After the first day of eventing dressage at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, almost everyone is chasing the Germans.

In the morning, Simone Deitermann, riding Free Easy NRW, set the bar with a score of 36.

Deitermann, a 29-year-old part-time accountant who is riding in her first world championships, seemed a little surprised by the results.

"I'm very, very happy," said Deitermann, who has completed only one four-star level competition with this horse. "I can't believe it. ... For me, it's very great."

In the afternoon fellow German rider Ingrid Klimke, on FRH Butts Abraxxas, put in a score of 41.3 in the Kentucky Horse Park's Rolex Stadium.

Klimke, who was on the gold medal-winning teams at the 2008 Olympics and 2006 World Championships, said she was pleased with the ride. But she sounded a little disappointed in her score.

"He was very soft in the hand, very supple," Klimke said. Normally, she said, with that kind of ride they would have scored in the 30s.

German teammate Dirk Schrade, riding Gadget de la Cere, is in fourth with a score of 42.5.

Britain's William Fox-Pitt and Cool Mountain, winners of the 2010 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event at the Horse Park, just edged Schrade out of the third-place spot with a score of 42.

Fox-Pitt said his horse was "maybe a little more nervous" than he had been at the Rolex in April, which was the horse's first outing at the world championship level.

"In the spring, he was maybe a little naïve," Fox-Pitt said. "When I was here this spring it didn't enter my head that he'd be coming back here."

But he said Cool Mountain definitely recognized Kentucky. "He's a very quiet, laid-back sort," Fox-Pitt said. When he got to the Kentucky Horse Park, he perked up. "I think he thought, 'Aha, this was exciting.'"

Eventing is often called the triathlon of equestrian sports because it combines dressage, cross-country and stadium jumping. With 80 competitors in this championship, it will take two days for everyone to complete dressage, which continues Friday at 8:30 a.m.

Riders are judged on how well they perform identical dressage tests, then the scores are inverted, so the lowest score is in the lead. Penalty points are assessed on the cross-country and stadium jumping phases for mistakes and time faults.

Australian rider Paul Tapner, on his Badminton champion horse Inonothing, sits just behind the leaders with a score of 43.8. Tapner said afterwards he was "very happy" with the ride.

"He did his best. He knows his job so well, he just rises to the occasion," Tapner said.

Buck Davidson, the top American rider of the day in 11th place, said he was pleased with his score of 47 aboard Ballynoe Castle RM.

"That was the best score he's had," said Davidson, who got a big cheer from the crowd. "I think he liked it. ... It felt like today he held it all together."

In Davidson's cheering section: his father, Bruce Davidson Sr., who won the 1978 Eventing World Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Buck Davidson said it was "something I've dreamed of," to ride at the Games in front of his famous father. "He's more nervous than I am," he said of his father. "He's walking around and stressing."

Someone else who was in Kentucky in 1978 was Mark Todd, riding again for New Zealand. Todd, on Grass Valley, scored 48.5 to put them in 13th place for the day.

"I was really pleased with (Grass Valley). He's quite young and inexperienced at this point. I was hoping (for a score of between 50 and 55) so to get 48 is a real thrill."

Todd, one of the most decorated event riders ever, rode at the horse park in the 1978 Eventing World Championships. A lot has changed.

"When we were here 32 years ago, the only building was the big barn on the hill," Todd said. He's changed as well; Todd officially retired from riding in 2000, only to make a comeback in 2008.

"I had an eight-year gap," Todd said. "I'm all fired up again. I think it's taken me this long to get back to where I was when I retired in 2000. In a lot of ways, I feel there's not the same expectations on me that there was then. I certainly won't be one of the favored ones for an individual medal. So that's a lot of pressure off me."

Reach Janet Patton at (859) 231-3264.