|
2005
Sunshine Tour
Constance Laboute's Claim to Fame
 For
French Grand Prix rider Constance Menard-Laboute the
2005 Sunshine Tour CDI must have meant her international
break through. Riding Lianca, a Gelderland bred mare
by Tourist x Oran, Laboute claimed fame by winning
the Grand Prix Special with 67.720%.
Laboute and Lianca rode an outstanding piaffe and
passage tour, which are the combination's trademark.
The quality of Lianca's piaffe and passage is international
caliber and can make the mare contend with the best
dressage horses in the world. At the Sunshine Tour,
the pair's score for the Special halted at 67.720%
because of two main problems: the pirouettes, in which
the horse is unable to really sit and turn, and the
flying changes every single stride, which are too short
and too much up in the air.
 Nevertheless,
Laboute's victory in the Special was a dream come true
for her. The French rider was over the moon with her
win and did not hide her excitement. During the award
ceremony, her huge group of fans sang the French national
anthem as the organization did not have a CD with the
Marseillaise on it. It was a very emotional and exhilarating
experience to hear the French anthem a cappella.
In the Kur to Music, Laboute rode a freestyle based
on a wide variety of musical themes. The piaffe and
passage were ridden on very bombastic tones suiting
the horse, but the extended trot was performed to "Flight
of the Bumble Bee," making the movement look too
choppy and quick. The walk was executed on a very spacey
theme, the canter work was done on music from the opera
Carmen. The pirouettes showed slight improvement, but
the single tempi's still lacked ground covering. Her
kur score of 71.500% put them in second place.
 "My
mare was tired, but she didn't make any mistake," Laboute
told French equestrian magazine L'Eperon. "I'm
now giving her a 36 hour break before returning home.
We have done seven Grand Prixs in three week-ends.
At home she'll get a break before picking up work again
for the CDIO Saumur."
All judges were thrilled to see this "different" kind
of dressage horse in the ring. Lianca is Gelderland
bred and descends from a cart horse bloodline. Judge
Mariette Withages labeled Lianca as "a phenomenon" and
praised the horse for its "impressive energy in
the piaffe and passage." Uwe Mechlem is convinced
that Lianca will stand at chance against the top warmbloods
at the really big shows, such as Wiesbaden and Aachen.
 Constance
was very thankful to her trainer Michel Autram
who drove by car from France every single weekend
doing an 11-hour journey back and forth to support
and help his student.
Laboute
has marked the CDI's in Saumur, Lipica and Barzago
on her calendar. Her goal is, of
course, capturing a place on the French Dressage Team
for the 2005 European Championships in Moscow.
"Everything will be decided last minute," Laboute
told L'Eperon. "The four riders in the best shape
will go to the Championships. My priority is doing
the best Grand Prix I can in order to qualify for the
Special. We have to focus on being to qualify two or
three team riders for the Special. At the moment, Karen
[Tebar] is scoring 70%, Odile [van Doorn] is going
strong and Julia [Chevanne-Gimel] is making her come
back soon, so we'll see..."
Canadian
Christilot Boylen withdrew her Lucky Lemon for the
Special and Freestyle and opted to ride her second
horse Gachino in the Kur.
 Aboard this black gelding,
Boylen dazzled in the trot tour with Kodo music
(Japanese drums). Gachino is a very refined horse with
a beautiful
face and graceful movements and his trot tour was
refreshing. Gachino has a lovely passage, but does
not sit in the
piaffe and becomes very peggy. The tempi changes
were nice, but the extended canter could have been
more
uphill. They got 70.326% and ranked third.
Text
and Photos copyrighted Astrid Appels/Eurodressage
- No reproduction allowed without permission
Back
One Page / Index / Next
Page of the Report
|
