Jacky Green works for Team New Zealand and operates out of Maizey Manor Farm in the UK and she is a regular Eventing Nation contributor. Tonight she recaps the Olympics dressage for Team New Zealand. As always, thanks for writing this Jacky and thank you for reading.
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From Jacky:
The great Mark Todd pulled off the test of NZB Campino’s life today to pull NZ back up the team rankings into 4th spot. Despite the fact that “Kinky” is only in the midst of his 3rd season eventing (with a highly interrupted Spring season as with all the UK based riders) he showed a maturity today that belied his experience and much credit goes to Team GB dressage sensation Charlotte Dujardin who has been coaching Toddy and Kinky for the past couple of seasons. Kinky is a good cross country horse and a good show jumper too so Toddy could be heading for a medal…
Hard luck story of the day goes, yet again, to Andrew Nicholson. He has had Nereo since he was a very young horse, he knows him inside out and believe me, this is not a Kiwi who wings it. Time after time in team training I have watched this combination and Andrew is the utter professional…he analyses every video, he listens to every dressage guru, he rides 10 horses a day then gets on his rowing machine and for him, being told 6 minutes before he was due in in 6 minutes time that there was a delay due to the weather was to ruin a carefully timed preparation. Nereo is all about controlled power and Nicholson knows exactly how to produce that to the minute. I think, since January, we have run practically every NZ training session in ice, snow, sleet and driving rain as we have always been outside. We might have wondered about coach Erik Duvander’s harshness but hey ho, the Kiwi’s were ready to perform in any weather God threw at us. And then the Ground Jury gets windy and talks about Health and Safety, stops the comp, does not evacuate the crowd and calls a break. I have watched Toddy at Badminton riding Broadcast News in the most horrendous conditions and no one stopped that…it was a bad call, and unheard of. Nereo is a great XC horse and jumper but this has left Andrew with allot of ground to make up.
Crowd favorite Lenamore (Ed) is like Puck from Shakespeares “Midsomer’s Night Dream”. He is just such a big personality that he never realizes the importance of the occasion and decided today to show changes through the counter canter that he has not shown in 5 years. In team training he had the best changes of all, he is perhaps one of the most frustrating horses in the team as he is oh so capable of the 39 he scored when he won Burghley in 2010 but he is a galloping jumping demon and he will rise, like Phoenix, from his placing today.
Jock Paget and Clifton Promise showed what they are capable of and executed a stunning test. Promise looked soft, agreeable and very trained and this is a horse who possesses the true TB attitude of hot and lets go! Calmly contained by Jock, a brickie who took up riding at 19, they were amazing. Strong in the xc and SJ, this is a great combination.
Jonelle Richard’s rode the tricky Flintstar first for NZ and contained his quirky nature with a masterful display of riding. He tried to spin at the entrance and head for home, he had a major spit in the extended but Jonelle never looked for a moment as if any of this bothered her. They might be team rookies but there is a reason they are running pathfinder for the Kiwis. Just wait and watch this pair in complete harmony xc tomorrow, they will be awesome and they will justify their selection. Jonelle was travelling reserve for Athens Olympics with the wonderful Mazetto and she has it all to prove tomorrow and I have no doubt she will.
