Carrick, Williams unflappable in dressage

By SAL RUIBAL

USA TODAY

MARKOPOULO, Greece -- Most horses are skittish around flapping flags and windblown debris, but Carrick is not just any nervous nag.

The 12-year-old chesnut thoroughbred gelding carried U.S. Olympic equestrian team rider John Williams through a wind-blown dressage performance here Monday that helped put both him and his American three-day eventing team in position to contend for a medal.

Three-day eventing -- which actually takes four days to complete at the Olympic level -- is a triathlon for four-legged athletes.

The first portion of the event is dressage, which can be compared to compulsory figures in figure skating. It demonstrates the rider's control over the horse through a series of linked movements on a flat dirt arena. That section began Sunday.

The second, and most critical stage, is the cross-country phase, which tests the pair's courage and stamina over a long course of sturdy obstacles and water hazards.

The final portion is a traditional ride over show jumps, which measures the energy and fitness of the horse and rider after the first two challenges.

Going into Tuesday's cross-country journey, Williams was in 21st place while the U.S. team was 4th.

Monday's dressage test was more like a pop quiz on unflappability. The arena is supposed to be as solemn as the greens at Augusta National, but Williams had to pace Carrick through the serpentine figures and mid-air lead changes while wind gusts of up to 40 mph flapped the dozens of national flags planted around the course.

``It didn't faze him,'' said Williams, a 39-year-old equine course designer from Rochester, N.Y., who now lives in Middleburg, Va. His parents, who still live in the Rochester area, are here along with his brother and sister.

``It wasn't windy enough,'' RIT-graduate Williams offered after the ride, acknowledging his half-serious wish that the blustery breeze that knocked off the top hats of two earlier riders might also knock some more-jittery rivals out of contention.

Carrick's laid-back attitude could be a big factor in the high drama of Tuesday's cross-country phase. In the dressage arena, spectators are asked to silence their cell phones and hush their mouths, but the spectacle of seeing a half-ton of horse and rider launch over four-foot log piles and stone fences brings out the hockey fan in the horsey set. And don't be surprised to see Speedo-ed Australian fans take an almost-skinny dip in the water jumps. If there is any water.

``The wind is blowing the water right out of them,'' Williams said, with a laugh that could only come from a man who rides the coolest horse in the herd.