Centerline Goes to the Olympics:
An Amateur Rider's Journal by Maureen Crump

Debbie McDonald and Brentina

I thought this was a fantastic ride. I felt both Debbie and Brentina were "on" and produced a high quality ride technically and artistically. Again, Debbie made use of the quarter lines which I really like. She piaffed on the quarter line right up by the judges. There were beautiful piaffe passage transitions. She made several excellent piaffe pirouettes. She finished with a true extended trot up the centerline from piaffe. The test appeared effortless with Brentina skipping about the ring with her ears, as always, straight back to Debbie. She did a double pirouette on the centerline followed by flying changes up the centerline to the judges. She did piaffe to extended trot. She did flying changes, piaffe, passage at will without hesitation. I simply did not see a bobble. She did a walk tour and as she passed A I saw Debbie throw in a pat on the wither. Her technical scores ranged from 7.150 to 7.750 and the creative marks ranged from 8.125 to 8.575. For the freestyle she was 6th with 78.825 and overall Debbie and Brentina finished 4th with a score of 75.653.

Ice Queen

Beatriz Ferrer-Salat entered at A determined to finish the job. Every movement is precise getting the most out of her horse. Halfpass in passage to the quarter line, piaffe on the quarter line, then halfpass in passage back to the centerline. She is precise, hitting every mark. You wish you could root against her but you can't because she is having a great ride due to her own ability. There were some slight bobbles on a couple of the piaffes but everything else was perfect. Her technical score ranged from 7.250 to 7.800. The artistic score range was 8.225 to 8.925 for a freestyle score of 79.575 (3rd) and the individual Bronze medal with an overall score of 76.667.