Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 20, 2015–Felicitas Hendricks was heartbroken last Christmas when the 14-year-old was told a horse she had fallen in love with while riding for a couple of months was sold. Tears of anguish turned to joy when it turned out her mother bought Faible AS from the Koschel family at Hagen, Germany.

Now, Felicitas who had never traveled more than 50 miles (80km) from home before, has produced a string of three victories in three starts on Faible in international Junior competition almost 5,000 miles (8,000km) away in sub-tropical Wellington, Florida.

Although the competitions are her first ever CDIs, Felicitas and the 11-year-old Westfalen gelding began with a score of 69.189 per cent, upped the result to 70.342 per cent the next time out, on Friday, raised it again to 71.000 per cent.

Her success at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival caught the attention of the organizers of the Florida International Dressage Youth Championships who invited the pair to join the lineup of riders from Europe and the Americas for the event at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center Mar. 4-8.

Unlike the four national and European championships riders and horses from Belgum, Netherlands and Germany invited to compete at the Youth Championships, Felicitas and Faible came to Wellington for the three months of the Global circuit as part of the group with Christoph and Patricia Koschel and her mother, a niece of Patricia.

Raised in Dusseldorf, Felicitas didn’t have friends who rode but she spent summers from the age of about nine at the Koschel training center Hof Beckerode in Hagen, 35 miles (60km) away, taking lessons and riding ponies whenever one was available. She admits she fell off frequently.

She got her first “real horse” three years ago, but he was injured and she couldn’t ride him any more.

Felicitas, however, learned a lot from the schoolmaster–if the aids were not correct the horse simply stopped. It was key in learning to be accurate and focused, the characteristics that have made champions of so many Germans.

Then last fall, along came Faible as a sales prospect for the Koschels and she was allowed to ride him.

“He’s lovely,” she said, “we fit perfectly together.”

The joy of having a horse to ride and train to compete at nearby national shows was a dream come true.

“Then one day,” said the ninth grader, “I came to the box and he was ready to be ridden and I thought another girl was going to try him.

“My heart felt heavy.

“Then my mother came and she said, ‘you’re the owner now.’

“I was crying I was so happy. It was maybe the happiest moment of my life.”

Faible had not had a good life to that point and was afraid and spooky. Felicitas was warned the partnership might not develop.

“He gave me confidence,” said the slightly built Felicitas–5ft. 4 ins. (162cm) tall, weighing 104 pounds (48kg).

“The relationship just clicked.

“Sometimes he’s really fresh, a really sensitive horse. You have to be quiet with him otherwise he’s really scared. When you are nice to him he is nice to you.”

She calls him “Dicker” (sweetheart).

The Florida results have given her incentive to seek to ride on the German Junior team, though she’s realistic–“maybe it works, maybe not.”

Mostly, though, it’s about being with her horse.

“You forget everything,” she said,. “It’s a great feeling to work with your partner. They really understand you. They know if you are a good guy or a bad guy. It’s magic.”

Four national and European championship riders and their horses from Belgium, Netherlands and Germany have also been invited to compete in an effort by Jochen Arl and Equestrian Sport Productions, organizers of the Florida shows, to increase international presence in the youth divisions.

The combinations are Antonia Arl and Equestricons Ziggy, Rosalie Bos on Equestricons Bonita,
Dana van Lierop and Equestricons Walküre and Vivian Niemann.

This will be the third year of the youth championship by , traveling with Jochen Arl, are set to compete in Wellington for the championships presented by Pana Cavallo, Diamante Farms, Hampton Green Farms, and Dressage for Kids.