ISSUE 77
APR 2022

TO BE
‘FRANK’,
DJWTS WAS A BUZZ!
JODIE DUNSTAN’S
HIGHLANDER FLING
LAUREN BALCOMB
PUTS HER HAND UP

PLUS: HEATH RYAN ON DRESSAGE SELECTION; JAYDEN BROWN’S NEXT BIG MOVE; BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR JESSICA RAE; MAKING MISTAKES WITH KERRY MACK; SHOW HORSE NATIONALS; STREAMING FROM THE FRONTLINE; ALGEBRA STILL ‘A DUDE’; CUTTING SPECTACULAR; STEVEN SPIELBERG’S ‘WAR HORSE’; FEEDING BREAKTHROUGH & A VET’S VIEW ON JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS.

AUSTRALIA`S BEST EQUINE MAGAZINE
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ISSUE 77

CONTENTS

APR 2022
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A Few Words

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

ROBERT MCKAY

Opinion

THE TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS OF DRESSAGE SELECTIONS

BY HEATH RYAN

Special feature

DJWTS: THE BUZZ IS BACK

BY DANA KRAUSE

Showjumping

LAUREN BALCOMB PUTS HER HAND UP

BY ADELE SEVERS

Eventing

ALGEBRA PROVES AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

BY ADELE SEVERS

Special feature

STREAMING ON THE FRONTLINE

BY EQ LIFE

Training

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES

BY DR KERRY MACK

Health

JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS: NO CAUSE FOR ALARM

BY DR MAXINE BRAIN

Lifestyle

SPIELBERG’S EQUINE EPIC

BY SUZY JARRATT

Showing

THOROUGHBREDS SHINE IN THE RING

BY ADELE SEVERS

Dressage

UK CALLING FOR JAYDEN BROWN

BY ADELE SEVERS

Dressage

JODIE DUNSTAN’S HIGHLANDER FLING

BY ROGER FITZHARDINGE

Health

MAXIMISING ABSORPTION IN YOUR HORSE’S DIET

BY ELLIE JOLLEY

Eventing

BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR JESSICA RAE

BY AMANDA YOUNG

Cutting

ALL TRAILS LEAD TO SCONE

BY CELINA BATTIG
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Well, the dust has hardly settled from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and we are again in the final selection trials for the FEI World Championships, with the dressage taking place in Denmark from 6-10 August 2022.

“Fascinating watching this
little in-house tussle!”

Since Tokyo just some nine months ago, competitors — especially here in Australia — have struggled to get competition starts with Covid, and more recently with flooding rains. So, performances from our top riders after Tokyo are scarce. I am going to endeavour to put together a current leaderboard for Australian dressage performances capable of being considered by the Australian selectors for Denmark.

Keep in mind there are two immediate selection criteria considerations that all riders on this list must first achieve before the Australian selectors will consider their worth.

  1. Each rider must achieve the MER (Minimum Eligibility Requirement), which is an FEI qualification where the riders achieve 66% or more in a Grand Prix CDI3* competition or above with at least two different FEI 5* dressage judges of a nationality other than that of the rider officiating. They must achieve this at two events from 1 January 2021 until the date of nominated entries. Keep in mind that normally there are five judges for each CDI Grand Prix.
  2. Each rider must achieve 69% or above as their total score in the Grand Prix on two separate occasions after 1 January 2021, however, with one score being in 2022. This is the Australian selection criteria implemented by selectors.

TOP 10 DRESSAGE CONSIDERATIONS AS I SEE THEM

The bullet points will have the date of the show or competition, the name of the show or competition, whether it was a Short Grand Prix or a normal Grand Prix, and finally the score which determines the ranking of the combination. The scores do represent a personal best during the qualifying period for each combination at CDI3* level and above in the Grand Prix only. This is how I have worked out the leaderboard.

