Woodlander Farouche in class of own Is 1st British Horse to win 5-Year-Old World Championship

By ILSE SCHWARZ

VERDEN, Germany, Aug. 6–The exquisite Hanoverian mare, Woodlander Farouche ridden by Great Britain’s Michael George Eilberg, totally dominated the five year old division Saturday to become the first British horse to be crowned world champion.

Many thought this was maybe the most complete winner in recent years at this World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses, the mare (Furst Heinrich x Dimaggio) showing suppleness, expression, power, rideability and scoring a perfect 10 for her walk. She finished with a total score of 9.72.

Reserve champion was also a chestnut mare, Damon’s Divene (Damon Hill x Rubin Royal) ridden beautifully by Helen Langehanenberg of Germany and achieving a final score of 9.12. Helen will be competing with Divene’s sire, Damon Hill, at the European Championships in Rotterdam in two weeks.

The popular, tall and elegant KWPN stallion, Bretton Woods ridden by the consummate young horse rider, Emmelie Scholtens placed third with 8.88 This combination from The Netherlands really improved their performance from the qualification round.

Woodlander Farouche became the first British-bred horse to win at the Young Horse World Championships.

Though she broke into canter during the extended trot, there was no doubt from anyone that she was the winner. She scored 9.40 for her trot, even with the mistake. In every other way, the trot demonstrated all the qualities the judges look for: balance, uphill tendency, adjustability, suppleness, engagement. Jennie Loriston-Clarke revealed that the mistake had been the source of some argument between the judges as they decided how to account for it in the scores.

There was no arguments over the walk score, 10 for a relaxed, correct ground-covering stride that maintained a perfect connection with the bridle.

The canter continued the use of superlatives by the judges, 9.80 and with such perfect self carriage and lightness to the bit the score for submission was 9.60 and general impression 9.80. I believe only Florencio scored a higher final score, 9.80, when he won here as a five-year-old.

Farouche’s breeder Lynne Crowden was in tears through the award ceremony, as were many others.

“I thought Thursday was bad, but today’s is much worse,” Lynne quipped. “People ask how I am going to celebrate tonight, I’m too exhausted”. She was very forward in praising Michael for his contribution as she clearly understands you need the right team to cultivate talent. It seems the mare will be staying in Britain for the long term. Lynne is now part owner of Farouche with the Eilberg family and a long time friend, Alison Watson. Lynne unabashadly stated that “this was a horse for the British team.”

German combinations filled the top of results in the CDI3* Grand Prix held concurrently with the young horse championships–Isabell Werth and Don Johnson in first scoring 72.106 per cent, Kristina Sprehe on Desperados second with 71.766 per cent and Nadine Capellmann on Elvis VA third on 69.468 per cent.

Placed competitors
1.	876	Woodlander Farouche	Eilberg, Michael George	GBR		2000 EUR	Wertnote 9.72
	F 6-j.S v.Fürst Heinrich/M.v.Dimaggio/BHS/103DV59/B: L.Crowden/A.Waltson/S.Eilber
2.	252	Damon’s Divene	Langehanenberg, Helen	GER		1100 EUR	Wertnote 9.12
	F 5-j.S v.Damon Hill/M.v.Rubin-Royal/WESTF/103HG97/B: Becks,Christian
3.	90	Bretton Woods	Scholtens, Emmelie	NED		800 EUR	Wertnote 8.88
	R 5-j.H v.Johnson/M.v.De Niro/KWPN/103HV24/B: Fam. van Limpt
4.	86	Boston STH	Minderhoud, Hans Peter	NED		400 EUR	Wertnote 8.74
	DB 5-j.H v.Johnson/M.v.Quattro B/KWPN/B: Minderhoud,Hans Peter
5.	487	IPS Bon Bravour	Franckx-Goen, Tom	BEL		200 EUR	Wertnote 8.64
	B 5-j.H v.Painted Black I/M.v.Chronos/KWPN/103HP74/B: IPS Horse Group,
6.	742	Showtime	Schneider, Dorothee	GER		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.58
	DB 5-j.W v.Sandro Hit/M.v.Rotspon/HANN/B: Kippert,Gabriele
7.	815	Swing de Hus	Michel, Jessica	FRA		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.48
	R 5-j.H v.San Remo/M.v.Wonderland/HANN/103DP59/B: Michel,Jessica
8.	85	Borencio	Scholtens, Emmelie	NED		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.4
	B 5-j.H v.Florencio I/M.v.Lord Sinclair I/KWPN/103HV35/B: Collins,A. & Elias,A.
9.	403	Florentinus V	Hoffmann, Jennifer	USA		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.32
	DB 5-j.H v.Florestan I/M.v.Londonderry/WESTF/B: Hoffmann,Jennifer
10.	279	De Champ OLD	Engelbart, Anja	GER		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.3
	DB 5-j.H v.Daddy Cool/M.v.Caprimond/OLD/B: Schockemöhle,Paul
11.	41	Atterupgaard’s Final Kiss	Henningsen, Sanne	DEN		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.18
	R 5-j.H v.French Kiss/M.v.Diamond/DK/103HV29/B: Munkedal Aps,
12.	603	N.O.H.’S Daijoubo	Helgstrand, Andreas	DEN		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.16
	B 5-j.W v.Daddy Cool/M.v.Picandt/DK/103HV48/B: Stutteri N.O.H.,
13.	430	Fürstenball OLD	Westendarp, Ines	GER		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.12
	SCHWB 5-j.H v.Fürst Heinrich/M.v.Donnerhall/OLD/B: BG Hendriksen u.Schockemöhle,
14.	812	Sunday NRW	Wilimzig, Anja	GER		150 EUR	Wertnote 8.0
	DB 5-j.H v.Sandro Hit/M.v.Donnerhall/WESTF/103HJ31/B: Nordrhein-Westf. Landgestüt
15.	826	TC Beau Deux	Raateland, Geert-Jan	NED		150 EUR	Wertnote 7.44
	DB 5-j.S v.Ravel/M.v.Gouverneur/KWPN/103IA53/B: Raateland,Geert-Jan & Coomans,T.J