Casall Clears The Way For A U.S. Team Win In Mexico

HORSE SHOWS
Casall Clears The Way For A
U.S. Team Win In Mexico
The young gelding makes his Nations Cup debut a
memorable one for Ali Wolff.
BY HALEY BURTON
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANWAR ESQUIVEL/FEI
54 The Chronicle of the Horse
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A
s 25-year-old Ali Wolff
made her way south
of the border with
Casall to compete in the
Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup, held at
the Coapexpan Equestrian Club in
Xalapa, Mexico, she felt the pressure
to perform building with every mile.
The competition served as a qualifier for the Furusiyya FEI Nations
Cup Final in Barcelona, Spain, this
September. It was a tight race between
the United States, Canada and the
two Mexican teams in the Nations
Cup, held on April 24, as the three
countries vied for the two qualification spots open to countries in the
North America, Central America and
Caribbean League of the Nations Cup
series.
It was also 10-year-old Casall’s first
time jumping in a Nations Cup, and
Wolff knew the stakes were high for
their U.S. team debut together.
“I was nervous in the beginning
about keeping my horse healthy, so
I was focusing on that [in the weeks
leading up to the show]. I knew I just
needed to keep him healthy, fit and
active,” said Wolff. “Probably once
we got there the nerves and pressure
kind of kicked in a little more. I just
had to really focus on not thinking.
There’s that huge weight of riding for
your U.S. team, and I just kind of had
to keep the pressure of that out of my
mind and just focus on riding what I
felt, riding forward, riding positively.”
Wolff turned in the only double
clear in the class and led her teammates—Brianne Goutal (Nice de
Prissey), Callan Solem (VDL Wizard)
and Candice King (Kismet 50) to
victory over second-placed Mexico I.
Under the guidance of Chef d’Equipe
Robert Ridland, the Hermès U.S.
Show Jumping Team finished the
Led by Chef d’Equipe
Robert Ridland, the
U.S. team of (from left)
Brianne Goutal, Ali Wolff,
Callan Solem and Candice
King won the Furusiyya
FEI Nations Cup at
Coapexpan in Mexico to
secure the United States’
place in the Furusiyya FEI
Nations Cup Final.
competition with only 8 faults. Their
win earned the United States a berth
to the final, with the other available
spot going to Mexico.
“Qualifying for the Nations Cup
Final was absolutely key for us and
definitely extremely high up on our
priority list for this calendar year,”
said Ridland. “We wanted to win our
division. I couldn’t be prouder; that
was an amazing performance.”
“There was really heavy emphasis
on performing well and succeeding
so that we can send a U.S. team to
Barcelona, so to be able to successfully
complete what you were sent there to
do, the weight off your shoulders is
amazing,” added Wolff, New Albany,
Ohio. “We all talked the night before
as a team about how much this win
would mean to us, and to successfully
complete that was a one-of-akind feeling.”
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FURUSIYYA FEI
NATIONS CUP
Xalapa, Mexico—Apr. 24
TEAM
1. UNITED STATES
Kismet 50/Candice
King
VDL Wizard/Callan
Solem
Casall/Ali Wolff
Nice de Prissey/
Brianne Goutal
ROUND ROUND TOTAL
1
2
4
(5)
(4)
0
0
0
0
4
8
2. MEXICO I
Colasko/Nicolas
Pizarro Suarez
Jumex Sport
Archimedes/Sofia
Larrea
Wick I/Manuel
Rodriguez
Aristotelis/Antonio
Chedraui
0
4
4
0
(12)
(4)
4
0
12
3. MEXICO II
Cartier/Salvador
Onate
Bartender/Alejandro
Mills
Luminoso LS/Gonzalo Azcarraga
Careyes/Patricio
Pasquel
4
4
4
4
0
19
(8)
(20)
35
Also competed: 4. Canada (Appy Cara/E. Ballard,
Alberto II/K. Chad, Zilversprings/E. Gingras, Calvin
Klein/J. Millar), 37.
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May 11, 2015 • chronofhorse.com 5 5
HORSE SHOWS
A Mental And Physical
Fitness Test
Nations Cup veterans King and
Kismet were the first U.S. pair
to jump over Guilherme Jorge’s
demanding course. Solem was next,
followed by Wolff and Goutal. King
and Solem each picked up 4 faults,
while Wolff and Goutal rode clear.
“[Jorge] designed a beautiful
course,” Wolff said. “It started off just
kind of easing you into the course,
making you feel comfortable and
getting your pace set. Then, starting
with the water, it was a little uphill
and got a little trickier from there. The
oxers were uphill and got pretty wide,
so you really had to have your horse fit
to get up through those last timers.”
Wolff has kept a close eye on
Casall’s fitness since she was named
to the U.S. team in Mexico, carefully
regulating his training and show
schedule. The Holsteiner gelding
(Casall—F-Cecilia BB, Capitol I),
owned by Blacklick Bend Farm, has
grown up a lot in the three years
Wolff has had him.
