US in 4th in dressage at World Equestrian Games; Netherlands leads

US in 4th in dressage at World Equestrian Games

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The United States is fourth after the start of Team Grand Prix dressage at the World Equestrian Games on Monday.

The Netherlands leads with a combined score of 145.702. Germany is second with 140.34 points, while Great Britain is third with 138.341. The U.S. has 136.17 at the competition at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Dressage is designed to test the obedience and agility of a horse and its coordination with its rider.

Team Grand Prix, which will be completed on Tuesday, requires that each participating nation send four horse-rider combinations to compete. The top three scores for each team count, and the country with the highest total score will be declared the winner.

“My test was good,” said Hans Peter Minderhoud, one of the Netherlands’ leading riders. “Everybody said it looked nice, so I’m very happy. I think we have a very good chance (for a gold medal), but two riders still have to go and do their test.”

Team Grand Prix also serves as a qualifying round for the individual competition, which is made up of Grand Prix Special and Freestyle. They will take place later in the week. The scores from those competitions will be combined in order to determine individual medals.

Also, one day after completing the 100-mile endurance competition, Jean-Philippe Frances of France’s mount Hanaba du Bois was honored as the best conditioned horse of the event. The pair finished fourth during the race, but being honored as the best conditioned horse is considered an important honor in the endurance world.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates endurance team finished first in overall riding time, while France was second and Germany was third. The UAE team’s total time of 23:56:36 was almost a full hour faster than France’s time.

The World Equestrian Games will run through Oct. 10.