Freestyles Escalate in Artistry at 2005 FEI Offield Farms World Cup Finals

Dover and McDonald Win for the U.S.

However their placings, Robert Dover and McDonald are America's favorite winners. Riding ninth in the order, Dover and FBW Kennedy performed to the theme of “Hey Big Spender.” Riders had a few moments of warmup in the show arena, and Dover used the time for canter departs. He started with piaffe, passage, and double pirouettes, to showcase Kennedy's regularity and engagement.

Dover added some quarter-pirouettes in passage and piaffe, and half-passes in passage. He rode one-handed during part of the test's canter work, which increased the audience's excitement level. People knew from his ride on Thursday not to clap too soon and upset Kennedy, but they exploded into applause the moment Dover rode to a halt. (And of course he did respond by breaking from the halt.)

McDonald rode her new freestyle, debuted three weeks ago at the U.S. League Final in Los Angeles. Hundreds of camera flashes followed her tracks in the arena, as she and Brentina performed to the rock music themes of “Respect” and “The Brick House.”

She said her goal was to be fun for the audience, “and I achieved that goal tonight.” She smiled all through the freestyle, which started with the canter tour. (Almost all other riders first performed trot and passage.)

Brentina showed more energy than in some of her previous year's performances. She displayed her great stride and willingness to collect and lengthen easily.

The crowd lived every step, laughing with the exuberant vocals that accompanied McDonald's series of passage-piaffe transitions. “I loved to hear the audience laugh,” said McDonald.

They also appreciated her “dancing” with her upper body in the saddle on the final passage on the centerline—certainly stamping her test as unique. At her halt, almost everyone was on their feet screaming their approval. They erupted when the scoreboard showed two judges had awarded her 90s for artistic merit.

photos by tetleyphoto.com