“Now that he’s matured a bit, we
don’t have to keep showing him again
and again to get experience; he’s
gotten most of that last year, and he’s
more confident and comfortable with
everything now,” said Wolff. “So we
decided to enter him in fewer classes
this year at [the Winter Equestrian
Festival in Wellington, Fla.], and
give him about a week of rest after
doing the [$500,000 Rolex Grand
Prix CSI***** in late March]. Then
we started back up with his fitness
and riding him twice a day, just doing
small exercises to keep his mind
sharp and keep him jumping fit.”
Round 2 saw the two Mexican
teams tied for second with 8 faults on
the board. But Mexico II dropped into
third after collecting 27 faults. The
riders on Mexico I (Nicolas Pizarro
Suarez on Colasko, Sofia Larrea on
Jumex Sport Archimedes, Manuel
Rodriguez on Wick I, and Antonia
Ali Wolff led the
United States to
victory when she and
Casall, a Nations Cup
rookie, jumped two
clean rounds in the
Furusiyya FEI Nations
Cup at Coapexpan.
Chedraui on Aristotelis) had a solid
second trip, adding only 4 faults for
an overall score of 12. But it wasn’t
enough to catch the United States
when Wolff and Solem put in a pair
of clean rounds, and Goutal had a
single fence down.
As much as the course was a test of
physical fitness, Wolff’s main concern
was keeping a cool head to repeat her
clear and maybe even improve her
time in the second round.
“It’s such a mental game!” she said.
“You know you had a great round
the first time, so how do you kind of
reiterate that in the second round? I
knew some of the places where I
could make up time where I had
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56 The Chronicle of the Horse
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May 11, 2015 • chronofhorse.com 57
HORSE SHOWS
maybe added a stride or two in the
first, but I also had to keep in mind
that now the horse knows the course
and could predict the turns earlier
than you expect, so I still had to ride
it like it was a new round. I tried to
keep kind of a similar track and keep
him focused and alert while making
up a few seconds here and there.”
Wolff, who’s trained with the likes
of Anne Kursinski, George Morris,
Chris Kappler and now Michelle
Grubb, said her teammates played
a huge part in keeping her nerves
in check. She and Solem have been
neighbors at WEF for years, and
she bonded with the rest of the team
during their time in Mexico.
“We all knew each other pretty well
before, so it was nice to have those
familiar faces there with me,” said
Wolff. “We would talk about how
lucky we were to be on this team and
to have such a huge support system.
So to have a really positive team like
that, I think that really helped.”
Not For Sale
Three years ago, Wolff traveled to
Europe to watch a horse show and
maybe pick up a sale horse, not to look
for a grand prix prospect for herself.
When she ran into her friend, horse
dealer Stevie Macken, he convinced her
to check out a talented youngster he’d
spotted at Enda Carroll’s Ashford Farm
in Belgium.
Though Wolff still competes as
an amateur, Macken knew she was
exploring the idea of supporting
herself by buying and selling horses.
Wolff tried Casall with the plan that
he’d be her first sales project. But once
she got to know the gelding, she realized she couldn’t bring herself to sell
him.
“He was a bit quirky, and he
spooked a little bit in the corners, and
I love that in my horses; I love a little
bit of attitude,” said Wolff. “He did
everything so easily and naturally and
effortlessly, so I immediately decided
that I wanted him. He would’ve been
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one of the first horses I would bring to
the States to sell, but that did not go as
planned!”
Wolff brought Casall to Florida
to train with Grubb and started
him in the 7- and 8-year-old young
jumper classes before moving into the
amateur-owners. In the winter of 2013,
Casall jumped around his first small
grand prix class at WEF, and Wolff
knew she’d stumbled upon something
special.
“Every step of the way those first
couple of years we were just like,
‘Well, maybe let’s see what he does
in this class, maybe his value will
increase,’ ” said Wolff. “He just
kept getting better and better, and
we would decide to hang on to him
for another year to see what would
become of him. We said, ‘Let’s see
how he handles a small grand prix,’
and he jumped around beautifully. We
were like, ‘Wow, what do we have?’ I
couldn’t sell him knowing that he had
so much grand prix potential.”
But while Casall has razor-sharp
focus in the show ring, he has a boisterous personality, and he’s not always
known for his workmanlike behavior
in the barn.
“He’s a funny guy,” said Wolff.
“He’s a bit quirky where he’s a bit
temperamental and a little bit bratty
if he doesn’t want to do something,
but he’s very playful. He kind of likes
to act up and be silly a little bit, and I
let him because I think that’s kind of
what makes him so great. He also has
a bit of an ego, which makes him think
highly of himself, which gives him so
much confidence.”
As he’s gained more experience,
Casall is becoming a real competitor.
“I think he understands show mode
now,” Wolff said. “When he’s ready to
start jumping he really gets his game
face on. He’s become very consistent.
He’s become such a level-headed horse
in the ring that nothing really fazes
him much anymore.”
Wolff hopes to represent the stars
and stripes in more Nations Cups in
Europe this year, but for now she’s
giving Casall a small break before
campaigning the gelding in Tryon,
N.C., and Spruce Meadows (Canada)
this summer.