1. SIMONE PEARCE RIDING DESTANO

18/06/2021 – BUDAPEST CDI-W – SHORT GRAND PRIX – 74.816%

Part of the Australian qualifying criteria is that one score has to be in this year, 2022. Simone has other really good scores at really big shows including Aachen, however, she has not to date appeared on Destano this year. I personally am unaware of there being any problems; there could be lots of reasons why Simone has not competed this year and all being well I think we all expect Destano and Simone to produce another high score. If that prediction is correct, Simone should be the number one rider for Australia at Denmark.

2. LYNDAL OATLEY RIDING EROS

24/09/2021 – LUDWIGSBURG CDI4* – GRAND PRIX – 72.717%
4/03/2022 – LIER CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 74.370%

Unlike Simone, Lyndal has a score for this year and is now qualified and available for selection. Lyndal also has two MERs, and if you look at the scores above you can see she has exceeded 69% twice and so is compliant with the Australian selection criteria. This is probably the highest ranking Lyndal has ever achieved. Well done, Lyndal. Eros has been going from strength to strength, and courtesy of his most recent Grand Prix just four weeks ago at Lier he is just a cat’s whisker behind Simone Pearce and Destano. Simone is definitely being challenged and is going to have to step out with a great score this year to save her number one ranking from Lyndal.

3. LYNDAL OATLEY RIDING ELVIVE

14/08/2021 – DONAUESCHINGEN CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 73.718%
1/04/2022 – OPGLABBEEK CDI4* – GRAND PRIX – 72.087%

So this is Lyndal’s second horse — and how would you — she is ranked right behind her first horse. Elvive is relatively young and just starting her big-time career and actually is very consistent in scoring over the 70% mark. Elvive may be a stablemate to Eros but she is also his biggest threat. Elvive has also achieved two MERs and 69% and over twice. Fascinating watching this little in-house tussle!

“Holy smoke! That is so close
to being on the Australian team!”

4. KRISTY OATLEY RIDING DU SOLEIL

23/04/2021 – ZAKRZOW CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 72.174%
19/02/2022 – NEUMÜNSTER CDI-W – SHORT GRAND PRIX – 72.526%

Kristy is Lyndal Oatley’s cousin and historically has been the leader in the Oatley family when it came to being the number one dressage rider. I think it is fair to say that Kristy will respond to being usurped by her young cousin! This will be interesting viewing and hopefully good for Australia and better scores. There is still time for Kristy to come up with better scores and outmanoeuvre Lyndal. Kristy has achieved two MERs and two 69% scores, so is qualified.

5. MARY HANNA RIDING SYRIANA

25/02/2022 – BAWLEY POINT CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 72.239%
25/03/2022 – WERRIBEE CDI-W – SHORT GRAND PRIX – 71.316%

So with Mary and Syriana having both their scores this year they have well and truly qualified for selection consideration. Two MERs and two over 69%. It is my understanding that Mary has flown back to Germany to base with Henri Rouste and campaign her Tokyo Olympic mare, Calanta, as well. Simultaneously Mary will continue to campaign Syriana whilst based in Germany, and just looking at the scores I think she will be keen to increase her personal best scores with Syriana. Keep in mind that position two and position three are both held down by Lyndal Oatley. Lyndal can only ride one horse at the World Championships. So, if the standings were to stay as they are now, then Mary and Syriana would make the Australian team based on my personal ranking list. There are four riders who will be selected to ride for Australia at Denmark in five months’ time. So Mary flying back to the northern hemisphere is definitely Mary on the counter-attack and she has every intention of seriously pressuring Simone, Lyndal and Kristy. Game on!

