For the first time, the World Equestrian Games (WEG) will be in the United States, which makes it easier for many riders on this side of the Atlantic to participate.
Puerto Rico, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Mexico are some of the countries hoping to send riders to this big competition.
According to the FEI, to participate in the WEG, rider/horse pairs must obtain a score of 64 percent in a CDI by an FEI “O” judge. Then it is the decision of each national federation whether or not to send them to Kentucky.
Puerto Rico’s best dressage rider is Luis Denizard based in PaIm City, Florida. I met him as he was training Nalando, his 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood by Caritas, owned by Donna Dunbar, for the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio. Denizard has a team of trainers that help him periodically–Henk Van Bergen, Roel Theunissen and Marco Bernal. Nalando, got very sick coming back from Rio, and it took more than a year to bring him back into shape. Denizard told me, “It’s a miracle that we can do this together. He has a strong personality.”
Brazil is a country where dressage is “happening.” They have eight CDIs scheduled for 2010. The three dressage riders who have qualified for the WEG were on the bronze-medal-winning team at the 2007 Pan American Games:
Luiza Tavares de Almeida rides Samba, a Lusitano imported from Portugal. Now 18, she was the youngest dressage rider at the 2008 Olympic Games and the first South American representative to compete in the FEI World Cup Dressage this year.
Rogelio da Silva Clementino qualified for the 2008 Olympics but, unfortunately, his horse didn’t pass the vet exam. For the WEG, he is riding Portugal. Rogelio began in 2000 as a groom, cleaning stalls. When his boss, Victor Oliva–owner of Coudelaria Ihla Verde, a training facility in Sao Paulo–saw Rogelio’s potential as a dressage rider, he offered him the possibility of developing his natural abilities. Rogelio accepted and has worked hard, winning Brazil’s national championship in 2006. He is now in charge of training the young riders at Coudelaria and is an inspiration to many others.
Renata Costa Rabello trains with Leida Collins Strijk in Holland and competes in Europe with her Ludwig G, a 15-year-old bay Oldenburg. Also in the top pool of riders is Luisa y Rogelio, who works regularly with Brazil’s official dressage trainer, Johan Zagers of Belgium.
The Dominican Republic’s dressage star is Yvonne Losos de Muniz. Optimus Prime, her 16-year-old Austrian Warmblood gelding (by Lux), is her top Grand Prix horse. She and her husband, Eduardo Muniz, live in Santo Domingo. Yvonne has twice won the individual bronze medal at the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games. She has worked with top trainers like Jeff Moore, Diederik Wigmans, Jean Bemelmans, Harry Boldt and Juan Matute. Brazilian Samira Uemura has been her assistant and “eyes on the ground” for more than two years.
Marco Bernal, a native of Colombia, won a Pan American team silver medal in 1999, and he placed 11th at the 2009 World Cup Final. Marco is one of the few Latin American graduates of the famous Warendorf school in Germany, where he lived for five years. When he returned to Colombia, he was appointed national team trainer. For the WEG, he is riding his own horse Halbgott, a 16.3-hand, 14-year-old Trakehner stallion, who he says is special and has given him a lot of satisfaction during the past six years. “He gives everything he can in the ring to obtain a good performance,” Marco says.
Mexico’s Bernardette Pujals (a native of Spain) has had the most FEI success of any Latin American rider in the last decade. For example, at the 2006 WEG, she was 10th individually. That result meant a lot to her, because as a teenager she went to Aachen to watch the CHIO and was so inspired that she decided she must become a rider for the rest of her life. In 2008, she was sixth at the Olympic Games in the Grand Prix Special. “That was the best feeling I have had in my sport life so far,” she told me. And now she is going for the WEG in Kentucky where she has qualified with her 17-year-old Hanoverian stallion Vincent (by Weltmeyer). “My ex-husband and I bought him when he was not yet 3, and I’m very proud of what we have achieved. I would love to be competing around the world, but I center my energy in what I can do.” Pamela Franco and her family own Vincent and have sponsored Pujals for the last six years. Her trainer is Jonny Hilberath.
Gabriel Armando is an FEI “I” judge who has officiated at dressage events in more than 25 countries. He and his wife, Suzanne, teach and train at Diamond Creek Farm in New Jersey and Florida.
This feature appeared in the June 2010 issue of Dressage Today.
