Kim Herslow & Rosmarin Win Munich St. Georges to Lead USA to 4 Of 5 Top Placings
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By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
MUNICH, Germany, May 14, 2015–Kimberly Herslow and Rosmarin won the Pferd International Prix St. Georges Thursday to lead United States horses and riders to four of the five top placings in their first outing on a European tour to select the team for the Pan American Games in two months.
Kim and Rosmarin claimed the victory on a score of 71.158 per cent with fellow American Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo second on 68.921 per cent and Patrick van der Meer of the Netherlands on Coco Chanel third on 68.842 per cent.
Olivia LaGoy-Weltz on Lonoir placed fourth on 68.684 per cent and Kasey Perry on Georklintgaard’s Dubley in fifth on 68.289 per cent to complete American performance capped by the playing of the Stars and Stripes over the Nürnberger arena.
The American contingent of four Big Tour and four Small Tour combinations along with Robert Dover and Debbie McDonald as the official coaches and the individual trainers were ecstatic with the result and the buzz that rippled through this 1972 Olympic equestrian stadium staging a top rated CDI5* and CDI3* Grand Prix competitions.
Aside from Dutch veteran Patrick van der Meer, the starting lineup of 18 pairs from five nations included German Olympic gold medal rider Ulla Salzgeber on Sir Simon.
Success by the Americans came despite some erratic scoring–Monique Peutz-Vegter of the Netherlands scored Kim and Rosmarin at 67.500 per cent while the other four judges awarded the pair over 70 per cent with a high of 73.684 per cent from German 5* judge Evi Eisenhardt.
The discrepancies led Katrina Wüst, president of the ground jury of this prestigious CDI5*/3*/1* event and one of the most highly respected judges in the world to schedule a meeting of the panel for Saturday to review videos of the Prix St. Georges. She will be joined by former Judges Supervisory Panel members Uwe Mechlem and Dieter Schüle (see separate story).
Kimberlyof Stockton, New Jersey quipped after the awards ceremony with the 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding, “a pretty good start” for the American small tour squad and her first ever European competition
She said, however, that Rosmarin needed a much shorter warmup–not the 25 minutes she allowed that took 10 minutes of working to get the horse ready then 15 minutes of walking to fill the time before their start.
Even so, she said, “it was probably the best work” since the pair arrived in Europe to prepare for this show.
“He’s in a good place. Overall I can count on him. If I don’t over ride him I can make him have more the kind of expression the judges want to see.
“It’s awesome for the team to be at the top of the class.”
Kim gave a lot of credit to Rosmarin’s state of mind and freshness to the fact that after the Florida winter season when the pair ended up as the top ranked small tour combination she gave the horse a month off from training–just hacking.
“I don’t want to overdo it with him. He’s really shown me he’s more than ready. It was the timing–a good time to give him a break and come back refreshed to be the best he’s ever been.
“When we get home I’ll give him a break before we go to Toronto if we make the team.”
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