6. JAYDEN BROWN RIDING SENATOR NYMPHENBURG

21/01/2022 – BONEO CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 71.022%

There are a couple of complications here. At Bawley Point, Jayden scored 67.652%, which is recognised by the FEI as a qualifying score and an MER for the World  Championships, but the Australian selectors have stipulated that the combinations must have scored 69% or over on two occasions before they can be considered for Australian team selection. In my opinion this is not a great Australian selection policy. Anyway, Jayden should be able to score over 69% in the upcoming Sydney CDI3* competition. But again, there is a complication. Senator Nymphenburg is owned by Rose Deo and Jenny Gehrke. So the complication is that Jenny Gehrke is now riding Senator Nymphenburg and is entered in the CDI3* Grand Prix for the Sydney CDI on 27-30 April 2022. This means that Jayden cannot get a second score over 69% to be recognised as a full qualification by the Australian selectors. Ironically, the Sydney CDI is the last Australian based CDI competition before 1 July, when the short list of eight Australian riders is declared. It is from that short list that a team of four is selected on 11 July and four unranked reserves are also selected. So, by my selection criteria, right now Jayden and Senator Nymphenburg are sixth in the Australian rankings but are not going to be able to secure a second score over 69%. That will put an end to any chance of this combination making the top eight. Currently I am ranking Jayden and Senator Nymphenburg as number six and, allowing for the fact that Lyndal can only ride one horse, that means Jayden in reality is number five. Holy smoke! That is so close to being on the Australian team! This is a mighty unusual situation!

“This is not a great
Australian selection policy.”

7. WARWICK MCLEAN RIDING HENDRIX II

4/03/2022 – LIER CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 70.609%

Warwick is based in Germany so he will have further opportunity to get a second score over 69% at a CDI, which is the Australian selectors’ prerequisite. At the moment, Warwick already has two MERs, having achieved 68.935% at Troisdorf CDI3* last year. This is the first time that he has appeared in contention for Australian team selection, and considering the above complications involving Jayden and also allowing for the fact that Lyndal Oatley is holding down two positions, Warwick is actually going to go very, very close to scoring a team spot! He does need to focus up with everything he has got and produce another Grand Prix score at a CDI over 69%. Preferably over 70%! This is very exciting. Go Warwick and Hendrix II!

8. JAYDEN BROWN RIDING WILLINGA PARK SKY DIAMOND

25/02/2022 – BAWLEY POINT CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 69.674%

Jayden seems to be in the middle of an Australian qualifying catastrophe on both of his horses. WillingaPark Sky Diamond actually came second in the Grand Prix at Willinga Park with 69.674%. Normally 69.674% would easily have given Jayden an FEI MER and also kept the Australian selectors happy with a score over 69%. Anyway, because there were no international judges at Willinga Park it was overseen by the JSP (Judges Supervisory Panel) live via video. This was an innovation introduced by the FEI to get around the fact that Covid-19 meant that no international judges were allowed to be flown into Australia (you can read more about the JSP in the March edition of Ryan’s Rave here). The JSP decided that the Australian judges had not judged accurately at Willinga Park, and despite Jayden and Sky Diamond scoring 69.674%, the JSP decided they were not eligible for a 66%+ MER. Jayden did come second in the Grand Prix on Sky Diamond, while first placed Mary Hanna on Syriana scored 72.239% and were awarded an MER. Third place was John Thompson on Chemistry and they scored 69.478%. They were awarded an MER? The world is going crazy! Fourth placegetter was Jayden Brown again on Senator Nymphenburg scoring 67.652%. This time, Jayden was given an MER. Honestly, if you can make sense of that you are doing better than me. Jayden and Sky Diamond did score 68.684% in the Short Grand Prix at Werribee CDI-W last month, which gave them an FEI MER but not a 69%+ score to satisfy EA selection criteria.

At the Sydney CDI3* we will have international judges and so the JSP will no longer be part of the qualifying equation, which is a really good thing. It is critical that Jayden does get his second MER at Sydney; I am sure he will be trying very hard to go through the 70% barrier. I think a good score is likely and Jayden is very likely to promote his ranking up above Warwick who is number seven; Senator Nymphenburg is number six and by my calculations I am saying that he will go out of contention after Sydney so that will move Jayden up to number six and Mary Hanna has a score of 72.239% which Jayden is definitely capable of challenging. This could see Jayden move from eighth place to fifth place. That will be very interesting to watch.

