countries have gathered this week at the Thomas & Mack Center for the FEI Budweiser World Cup international championships in showjumping and dressage.

This is the first time ever in international competition that the world of jumping and dressage have come together under one roof to decide which two riders will be crowned the 2005 World Cup champions.

"This has never been done before but we feel that Las Vegas is the ideal place to showcase these two world class events," said Bo Helander, the secretary general for the Federation Equestre Internationale. "Las Vegas always puts on a first-class event that the riders and fans truly enjoy."

More than 85,000 tickets have been sold, which doubles the total ticket sales from 2003, when Las Vegas hosted the FEI Budweiser World Cup Jumping Final.

The dressage competition will challenge the artistic ability, discipline and strength of both rider and horse through a series of fluid movements.

Competitors are judged on the length of the horse's extension, lateral movements, dramatization, passages and flying changes -- a skipping technique that makes the horse seem to slide across effortlessly on the arena floor.

Dressage started out as a training method to develop a horse's physique, obedience and discipline. The training regiment evolved into a sport when more difficult gymnastic exercises were introduced into their training program. As a result, the horse becomes an athlete, developing strength, flexibility, and the ability to perform difficult tasks with grace and beauty.

Germany and The Netherlands have dominated the dressage competition through the years, winning six titles each since the World Cup Final started in 1986. The United States won its first in 2003 when American Debbie McDonald and her horse Bretina, owned by Las Vegas residents Parry and Peggy Thomas, emerged as champions.

"We are still striving to have the caliber riders in the United States that they have in Europe," McDonald said.

McDonald won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She also has two first-place finishes at the 2005 and 2004 U.S. Grand Prix Freestyle championships, and won a silver medal at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Spain.

The jumping final will feature a speed class tonight, a jump-off class Friday and the Grand Prix on Saturday.

In the jumping competition, one name to watch is 29-year-old Ward McLain from Brewster, N.Y., who will be riding jump horses Sapphire and Goldika 559.

McLain is a 2004 Olympic jumping team silver medalist, and has been ranked as high as fourth in the world. He won a gold medal at the North American Young Riders Championships and was named AGA Rookie of the Year.

"We have a lot of experienced American riders this year that could advance far in the competition," McLain said. "It is always an honor to compete against the best."

The main objective in the jump-show competition is that the horses jump a course of 15 obstacles up to 5 feet in height and 6 feet in width with no penalties, such as refusal to jump, knocking down a fence or falling at an obstacle. Riders can also be eliminated if they don't meet a set time limit.

"Compar(ing) the two events," event chairman Bob Maxey said, "hockey is the jump-off and figure skating (is) the dressage competition."

The World Cup Final will also feature a special World Championship Hunter Rider, World Cup Team Hunter Challenge on Saturday. This will be a showdown between four of Europe's top show jumpers in a skills competition against four past National Hunter Champions.