2007 Palm Beach Dressage Derby

Once Again King and Page Battle at the Top
By Lynndee Kemmet for HorsesDaily.com

Once again, Courtney King and Arlene “Tuny” Page were the front-runners in Grand Prix competition at The Palm Beach Dressage Derby and in the Grand Prix Freestyle, it was King who came out on top. She and Idocus, the 17-year-old Dutch stallion by Equador, took the win with a score of 75.85 percent, but right on their heels were Page and Wild One with a score of 72.85 percent.

King rode to a medley of Broadway hits and at the start of her ride was happy to discover that, unlike the previous day, Idocus was in the mood for piaffe. “I was really, really thrilled with him because yesterday when I asked him to piaffe on the spot the first time, he resented it and the rest of the time, he just didn’t want to piaffe. But today, he was a piaffing machine. I gave him a little bit of collection in the first piaffe and reminded him that he needs to go and he was bouncy and willing and loved it.”

She couldn’t say quite the same of her tempi changes. “I have to check to see if I was too much on the curb or something. There was something in the changes that caused him to get just a little bit tight behind me.” King said it wasn’t the best score that Idocus is capable of, but she was pleased nonetheless. “The most important thing is that he was happy with himself and really, really fun.”

Page, too, felt that her ride with the 11-year-old Wild One could have been better, but not because he needs correction – she does. “I was actually happy with him. My horse was better in his frame today. But I need to kick myself for every time I overused my leg in there,” she said. “He’s the best I’ve had him as far as being longer in the neck and having good self carriage. He had good one tempis, super twos – really good. The piaffe-pirouette at the end was really good. But I’ve got to trust him more, I came on too strong.”