Final WEG Postcard:
Peter Wylde Captures Bronze
In her final postcard from the World Equestrian Games in
Jerez, Spain, Nancy Jaffer describes Peter Wylde's big day, when he became
only the third American ever to get an individual medal in show jumping at a world championship.
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| Peter Wylde's Fein Cera was named "Best Horse" of the World Championship final. © Nancy Jaffer |
September 22, 2002 -- The show jumping "final four" competition for the individual medals was as exciting as ever. Three mares against one stallion, three men against one woman. Helena Lundback, the bubbly Swedish rider who couldn't believe she made the cut, wound up where she probably figured she would. Although Helena was out of the medals, her mare was a key player in how the prizes were distributed. Every rider -- including Helena -- had a knockdown with the 15.3-hand bay, a plucky thing whose spring off the ground belied her stature.
By the second round, Helena was sunk by three knockdowns on Liscalgot, the ride of Ireland's Dermott Lennon, while France's Eric Navet and Peter each had a rail. Everyone but Dermott added to their tab in the third round, so the destination of the gold was a foregone conclusion. Dermott was second to go in the final round, and with only the one knockdown on Mynta, he had secured the top prize event before Helena and Eric took their turns.
The 10-obstacle course was just testing enough to get the measure of the riders' abilities, without overtaxing obviously tired horses. Peter's knockdown in the final round with Liscalgot relegated him to the bronze after Eric Navet ended with no faults on Fein Cera, who was named Best Horse of the final. She had no jumping faults with any rider, actually, and just three time penalties with Helena.
"I'll take some of the credit that she's really well-trained, but she's a beautiful horse," Peter said proudly. This week, he expects to know whether the 22-year-old American amateur (identity being witheld) who is interested in buying her will close the deal. He's been told he can ride the mare through the World Cup finals in Las Vegas next spring, but he's also looking for a way to find someone to buy Fein Cera for him.
Dermott drew on his background (and a morning viewing of videos of the other horses) to earn his title.
"I rode a lot of young horses at home. It's only three years ago that I had one for bigger classes," said Dermott, who grew up in Northern Ireland. "So I learned to ride on all sorts of horses. At the shows in Ireland, we used to take a lorry-load every week, and also, going and trying horses and trying to buy from different yards."
It's a story I've heard many times before from successful horsemen; you have to ride a lot of horses to learn everything it takes to do well on the international scene.
Irish team spokesman Colin McClelland noted the Irish (like the U.S. team) did not qualify for the 2004 Olympics on the basis of their performance here, but said, "We are absolutely delighted that Dermott has won the Gold Medal, and also that three Irish riders made it through to the Top 10 in the world." They're confident of obtaining qualification "but at the moment, Ireland is extremely proud of Dermott, the first rider in our long history ever to have achieved World Championship gold."
The U.S. Equestrian Team had its own distinction here. It medaled in six of seven disciplines and got eight medals for its biggest international haul ever. "Everyone gave 110 percent, not just the riders, drivers and horses, but also the owners, grooms and staff," said Jim Wolf, the team's chef de mission at the WEG. "Everyone came here believing in themselves, that they could win medals, and they did it."
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