H&C

22
Jul
2009

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Escapado's WDM preparations

Hans Peter, with Escapado at the WDM in the USA

"This year I am bringing Exquis Escapado to the World Dressage Masters at Hickstead. He is very well known in the UK, as Carl Hester used to ride him. I did Aachen with the horse two and a half weeks ago. After that we gave him nearly a week off, then started to build him up again for Hickstead.

I rode him lightly this morning, before he left on the lorry today to go on the boat over to the UK. He is travelling over with Edward Gal’s horse, Totilas. He will walk a little bit in hand in the morning, then we will be leaving for the UK tomorrow, and I will train Escapado in the evening. Friday will be the last day of training before the Grand Prix on Saturday.

Escapado is 16 years old now and he knows all the exercises, so my job is just to keep him fit, healthy and in good condition. In the week before the competition, I have added in a few more excercises in preparation, but he really knows his job.

Escapado is really nice and sweet at home, but at big competitions he can get a bit hot. He has seen the whole world now, but he still gets hot in the freestyle, like he did in Aachen. When the music starts, he can get excited, but we will try to do the Grand Prix as best we can, and see what happens.

I took him to the World Dressage Masters in Wellington and he was really good there, but the competition here is stiff. I don’t think we have the best cance of wining - I would be happy if we were in the top five as we are up against Totilas, Sunrise, Parzival and Laura on Mistral Hojris. There are some really strong combinations in this competition.

On a good day, like in Aachen where he got almost 72 per cent, Escapado is up there with a chance, but I think some of the other big names would have to make mistakes for us to win!

I will update you all soon on my competition preparations and how the horses travelled."