Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – And then there were five.
The gold medal eventing and dressage teams shipped out early Monday morning, leaving the five show jumpers alone in the U.S. wing of the stables at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With 17 countries represented, the most of the three disciplines, the show jumping will be very competitive.
Florida’s Lauren Hough and Casadora are riding the crest of a very successful wave, having just won the valuable CN Reliability Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows on June 9. Casadora, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare handled the trip across two continents well.
“We showed in Spruce Meadows for five weeks,” said Hough. “She won about $130,000 in three shows. She’s in really good form. I’ll just try to stay out of her way and hope for the best. She’s very consistent, a real trier. Maybe what she lacks in talent she makes up for in heart. She’s in super form and she hasn’t jumped since she left Calgary, I figured after that she didn’t need to do any jumping in quarantine. And if the weather stays cool, that will help.”
Hough, who was a member of the 2003 Gold Medal winning team in the Dominican Republic was impressed with the facility in Deodoro on arrival and the mare has settled in well.
“I love the facility. It’s really nice for the horses, the footing is fantastic,” said Hough. “Less is better with her. She feels really fresh right now, she traveled well and she is super fit.”
Cara Raether is only 28, but earned a spot on the Pan Am squad through a string of consistent performances with the 10-year-old Belgian warmblood stallion, Ublesco.
“It’s great,” said Raether said of being in Brazil. “It’s really exciting. My horse is really well. He traveled really well he feels great and he acclimated really well.”
Raether, a product of the Young Riders’ program and has her coach, John Madden, in Brazil to help guide her through her first senior team experience. She said finding a balance with Ublesco is the key to a really good performance.
“Making sure he’s not too fresh is key,” she said of the big jumping horse. “He can be really excited and aggressive so we want to make sure he’s not too fresh for the first day, but not too tired either.”
Todd Minikus will ride his opinion-filled 10-year-old chestnut gelding, Pavarotti on his first Pan American Team. Owned by Todd Minikus, Ltd., Pavarotti is the least experience horse on the squad.
“Pavarotti is one of the greener horses at the event,” said Minikus. “He’s been in the sport really for less than a year. Although we’ve had some pretty good success he’s a little on the green side since we’ve been here he’s been showing up for work everyday so let’s hope that continues.”
Only 15.3, Pavarotti appears to defy gravity in the ring and looked full of jump in the practice round.
Laura Chapot and another diminutive horse, Little Big Man, are looking to continue the success set forth by the smaller horses on the squad in the other two disciplines. Chapot’s parents have both accompanied her to the Games. Her father, Frank, who has ridden at six Olympics and her mother, Mary, who was the first woman to win an Individual Gold medal in show jumping at the Pan Ams serve as both coaches and inspiration to 36-year-old Chapot.
The 13-year-old KWPN Dutch Warmblood gelding made the trip from New Jersey and bounded around the ring in the practice round. A slightly awkward trip through the double was immediately rectified with a second try which worked out perfectly.
If any of these four horses or riders were unable to compete, alternate rider Jill Humphrey would step in to fill the slot with Kaskaya. Only 25, Humphrey rode at the World Cup Finals this March in Las Vegas. From Sacramento, California, she will compete at the CSIO Athina Onassis International Horse Show in Sao Paulo, Brazil next week with the rest of the U.S. horses even if she doesn’t get the opportunity to do so here.
“It’s a new experience,” she said of her first team trip. “It’s a lot of fun though. We are getting to know each other, get a little closer to the other riders.”
At the HITS Thermal Horse Show this winter, she was presented the Thermal Desert Circuit Jimmy Kohn Style of Riding Award and with Kaskaya, she won the $50,000 EMO Grand Prix.
“I’ve ridden her for a little over a year, I love her to death,” said Humphrey. “Her biggest accomplishment was jumping clear all six Sundays at Thermal this winter and going to the World Cup Final last year in Las Vegas.”
Humphrey says the 12-year-old Holsteiner mare is just as nice on the ground as she is under saddle.
“She’s an absolute pet, she lives on one of the closest stalls to our back door at home,” said Humphrey. “She felt like she had a little bit of jet lag when she first got here, she kind of felt the same way that we felt when we got here.”
All the American horses looked great at Tuesday’s horse inspection and in the warm-up class Wednesday morning, All the riders raved about the footing in the arena which seemed to benefit from a significant amount of rain on Tuesday night.
The team competition gets underway on Thursday, 46 horses will jump in the first class. The U.S. drew the last team slot (of 10) and the U.S. riders will compete in the following order: Lauren Hough (Casadora), Cara Raether (Ublesco), Laura Chapot (Little Big Man) and Todd Minikus (Pavarotti).
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