What Are We Missing As We Build Future US Dressage Teams?

Years ago, I traveled to Europe and found a young horse for an American rider. The horse’s name is Verdades, and the rider’s, Laura Graves. Verdades is the one of the most successful horses in American dressage history, having been ranked as #1 in the world at one period in his amazing career. I’m so pleased how that all turned out. 

I admire Laura’s talent and persistence, the generosity of her sponsors, and the brilliance of her coaches. But let me be the first to say it:

We got lucky. 

That seems to be the American way. Each year, when we need to put a team together, we look around a year or two before and ask, “Does anyone happen to have a good horse right now?” Compared to what’s happening in Europe, it all just seems so hit and miss to me. 

Yes, we have wonderful programs to support up and coming riders. Yes, we have a developing horse list. I was on it and in 1993, was the 4th ranking rider in the USA coming into the North American Championships. 

But compare that to Dinja Van Liere earlier this year. I had one horse ready in 1993. Dinja had three horses that could have medaled at the 2024 Olympics.

Dinja is currently ranking 3rd in the world. She has a barn full of horses that are in the queue for future competitions. She just rode Mauro Turfhorst to 4th place among the world’s best 7 year olds in Ermelo. Her understudy, Kim Alting, helps her train a barn full of younger horses. 

What are Dinja’s chances of having horses ready to compete on the world stage in the coming years? 

Quite high.

In the past, the USA has used two approaches for sourcing our International  teams - riders showing up serendipitously with an FEI horse they’ve owned and brought along, or sponsors buying equine superstars for them.

There’s nothing wrong with these approaches, but sadly, we’re having trouble keeping up with Europe with just serendipity and sugar daddies. 

So, what’s it going to take?

This summer, while attending the World Championships for Young Horses, I asked that exact question to two prominent figures in the European dressage landscape, people who have sent many horses to the Olympics over the years. Their answers were simple and direct. “The USA needs to have more good horses coming along.”

It’s a numbers game. We need to have more top-quality young horses. 

Things go wrong. Horses go lame. Sponsors fall through. If we’re too dependent on luck and a few benefactors, we’re at risk. We need a solution that is designed to beat the odds. Our riders need more than just one good-enough horse at a time, they’ve got to have better solutions in place for sourcing top horses and more promising prospects in their queue for the future.

It is more common for top European riders to do this. At the 2024 World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses, we saw a powerhouse of horse talent other countries and other successful Olympic riders already have in the queue for future International competitions.

Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden each qualified and brought a full quota of horses allowed by the FEI for their countries and reserve horses too. The quality of horses from these countries was quite impressive.

I'm proud of the progress the USA has made and the three horses we qualified for this event (note: the FEI allow rules allowed us 6, plus reserves). But, I fear we are sadly behind Europe in our queue of world-class young horses being nurtured by our best riders.

If a country’s head count for world-class young horses is a “leading-indicator” for that country’s future success, (and I’m certain it is), we’re working with a troubling handicap.

Are we going to have a great team for the next Olympics? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Along with all the things the USA is doing right, we need to start investing in more and younger top-caliber horses. I’m hoping our USA-based young horse competitions get even more traction to encourage this focus. 

Buying more and younger top-caliber horses could also shift the demographic pool where riders could find sponsors. Top young horses (foals - three-year-olds) are often purchased at price-points within reach of many dressage enthusiasts, including the growing number of now-retired riders (like me) who might enjoy owning a potential champion.

Partnerships and syndications can make financial participation within reach for many more individual dressage supporters, lessening our dependency on our sport’s limited number of uber-wealthy sponsors.

Certainly, there are many factors behind sporting winning teams year-after-year. But one thing is clear to me; the countries that start with more great young horses will have the advantage for putting together winning teams.

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Author's Note: I believe in the concept of investing in many young dressage prospects, knowing that maybe one or two of them may turn into a world champion. The others, we'll find nice homes for them and they'll pay for themselves.

I've been approached by others about doing the same, so I've organized a very special 7-day tour of Holland and Germany in conjunction with the famous KWPN Stallion Show in Jan/Feb 2025. We have very limited capacity and there has been some very strong interest from the dressage community. Contact me if you'd like to learn more.

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This post is the opinion of Steven Wolgemuth at the time of publication. If you have ideas you'd like to contribute to this article, a question, or even a disagreement, please share them with Steve. Together we make one another better.

This post is copyright by the author 2024. No reproduction of any part is permitted without expressed permission. 

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