2002 World Equestrian Games

Pressure on Wilcox

The pressure was on as Lisa Wilcox, the 24th rider entered the ring with all the potential now to win the class if she could avoid making mistakes. Relevant moved his knee and hock joints equally, creating a dramatic and classic picture in the piaffe and passage. The stallion showed huge, sweeping half passes and big, swinging changes in the two and one tempis. He cantered his first pirouette, but in the second one, to the loudly vocal shock of the crowd, he stopped. Wilcox regained her composure to complete the movement and was exhibiting a spectacular passage down the final centerline, but in the piaffe Relevant had a bobble and a little half-rear, which was too many mistakes to take the win. The judges gave her 75.680% for fourth place.

Wilcox explained that she used too much outside rein going into the pirouette, which Relevant interpreted as halt, and she was not able to overcome the mental stigma of that to help Relevant in the final piaffe. "I was disgusted with myself," she said. "The horse was brilliant. He would have been quiet at X [during the last piaffe] but I was still thinking about the pirouette." Wilcox added that she was pleased with her score noting that after such a big mistake in the pirouette, the judges were "very forgiving."

Coach Balkenhol commented that he felt Wilcox would have won the Special had it not been for those errors