Scara Boa Ridden by Lena Stegemann of Germany Wins 5-Year-Old World Championship

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

VERDEN, Germany, Aug. 10–Scara Boa, a Hanoverian chestnut mare, was ridden to near perfection by Lena Stegemann of Germany to win the World Young Horse Championship gold medal for five-year-olds Saturday, the first championships for the 30-year-old rider.

Andreas Helgstrand on Floricello 2 overcame a poor qualifying competition that forced the pair to go through the consolation final to make it to the final 15 to win silver while Dutch young horse specialist Emmelie Scholtens rode Dorado 254 for the bronze.

The 6-year-old final will be held Sunday. In the small final Saturday, Jordi Domingo Coll of Spain on Mango Statesman placed first on 7.94 with Germany’s Heinz Bellen and Discovery OLD second on 7.90 and Australia’s Jayden Brown on San Andreas third on 7.70 will move on to the final 15 for the championship.

Lena Stegemann took over the ride on Scara Boa late in 2012 but displayed amazing poise to win the qualifier two days ago then come into the final as the last of the 15 finalists but who handled the pressure and darkening skies that threatened rain to produce a performance that received 10 for rideability from the panel of judges from the Belgium, Great Britain, Netherlands and the USA.

“No, absolutely not,” Lena declared emphatically when asked whether she expected to win against combinations from more than a dozen countries that started this competition that is the premier event for young horses in the world.

“We were talking before the event and I said I’d be happy if I can make it to the small final. I would think I had done well.

“But… Oh my God! Wow!”

Scara Boa (Scolari x Wolkenstein II) was shown as a three-year-old with her mother and then was ridden by Susan Pape in the Bundeschampionate, Germany’s national championships, to place sixth as a four-year-old.

Lena took over the ride when Susan had some health problems late last year.

“She is absolutely a sport horse,” Lena said, “she loves to go in a test and gives more than 100 per cent. She does everything right.”

The judges agreed in awarding the horse 9.5 for the trot, 9.7 for the walk, 9.0 for the canter, 10 for rideability, 9.8 for general impression for a total of 9.60.

“She is the horse we’d most like to take home,” Sandy Phillips of Great Britain said on behalf of the judges. “Her inner peace is very apparent.”

The trot she described as “very expressive with cadence and good bending.” The walk was active, covering ground and moving well while the canter was very correct with good balance and self-carriage.

The submission, she said, “made everything today look really nice and easy.” 10!

The general impression was that the horse is “a very exciting prospect for the future.”

Ghislain Fouarge of the Netherlands, president of the ground jury, said that for Scara Boa to “win both competitons means she didn’t have a lucky day today. She is not the most spectatcular horse, she won because of her very good riding. It shows how a horse that is not spectacular can win because it is well ridden. That is good for the sport.”

The silver medal performance by Andreas Helgstrand on Floricello 2 was a highlight of the five-year-old division.

The Danish rider had prepared the horse for the atmosphere generated by the big crowds at Verden by competing at the Falsterbo Horse Show in Sweden last month as well as employing noise scenes such as raising umbrellas and other activity that can spook horses.

But it was not enough to overcome first day nerves here, he said, especially when the horse was coming directly to a tent where photographers were sheltering from the rain and the pair were relegated to the “not placed” category with their 19th place finish.

So instead of going straight to the big final, they had to compete in Friday’s small final which the pair won but meaning three competition rides in three days by making it to the big final.

Andreas and the Oldenburg stallion (Florencio x Domellio) were fifth to go Saturday and their score of 8.72 kept them in the lead until the very end. The best gait was the trot that scored 9.8, with the walk at 8.0, canter 8.8, rideability 8 and general impression 9.

Ghislain Fouarge, the judge, admitted Floricello was “surprising” because they did not make it directly to the final but the victory in the consolation final and the silver medal in the big final showed it as a “fantastic horse” and the result “well deserved.”

Emmelie Scholtens rode two horses in the final–so, too, did Jessica Michel of France–and won the bronze with Dorado 203, a KWPN stallion (Krack C x Rousseau) and not Desperado 254 on which she placed third in the qualifier.

The pair’s score of 8.70 was 0.02 of the silver medal spot but they received 7.9 for rideability.

Emmelie admitted she expected more from Desperado as she has been riding the horse since he was a three-year-old but made so many mistakes made a higher finish not possible.

Results:

5-Year-old Championships

6-Year-Old Small Final