Laura Graves and Sensation Score Over 70% with Hand Brake On at 2023 CDN Ocala

Shows

2023 CDN Ocala

U.S. Olympian Laura Graves and former American number one Grand Prix rider — famous for her medal-winning partnership with Verdades — has finally found a horse she believes could well be his successor. She took on the ride on Sensation FOD three years ago after the horse had finished as double young horse champion under Michael Bragdell.

Hand Brake On

At the national show held in Ocala on 20 - 22 October 2023 Graves rode Carol McPhee’s 10-year-old Sensation FOD (by Sunday x Dancier) and topped two Intermediate II classes, scoring 71.471% and 72.353%. This was despite Graves “riding with the hand brake on.” Graves was the sole competitor in that close both on Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re honestly still forging our relationship,” said Graves, who piloted Sensation to the 2022 US Dressage Small Tour Championship title.

“He has a lot of talent for a lot of the difficult stuff. He’s still not showing what he’s capable of; the piaffe/passage carries tension now, but when we work through that and turn it into confidence he will be quite impressive."

“I’m only showing him about at about 50% — I’m still riding him conservatively as he forgets to wait, which makes the idea of Grand Prix difficult still, but the enthusiasm is what we want at the end of the day,” added Graves, who credits much of her success to her coaching team of Allison Brock, Debbie McDonald and Robert Dover.

“I’m trying to bring the winning crew from the glory days back together,” she continued. “The bigger team you have around you — the more people in your corner — the more success you have, and I’m trying to rebuild that.”

Eye on Paris

Graves is quietly optimistic about making the step up to Grand Prix later this year, with an eye on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“If we have a chance for next year, Sensation would be very green, but Paris is what everyone’s looking forward to,” she said. “The competition will be fierce, but it would be really exciting. It could be another breath of fresh air for American dressage, and this horse has the talent and the heart to do that.”

Graves received the ride on the Westfalian in the spring of 2020 and has been taking her time with him to develop a partnership. In the past three years she's only competed him in one CDI in 2022 at small tour level. The horse was originally named Sensation HW but the suffix HW, which referred to his previous owner and horse dealer Irine Hoeflich-Wiederhold, has been dropped to represent the current owners, the McPhee couple's yard Field of Drieams (FOD).

Cool Guy

A testament to Sensation’s good temperament is the fact that Graves rode him the day she went into labor with her daughter, in December 2021.

“He’s a total cool guy, really sweet, safe and generous,” she added. “He’s always been so sweet and gentle with the children. It’s really a special thing. It’s exciting to be doing this again with a very different horse who is young.”