guest post by James Mather Miller:
When I last reported, Misdee Miller had finished the first day of dressage in eleventh place with a score of 52.86. Day two ultimately dropped Miller to twentieth, and Kathrin Dancer posted a score of 58.88. But there was a grand surprise for Team USA as Joe Yoder delivered a magnificent test with Jack Wetzel’s handsome pair of Gelderlanders, scoring an impressive 44.03 and securing sixth place. Miller and Yoder combined for a team score that placed the USA in a very respectable Top 5 position of team competition. Congratulations!
Joe’s success meant participation in the evening’s prize-giving ceremony and a jog around the presentation courtyard to several hundred cheering supporters! A sextet of musicians dressed in traditional coachmen’s attire provided a joyous backdrop of melody with their lustrous French horns. It was a very proud moment for Team USA and for Joe as he was recognized for the first time in a World Championship. Welcome to the BIG Leagues, Joe!
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photo courtesy of Marie de Ronde
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After the ceremony ended, everyone dispersed to his or her own activities, as the draining marathon phase loomed heavy on every competitor’s mind. Carola Diener of Germany was in the driver’s seat after day one, but Joe had put himself in a position to contend for a potential top spot in the overall competition. Dancer will get the “freshest powder” or the best conditions on Saturday morning with the first start for Team USA. There has been consistent rain and the ground is wet, which means the turf will most likely deteriorate as the day progresses. Miller gets the second start, followed by Yoder. If you were handicapping a horse race, bet it all on the “mudders,” because it’s as sloppy as a pig in a mud puddle here in Conty! GO BABY GO!
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Everyone in the U.S. camp entered marathon day knowing they needed a strong drive from at least two Americans. What they didn’t anticipate was the order of finish. Throughout the 2011 season, Joe Yoder has proved to be a strong marathon driver and was certainly expected to be the strongest of his 2011 teammates. Kathrin Dancer has also been a good marathon driver in her career, but the driver with the least experience and the most to prove was clearly Misdee Miller.
Dancer led the charge for the Americans with the fifth starting time of the seventy competitors. The sky was clear, the turf was fresh, and Kathrin was ready for action! She swept through the hazards and had a good drive with no penalty points but no one would know how good until more drivers finished. Either way, it was a completed course for America and one score was secured!
Next up was Misdee Miller in the twenty-sixth starting position. Miller has used a different combination of horses in nearly every competition this year. She had shown great improvement throughout the European campaign but had never experienced a breakthrough marathon. Fortunately for Team USA, she saved her best for last! With her favorite horse, Snoopy, healthy after a two-month lay off from a bone fracture, Miller stormed through the first six hazards. Suddenly, the clouds opened and Miller found herself in the “driving” rain. She held her composure and sloshed through the final two hazards to secure the second safe finish for USA!
Every driving competitor suffers or benefits from the “luck of the draw” through his season. The 2011 World Championships was a bad time for Joe Yoder to get his bad luck. Positioned at number fifty to drive, Yoder set out on a course that looked as if it had been plowed for the 2012 Conty wheat crop. Rain and sun had played tag with the competitors and spectators all day and Yoder would get his mix, too. Joe slogged through the conditions but it just wasn’t his day. A groom down in obstacle 5, and with two knockdowns elsewhere, marathon day “came in like a lion and out like a lamb” for Team USA.
Once the final scores were tallied, Yoder finished fifty-seventh, Dancer forty-fifth, and Miller twenty-eighth. Their two-day totals: Dancer thirty-eighth overall, Yoder twenty-seventh, and Miller twenty-second, with a team position of seventh overall behind Great Britain in sixth, Austria in fifth, Hungary in fourth, France in third, Germany in second, and the Netherlands in first.
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NOTE from Jennifer: Unfortunately, Sunday was not a good day for the U.S. drivers, either. In the final overal standings, Joe finished in twenty-seventh and Kathrin in thirty-third. Misdee was eliminated on the cones course. The U.S. team finished the competition in tenth place, with gold, silver, and bronze medals going to the Netherlands, Germany, and France. James sent some photos, courtesy of Marie de Ronde, which I’ll post on the blog tomorrow, so you can see some of the action from the world championships!
The Slower Road 