Brett Parbery and DP Weltmieser scored 70.109% in the Grand Prix.
© Michelle Terlato
By Roger Fitzhardinge
Brett Parbery and DP Weltmieser scored 70.109% to sit in 14th place with the second half of the draw still to go tonight; the top 30 will progress to the Grand Prix Special.
On talking with Brett Parbery after his ride ion DP Weltmieser at the WEG in Tryon, he said:
“I have to say that I do not think I have ever been more hot riding in my life. The rain at lunchtime and then no cloud cover made the humidity immense. I rode after the rain and I may as well have been in torrential rain as after the test I was soaked and even had to wring out my tie! The heat was amazing. I haven’t ridden a Grand Prix test since the end of June and have been training since then trying to increase the power in all the movements, and it seems to have helped. I have been using my iPad as the most important tool and watching my training on it. I am able to really see what I need to do to get better and can address these problems the next session.
I am lucky to have my wife, Mel, here at the Games and she has been a really great help and eyes on the ground and was there for me in the warm up today. I warmed up for 35 minutes and it was good timing and the arena and the surfaces here are amazing. The stables and conditions for the horses are also excellent, and my groom is living in the truck with the reining grooms. I was very aware of the accuracy I was to ride with and the transitions and the corners were of the utmost importance. I realised training here at the Games that I needed to put more power into the paces to mix it with the big guns, as they really show off the power. I tried to do this in the test and was very happy with our performance and to be over 70% was pleasing, but there were still a few marks I could have picked up — but overall I am happy.
Alexis was fantastic and to re-present Floreno this morning and get though that was epic in itself, but to then immediately saddle up and get dressed to ride the test (with no mistakes) on a relatively inexperienced horse — and one that had not been able to train properly for the last three days — was an incredible task and she did it with ease. She is a true Aussie and gutsy as hell and not a wimper, but just get on and do the job at hand and that she did. It made me feel proud to be part of that. Now it’s hoping Mary and Kristy have good rides; their horses have been working really well so we will see what the judges think tomorrow.
I have to say that having Mel and son Jake here to be part of the WEG experience is icing on the cake and to have Susan Duddy the owner of Rabbit (Weltmieser) and the Marhene family for all their support and encouragement has made for an amazing journey with this great horse. I now hope that I may scrape in to the Grand Prix Special and that will be determined tomorrow.”
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