Implications Of An Ann Romney/Refalca Dressage Medal Bid/Win

[magical thyme]

33. it's not something that can be bought

The Europeans have generations of disciplined practice; dressage training is the foundation of all their riding and they understand that.

American 1%ers keep trying to shortcut by trying to buy their way into it. Unfortunately, they are the ones that continue to make certain the the US will never do well, by forcing out any serious competition at home, leaving opportunities only to those who are less gifted at riding and training than at being sycophants.

Romney and Ebeling are perfect examples. Ebeling is basically in the US because he couldn't cut it back at home in Germany. His former wife, Lisa Wilcox, is an American who preferred to stay in Germany to get the best training available. He preferred to stay in the US where he had a better chance of getting 1%ers to finance him. (Interestingly, she made the US team before he did. Although she didn't have a great showing, she also was set back because the major owner of the horse she was riding did not want him to go to the Olympics. He was an active, famous breeding stallion and the owner only reluctantly gave him a break from his other job, which left him less time to prepare and in less than peak condition for competition.)

That Ebeling settled a fraud suit out of court for allegedly drugging one of Romney's horses (Super Hit), a suit from which Ann Romney was dropped, just adds to the evidence that our teams continue to be sub-par, relying on drugging and fraud instead of generations of long term planning and hard work coupled with honest respect and love for the practice of dressage and the horses themselves.

There was a point decades ago when we could have built a good foundation for future dressage teams in this country. Those days are long gone.