EQUESTRIAN : Van Grunsven Hits the Right Notes in Final

Horse enthusiasts should expect the sounds of music at Olympic dressage competition next year in Atlanta.

The Volvo World Cup Dressage Final, which ended Sunday at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, featured the freestyle to music--”kuer to music”--an event in which riders and horses perform a series of difficult movements choreographed to musical scores.

Popular in European dressage, the freestyle to music is a relatively new concept in the United States. But it will be part of Olympic dressage competition for the first time at the 1996 Games.

Dressage is often called ballet on horseback because the horse and rider perform intricate tests similar to dance routines. The music gives an added dimension to the movements, and horses and riders appear to be moving in rhythm to the music.

At the World Cup Final, 14 riders from nine countries completed their freestyle routines to many kinds of compositions--pop, marches, classical, ballads. But most chose combinations of American music, mostly from movie themes and Broadway shows.

Aboard Cameleon Bonfire, Anky van Grunsven, a 27-year-old rider from the Netherlands, used a medley that included Neil Diamond’s “Song Sung Blue” in her nearly flawless freestyle to win the Final. She had also placed first in Friday’s Grand Prix. Although Van Grunsven is the current world dressage champion, this was her first World Cup title.

Van Grunsven’s closest rival, Monica Theodorescu of Germany aboard Ganimedes Tecrent, chose a spirited combination of “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” the “Mickey Mouse Song” and “The Continental” to take second place overall. The 32-year-old rider won the World Cup in 1992-93.

U.S. representative Kathleen Raine of Rolling Hills rode her Avantuur to a rousing medley from Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. They finished eighth overall. The other U.S. rider, Robert Dover, had to withdraw Thursday when his mount, Devereaux, developed a hoof abscess.