OCALA, Fla.--Germany won the second leg of the Longines League of Nations at the World Equestrian Center on Saturday, March 21 with Ireland finishing second and Belgium third.

Natalie Dean on Pedro van de Barlebuis (Photo by Kim MacMillan)In an extraordinary evening, the highly regarded U.S. team  of Laura Kraut, Aaron Vale, Lillie Keenan and Natallie Dean finished 10th with an incredible round one total of 49 faults.

The team seemed jinxed from the start as McLain Ward had to withdraw from the team just a few days before the competition after injuring his hand when a horse fell with him. 

First to go in Ocala was Keenan on Argan de Beliard, a horse than had four times last year jumped double clean in Nation Cup competitions, a feat almost unheard of.

Argan de Beliard had a fence down and then stopped so sharply at the last fence that Keenan fell off, to be eliminated and leaving the team on just three scores to count.

"The biggest mystery was Lillie's horse stopping," said chef d'equipe Robert Ridland. "We're not sure why he did that. The last fence was right towards the crowd. Maybe he saw something."

 

KRAUT WAS on Tres Bien Z, the horse that won the Grand Prix in Washington last October.

Richie Vogel on Cloudio (Photo by Kim MacMillan)Tres Bien Z surprisingly  stopped at the water and then had three additional fences down plus time faults for 33 faults.

Tres Bien has jumped water clean a number of times, including that water in a schooling class just the night before.

Vale was on Carissimo, a horse that had gone clean in and contributed to numerous Nations Cups wins, and won the Grand Prix of Dinard last year.

Carissimo had three fences down for 12 faults.

Those were three Olympic and/or World Championships  riders rated 26th, 11th and 36th respectively on veteran winning horses that seldom have rails down, much less the total of 49 faults plus an elimination.

Ironically, the only clean round was from Natalie Dean on Pedro van de Bariebuis, who had been called in at the last minute after Ward had been hurt.

The team'a 10th place finish in Ocala after an eighth place finish in Abu Dhabi leaves the U.S. with only 85 points and  in last place in the standings.

A deep hole to dig out of with only two qualifiers left before the final in Barcelona, where only the top eight qualify.

Christian Kukuk on Checker 47 (Photo by Kim MacMillan)"We've got some steep climbing to do," said Ridland. "We'd better be on our game in Rotterdam. We'll be analyzing what went wrong during the next few days."

Last year, the U.S. teams won a number of Nations Cup classes, only once finishing out of the money.

"That shows how quickly things can change," said Ridland.

Germany leads the Longines League of Nations standings on 190 points with France second on 155 and Ireland third on 150.

In Ocala under Chef d’Equipe Otto Becker, the Germans went one better than their runner-up finish in Ocala in 2025.

Andre Thieme on DSP Chakaria, Rene Dittmer with Corsica X, Christian Kukuk on Checker 47, and Richard Vogel riding Cloudio had a combined total of just four faults across two gripping rounds over the course set by Alan Wade.

Ireland was the only team to finish round one with no faults.

Clear rounds from Bertram Allen on Qonquest de Rigo, Cian O’Connor and Chatolinue PS, Shane Sweetnam on James Kann Cruz, backed up by Tom Wachman on Tabasco de Toxandria Z’s four faults as the discard score, left them on zero heading into round two. 

Switzerland with 25 faults in round one and the USA with 49 faults failed to make round two.

Vogel and Kukuk went double clean with Thieme going clean in round two for the German win on four faults.

For Ireland, O'Connor and Sweetnam were also double clean but Allen had eight faults in round two to finish on eight faults for second place.

Belgium alsof inished on eight faults but in a slower aggregate time to place third.

Great Britain was fourth with 21 faults, Netherlands ifth with 31 faults, France sixth with 36 faults, Brazil seventh with 36 faults, and Italy, eliminated in round two, was eighth. 

Rotterdam is next, followed by St. Tropez, the final two qualifiers.