July 30, 2010--El Sueño Equestrian Center near Camarillo, California, was the site of the fourth of the five Selection Trials for American vaulters on the road to this year’s World Equestrian Games. Translated from Spanish, El Sueño is “the dream.” Four years of building this great Southern California facility is the just the beginning of owner Gina Atton-Thomas’s vision. Certainly the beautiful setting and great weather are conducive to the realization of dreams.

Four full-time trainers--including dressage gold medalists Melonie Kessler and Larisa Mantor, eventer Debbie Rosen who recently finished a successful run at Rolex, and Lisa Westion who teaches Hunter/Jumper skills--all add polish to the dream of being a top level equestrian facility. Hosting USDF Dressage competitions with a four star rating and being an approved venue are glittering stars in that dream. With the addition of a USEF approved vaulting competition/Selection Trial, El Sueño was the perfect facility for the weekend’s vaulting hopefuls.

The Women’s Individual Compulsory event in Round I elicited undivided attention as several of the elite women vaulters scored above a 9.0 in the mill. Performing one of the more difficult of the compulsories, Annalise VanVranken garnered a 10.0 from FEI I Judge Craig Coburn, while Katharine Wick (9.5), Tasha Thorner (9.0) and Mary McCormick (9.0) were not far behind. But the compulsories are only one quarter of the total and when the final scores were tabulated, it was McCormick with equine partner Stanford from Silver Bay Vaulters in the final round with a combined score of 8.477. The newly matched duo were a very good combination, with McCormick getting the top spot in both Rounds I and II.

It was the rest of the women who mixed it up. Elizabeth Ioannou (8.282) was strong in Round I but brought her work to a new level in Round II to gain the reserve placing. In third place overall, Wick was consistent and that consistency paid off with a final score of 8.113, even though she also had a change of horses for the second round. The Hamars’ horse Sovira was available and after a quick warm-up, she was good to go. Mt. Eden Vaulting Club’s Alexandra Thrasher (7.980) on Lanson 16 and Half Moon Bay’s talented Cassidy Palmer (7.920) on Hudson rounded out the top five in a very close competition. Less than 1.5 points separated the top 15 women!

The scores were a little further apart in the Men’s Individual competition. With strong performance skills, Devon Maitozo of the hosting club brought in the win with an overall score of 8.293. In his dance with the Westfalen warmblood Palatine, Maitozo showcases his acting skills on the equine stage. The pair knows how to please a crowd ... and the judges. Then with a score of 7.315, Half Moon Bay vaulter Kristian Roberts showed his consistent improvement with strong freestyle components. As he gains more experience, Roberts is a vaulter with a great future ahead of him. Patrick Stevens took the third place with a score of 6.816; he’s had a busy summer with competitions in Chilliwack, Canada, as well as in Europe.

Saturday’s Team Compulsories again showed that vaulters are paying attention to the compulsory exercises as the scoring remained high. These scores play an important role in indicating each vaulter’s consistent harmony with the horse, balance, stretch and suppleness. In combination with the horse score, these attributes, done with precision and connection, give the judges the opportunity for a direct comparison of skills. The skills to do these compulsory exercises are the basis, the platform, on which every freestyle move is formed. The older, more experienced vaulters have a much easier time with that first of compulsories, the mount. They are taller, have the length of leg to match the stride of the horse, and have more actual strength than the fliers on a team, and can conquer this first move pretty consistently. Being short and light can be a real advantage if your moves in the freestyle are to be lifted 15 or so feet off the ground and get tossed around. But in that first compulsory, the mount, being shorter is a definite disadvantage, especially on a 17 hand horse. There can be a wide range in the team compulsory scores. It will be something to look for at the WEG.

In first place after Compulsories was F.A.C.E. with 7.876; second was Sundae Rush 7.362; Mt. Eden came in third less that 0.031 points behind with 7.311; Woodside posted a 7.231; and Epic 6.996. Sundae Rush came up less than 0.5 points behind the F.A.C.E. team after Compulsories and Mt. Eden was only 0.031 behind the Rush. The Woodside team was in fourth place after the compulsory round and Epic rounded out the team event with a 7.035. That’s less than 1.0 point difference before the second round freestyle music even started.

Freestyle is another animal. Throw out the ability to compare just about everything and you have apples and oranges, peaches and apricots or in the case of vaulting, really different styles of performance. The whole thing was complicated by having to move the team freestyle event to an outside arena. The sprinkling system inside the El Sueño covered arena, while quite unobtrusive, unfortunately was deemed to be 1-1/2 feet lower than is allowed by the USEF vaulting rule book. A height requirement is necessary when there are lifts that are two stories off the ground. Relocating outside was accomplished with rare speed--moving risers, tables and chairs, judges, clerks and timers, delineating the arena, getting the footing groomed and taking a deep breath.

Then the race for WEG was back on. With the Woodside team withdrawing, four remained to do the dance. It was hard to knock Shakespeare’s romantic Romeo and Juliet theme as the F.A.C.E. team segued from dream to drama and back ... so wrapped in the music that it took one’s breath away. It was a hard act to follow or even precede. The women of Sundae Rush came close in scoring both a 10.0 and 9.8 from the two judges in terms of Degree of Difficulty which put them at only 0.20 apart. The Composition, Performance and Horse scores made the difference after the bell. Final Selection Trial results: F.A.C.E. 8.442, Sundae Rush 7.871, Mt. Eden 7.736, and Epic 7.348.

With only one more Selection Trial here in the U.S. for teams, the USEF/AVA National Championships at the Earl Warren facility in Santa Barbara will be the place for the teams to show it can be done, where all the stops will be pulled out. The scores are getting closer and closer. Will that final competition be enough to come from behind and represent team vaulting at the World Equestrian Games? Stay tuned.