Gladstone, New Jersey – It seemed for Courtney King that nothing was certain any hour of the day during competition at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions, until the very end when she emerged the Grand Prix Freestyle winner and overall Grand Prix reserve champion.

When the final scores were tallied, King and the 17-year-old Dutch stallion Idocus finished just behind champions Steffen Peters and Lombardi II. King and Idocus won the final leg of the competition – the Grand Prix Freestyle – with a score of 78.00 percent. Peters and Lombardi finished in second with a score of 76.40 percent. The Freestyle counted for 20 percent of the final score.

On Friday, King and Peters tied in the Grand Prix Special, which counted for 35 percent of the final score, with a 71.60 percent. Peters was ultimately given the win in that battle because FEI rules require that in the case of a tie, the Collective Marks determine the outcome. Peters had four 8s and one 9 to King’s five 8s. Thursday’s Grand Prix, which counted for 45 percent of the final score, is where King lost the most. Peters finished first with a 70.417 percent, but King was down in fifth place with a score of 64.458.

That poor showing was a result of Idocus being under the weather from a busy breeding season. He arrived at Gladstone already not at his best. He had issues with dehydration and was clearly uncomfortable, King had said. After Thursday’s rough go, King even considered pulling him from the remaining two days of competition. But she said a combination of fluids, massage and chiropractic helped to pull him through.

“All I could do after the first day was have the vets look at him and see if there was any relief we could give him for the pain in his back. And then all I could do was get on the next day and ride him and just try to do the best we could,” she said.

By Friday, the stallion (by Equador out of Eretha), owned by Christine McCarthy, was recovered enough to tie for first. By Saturday’s Freestyle. he was back in top form and King was clearly thrilled. “When I did the first Grand Prix I thought, ‘I’m not even going to make it through this competition.’ But he was that much better each day, I couldn't have asked for me.”

As the pair entered the ring, it was immediately apparent that Idocus was getting back to his old self. As she circled the ring, he seemed much brighter, more up, and jumped to Courtney's leg with energy. The Freestyle victory was important King said because “I was looking for an opportunity to redeem ourselves from the humiliation of the day before. For the Freestyle, we’ve done it a few times now and I’m getting more comfortable riding him with more risk. That’s the highest score we’ve gotten in the freestyle.”