2002 World Equestrian Games

History Is Made At 2002 World Equestrian Games

Guenter Seidel

Guenter Seidel was the other "cornerstone" rider on the US team according to Ransehousen, and he led off the Americans in the second day of Grand Prix competition. An admittedly disappointed Seidel earned 69.840% and placed 13th individually. He noted that Nikolaus 7 has only been his partner for 18 months, and that distractions in the arena caused the 13-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Dick and Jane Brown to lose concentration and make mistakes, including an error in the two tempi changes and a spin in the second pirouette.

The pair started with a good square halt and showed precise riding in the trot extension and half pass though they appeared to be more tense than fluid. Nikolaus has a machine-like passage in which the bend in his hocks and knees 'matches' and gives a very rhythmical picture, but the piaffe, was too rapid and he tends to come slightly behind the vertical. The reinback demonstrated the correct legwork but with a slight hiccup as Nikolaus looked around a bit. The passage to canter transition was expertly executed, but in the canter work the zig zag seemed to be a bit short-strided. The last trot extension was their best, as was the their final passage down centerline.

Seidel said, "He started looking at something during the reinback, which took his concentration away. Then he got strong on me. He wasn't quite as loose and relaxed as he can be. It was not quite his day." 'Throughness' was an issue during his warm-up, Seidel said, but he did not try to ride the test differently for the show ring. "You ride how you ride at home otherwise you start overcorrecting and that becomes a problem." Seidel said he knew that the piaffe was not as loose and relaxed as it could be but that it was hard for him to tell because it "feels different than it looks." The spin in the pirouette that was so surprising for onlookers was not what Seidel wanted to admit came as a 'surprise' to him – "He can usually get an 8," but he added that for him, a mistake happens and it's a second too late to fix it. Nikolaus gives the impression that he is perhaps an electric or nervous horse, but Seidel said that he is actually so quiet, "you could put your grandmother on him and go for a trail ride."

Though Seidel earned a high score, he still felt that his contribution was not enough, "It's hard to be on a team and feel that you are letting people down." But the ever-sunny Seidel maintained his sense of humor when asked further about the distraction created by prolonged whistling from the crowd when he entered the arena. "I thought maybe it was because I look so good," he grinned.

Seidel feels the horse needs one more year before he can perform the quality work at shows that he exhibits at home. Seidel said the US road to the Silver Medal started over a year ago when riders went to Europe to compete. He added that having Wilcox based in Germany and in the judges' eyes also helped the American effort internationally. The Silver team medal will have an impact back home according to Seidel, "In the United States, this medal will make people see how good we are. It will show the quality we have."