Mare Opens Way for Arlene Paige to Go to U.S. National Dressage Championships

Claire Opened Door for USET Grant

Paige had come “innumerable times to USET for clinics on a variety of creatures which were basically four legs and fur,” often riding before Klaus Balkenhol (now the coach of the U.S. dressage squad). She also worked to qualify for the Intermediaire I national championships with her mounts and kept her name on the Developing Riders’ list. So her name was familiar to the USET officials. When Claire came on the scene, she helped Paige move a step further.

“She opened the door for me to get an USET grant to train with Klaus” (for an extended period of time), pointed out Paige who went abroad to train with him and do the small tour as well as open classes there. “It was a little bit of a turning point after I had worked so long. After we worked with Klaus, our first grand prix was to be at the Rotterdam (Holland) CSIO. We made it into the Special.”

Back home she worked with trainer Lars Peterson so the mare could make it in the selection trials for the 2004 Olympics. Claire “couldn’t hack the pressure of going through them,” so she was withdrawn from the list of candidates. “But in that time, I learned how to prepare for the (selection) trials,” said Paige.