Laurens van Lieren Wins Innovative Knock-Out Dressage at Maastricht
11 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Laurens van Lieren Wins Innovative Knock-Out Dressage at Maastricht
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, Nov. 30, 2013–Laurens van Lieren on Ulysses La Haya on Saturday won the Knock-Out Dressage an innovative competition in which two riders perform a two-minute test in the same arena at the same time.
The knock-out competition was first introduced by the organizers of the Helsinki CDI last October and further developed by the Netherlands team coach Wim Ernes with Frank Kemperman, chairman of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) Dressage Committee, to be staged at Jumping Indoor Maastricht.
Four combinations rode in the competition, two in each round riding a mirror image of each other. A judge decides the winner who then returns for the next round. The second round was for third and fourth places and a final round for first and second.
Laurens and the 12-year-old Grand Prix KWPN mare (Gribaldi x Ulft) knocked out German Jana Kun and Transpofix Vainqueur. Kyra Klinkers and Tara placed third and Nel Rensen and Rocky fourth.
Event organizers, members of the ground jury and riders were all positive about the test. The test will need some tweaking, was the general opinion, but looked like it was an interesting innovation for the future of the sport. The competition can be seen here: http://www.clipmyhorse.de/en/archive/show/673/17823/0/knock-out-dressagecompetition (commentary is in Dutch).
