If it Weren’t for Bad Luck... My Del Mar CPEDI3* Experience
By Para Equestrian Jonathan Wentz
The song goes, “if it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all”, but my experience was quite the opposite. I arrived at
Del Mar ready to compete and show the judges the improvement my horse NTEC Richter Scale and I had made since our last CPEDI3*
in May 2009 at Lamplight. Last May Richter and I had been together less than two months, and although we made what we felt was
a good showing, receiving our certificate of capability for the WEG, we knew we could do better. We had been training hard and
were ready for Del Mar.
Luck would have it that Richter came off the trailer, after a 36 hour trip, a little stiff. We felt he would walk it out and
weren’t too worried until the next day, Wednesday, when we went to warm him up for a training ride. He was definitely off and
the jog was the next day. We iced and walked no change, applied heat and walked no change. We began facing the reality that
this might be bad luck! Out of respect for the judges and for the welfare of Richter, we made the hard decision not to present
him at the jog and quickly tried to think what our options were. Since Para equestrians are allowed to borrow horses, we began
frantically thinking who we could contact about borrowing a horse on such short notice and with the jog the very next afternoon!
This is when bad luck turned into an incredible experience. The Del Mar dressage community was unbelievably supportive as more
people than I can name began to help. I was to experience Dressage & Para Dressage becoming one in a fantastic show of support.
It was suggested that I talk to Guenter Seidel who as luck would have it, was stabling across from me. At first I thought no
way, I’m just a young para, and he’s an Olympic rider, how could I ask him. But with a little prodding I worked up the nerve to
ask and he couldn’t have been more helpful. In less than an hour he had found a horse for me to try, that was right on the show
grounds. I was ecstatic, and knew with the help and experience of my coach, Kai Handt, we would give it our best. Lano I, a 10
year old holsteiner, became my new teammate, thanks to owner Anastasia Wood, Guenter Seidel, Bettina Loy, Kim Keenan, Bettina
Longaker, and Jennifer Banks & Lisa Owens of the USEF and many others, thank you!
Lano I passed the jog and we were back in the show! With the help and great ability of my coach, I worked hard and each day
improved as Lano and I learned each other’s quirks and began to get a better feel for each other. We were fortunate to receive
First Place for each of the FEI Grade II Tests. Throughout the show, I was amazed as numerous volunteers, riders, and officials
gave me support and encouragement and followed my progress. Jan Ebeling with whom I had had the opportunity to take a clinic
with just a few weeks earlier at North Texas Equestrian Center, let us use his groom for braiding, and offered helped in the
warm up arena. I was able to meet Debbie MacDonald, watch Steffen Peters & Ravel, Guenter Seidel & U II, and Jan Ebeling &
Sandrina. Robert Dover was at the show and upon learning of my horse’s injury made contact with me and offered to put my
information, along with two other paras who had lost their mounts, on his website to help us find horses for the WEG. His
website sparked the interest of a radio show, 2010 Radio, and they set up a teleconference with Holly Bergay, Becca Hart, and
me for one of their broadcasts which aired March 17th. One of the best things of the whole experience and certainly one of the
most humbling was the acknowledgement of the judges that they were proud of me for persevering. That made all the hard work,
the disappointment, the uncertainty, worth it.
The contacts, friendships, experience of a catch ride, the encouragement and help from Olympic riders, fellow para riders,
show staff, officials, volunteers, and spectators, the generosity of Lano’s owner, turned what could have been nothing but
bad luck, into an experience of a lifetime.
As I prepare for the US Team Selection Trials in June and the World Equestrian games in October, I will no doubt be thankful
for all the friends, contacts, and experience I gained out of my bad luck!
PS -- Richter is fine; we think he was just in the mood for a California vacation!
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