Next to a World Equestrian Games or an Olympic Games, the most exciting competition may well be the selection trials for a WEG or an Olympic team. I wish I could have been ringside at all of the US trials for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky (hard to believe that they kick off a little more than one month from now!), but they’re being held all over the country, and I happen to live within range of only one: the dressage trials, which were held August 6-8 and 13-15 at the magnificent US Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey.

I traveled to Gladstone last weekend for the grand finale, the Grand Prix Freestyle, final hurdle for the WEG hopefuls and marquee event of the 2010 Collecting Gaits Farm/US Equestrian Federation Dressage Festival of Champions. These annual championships decide national dressage titles in several divisions, including Grand Prix. This year’s Grand Prix national championships doubled as the WEG selection trials, and it was obvious that making the WEG team was more important to these competitors than earning the title.

The WEG team anchor, international veteran Steffen Peters on Akiko Yamazaki’s Ravel, was in the commentator’s seat instead of the saddle for this competition, having been granted a bye not to compete at the trials. With the top spot locked up, the competition at Gladstone was for the second, third, and fourth team spots. The fourth-placed horse and rider at Gladstone would then become the reserve pair for the WEG