9. LINDSEY WARE RIDING ARISTEDE

21/01/2022 – BONEO CDI3* – GRAND PRIX – 69.196%

This also is a fascinating twist of the JSP as mentioned above with Jayden. As you can see 69.196% is a great score and should easily have achieved an MER and met with the Australian selectors’ criteria of scoring over 69%. Well, the JSP decided that Lindsey and Aristede at Boneo CDI3* had not in actual fact deserved to score over 66% and did not initially grant an MER. There was a huge outcry from the Australian riders and letters to the FEI from the Australian EA Board and the MERs were reinstated to all riders who scored over 66% at Boneo Park; Lindsey and Aristede were given their MER. The pair scored 66.974% at DJWTS at Werribee to achieve their second MER. So, if Lindsey was to score 69% or over at Sydney CDI, she will be one of the few to be in the running for Australian team selection. As things stand at the moment, once Jenny Gehrke rides Senator Nymphenburg at the Sydney CDI3* that means that Senator Nymphemburg can no longer qualify for Australian team selection as he will be short of a second MER with Jayden Brown. So that will mean that Lindsey would go up at least one spot to number eight. Lyndal Oatley is holding down two positions and can only fill one, so Lindsey has the chance of moving up to number seven in my rankings. That could get Lindsey and Aristede onto the shortlist for the World Championships. Holy smoke, that would be an amazing achievement! Lindsey is just 19 years of age. Wow, you go girl!

10. MICHELLE BAKER AND BRADGATE PARK PUCCINI

25/03/2022 – WERRIBEE CDI-W – SHORT GRAND PRIX – 67.974%

Michelle and Bradgate Park Puccini do have an FEI MER from Werribee but do not have a 69% score to keep the Australian selectors happy. Werribee had two international judges with the opening up of international travel and was not subject to the whims of the JSP. So that means that the Australian selection policy will not consider our tenth ranked Australian Grand Prix dressage rider for team selection. Michelle and Bradgate Park Puccini will graduate up to eigth once Senator Nymphenburg becomes ineligible and one of Lyndal Oatley’s horses vacates a position. That means that Michelle Baker and Bradgate Park Puccini should make the eight combinations short list. Michelle does need to get her second MER at the Sydney CDI, and goodness knows she may well improve her scores to go above 69%. Even if this happens, the Australian selectors will not consider this combination because they will not have two 69% scores. This is crazy.

It is my opinion that not taking the best riders we have and competing at FEI World Championships or Olympic Games is a huge mistake. Of course we all want our best riders selected, however, if those riders happen to score below 69% in the trials (or perhaps only achieve one score over 69%), they should still be considered. I do not think this policy of 69% is promoting the standard of dressage in any way.

This policy was used to select the Tokyo Olympic team; Australia came 14th out of 15 teams (despite having three very good riders and three very good horses, you can read more about this in the August 2021 edition of Ryan’s Rave). What did the 69% minimum score do for Australia in that instance? I think the selectors putting a minimum score up like this 69% is actually trying to bully the riders into theoretically trying harder. Let me tell you, the riders are all trying very, very hard and the way forward is not by bullying. We just need our best riders and we need them to do the best they can. The Australian High Performance should provide as much positive support as it is capable of for the FEI World Championships to help our team achieve their best results.

Stepping back and looking on from the outside, we Australian dressage riders do seem to be at a bit of a low ebb in our dressage endeavours. I think it is really important that every Australian dressage enthusiast gets in and backs these very brave riders who in my opinion are copping a bit of a bollocking from the Australian selectors, the JSP and from the Australian High Performance people. Right now, our Australian dressage riders are doing it tough. EQ

Cheers, Heath.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE TO READ:

Who are we to Judge? – Ryan’s Rave, Equestrian Life, March 2022.

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