Two of the American ladies on the US team made their Olympic debuts in style today in Rio.  Ali Brock with her wonderful stallion Rosevelt (Rosie) scored 72.686 to put her in a tie for seventh.  Kasey Perry-Glass showed off Dublet’s soft and beautiful flying changes to sit in fifth at the end of Day 1 with  75.229. Although the Germans and Great Britain are favored for Team Gold and Silver, the Bronze is considered up for grabs between the Netherlands, USA, Sweden.

Other than the Americans, my favorite horses today were the 9 yr old Cosmo ridden by German youngster Sonke Rothenberger and 10 yr old Showtime ridden by Dorothee Schneider.  Cosmo used to show jump and looks so happy and fun to ride.  Showtime is outstanding in piaffe and passage and appears soft and light in the bridle.

Good luck to Steffen Peters and Laura Graves who complete the US roster tomorrow on Day II of Grand Prix and then on the Special on Friday to decide the Dressage Team Medals.

At this writing, NBC is scheduled to air abbreviated tests of 8-10 horses including the full rides of Valero/Charlotte Dujardin and Verdades/Laura Graves at 3:45 ET on MSNBC. The complete competition can always be seen live streaming on NBCOlympics.com.

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