Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

VERDEN, Germany, Aug. 8–Scara Boa, a Hanoverian chestnut mare, won the 5-year-old qualifier at the World Young Horse Championships Thursday which was a surprise to spectators as much as it was to the rider, Germany’s Lena Stegemann, who was competing in the championships for the first time.

The mare by Scolari out of a Wolkenstein II dam scored 9.7 for the trot, walk and submission and 9.5 for the canter and general impression for a total of 9.62, 0.48 ahead of the black KWPN stallion Desperado 254 ridden by Dutch young horse specialist Emmelie Scholtens who were awarded 9.14.

In addition to Emmelie’s performance on Desperado (Vivaldi x Havidoff) she shared as a part-owner in the third place horse, Dancer, also a KWPN stallion that was ridden by another neophyte at the championships, 23-year-old Kirsten Brouwer of the Netherlands to 8.96.

Kirsten had a hard time believing her third place finish as she works at the family’s training center and is taught by her mother.

“I was just so happy being in the selection trials,” she said, “and to make it to the championships for the first time was amazing.”

Many young horses are exactly that, young and full of life, sometimes too much so.

Scara Boa spent what may have seemed to him too many minutes being perfectly well behaved and wearing his championship blanket in the awards ceremony.

When it came time for the victory parade, he didn’t want to gallop around the arena and when one of his connections tried to lead him, Scara Boa dug in his hind legs and the front legs went up at least six feet off the ground. On the way down, a saddle iron clipped the connection on the neck. An ambulance was called but all appeared well.

The 30-year-old Lena Stegemann had joked the night before when she saw an interview with herself on the local television station that she wasn’t a serious contender against the big guns, Olympic or world championship veterans–Helen Langehanenberg, a fellow German; Patrik van der Meer and Hans Peter Minderhoud of the Netherlands; Minna Telde of Sweden; Andreas Helgstrand of Denmark , and Hayley Beresford of Australia.

The pair had, however, showed convincing performances previously, finishing sixth at the 2012 German Championships and a winner of the 2011 Herwart von der Decken show at the age of three.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for today was Damon’s Satellite, the second last of 39 starting combinations and ridden by Helen Langehanenberg who won Olympic team silver medal on the Westfalen chestnut gelding’s sire, Damon Hill NRW. Helen and Damon’s Satellite placed eighth on 8.48, a score that included 9.9 for the trot but 7.0 for the walk.

The 6-year-old qualifier with 41 combinations is held Friday as well as the 5-year-old consolation final for the horses and riders that did not score high enough to make it to the main final.

Results: