Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

VERDEN, Germany, Aug. 9, 2015–The Danish Warmblood stallion Sezuan ridden by German Olympian Dorothee Schneider became the World Champion six-year-old horse Sunday a year after taking the title for five year olds, while the German Sport Horse Belantis took the silver medal.

In one of the closest fought battles for medals, Beatrice Buchwald on Belantis mesmerized the crowd after an exciting ride that stirred clapping in unison as the gray horse trotted down the centerline to a score 9.5.

Dorothee and Sezuan (Blue Hors Zack x Don Schufro), two rides later and the last to go in the class of the top 15 six-year-olds, turned in a performance that led to the crowd again clapping in time with the rhythm on the centerline. The performance produced the only 10s of the competition, one for canter and the other for the final impression to log a score of 9.72 and the gold medal.

The ground jury of Maria Colliander of Finland, Annette ransen Iaconbaeus of Sweden and Ralph Gardner of Great Britain described the ride by Sezuan as “danced” to victory, “very exquisite… powerful… and gave us what we want to see.”

Beatrice Buchwald, the 26-year-old trainer to German superstar Isabell Werth, and Belantis were in the judge’s view “so very beautiful and a pleasure to watch.”

Scores of 9.8 for trot, 9.4 for walk, 9.5 for canter, 9 for rideability and 9.8 for final impression gave the duo the first total above 9 and the lead with two combinations remaining.

Eye Catcher, a KWPN stallion was ridden by the Dutch young horse star rider Kirsten Brouwer to take the bronze on a score of 8.96.

Kirsten confided that Eye Catcher was ill during the first qualifying competition Friday which led to a poor result then.

However, the stallion (Vivaldi x Partout) came back strong for a score of 8.96 that included 9.3 for trot and 9 for walk.

The bronze medal for Eye Catcher was the only place on the podium for the Dutch this year after recent years in which the country has been a major player.

After 16 straight years at these show grounds in Verden, the championships move to Ermelo, Netherlands the last week of July 2016. The move is already raising concerns–whether the show grounds can handle the young horse championships that are being expanded from five and six-year-old divisions to seven-year-olds and, perhaps more importantly, whether there are enough hotel rooms within reasonable distance to handle the influx of competitors and their entourages from around the world.

While there were differing opinions about which horse should have won, there were no arguments the gold and silver medal winners were clearly the best in the starting lineup unlike Saturday’s five-year-old championship where the Danish Warmblood full sisters through embryo transfers took gold and silver prompting remarks that “sizzle won over substance.”

Denmark dominated the championships, winning gold medals in both age divisions and the silver that was their best ever result for the nation that has focused on improving sport horse breeding.

Dorothee, who took over the ride on Sezuan just four months before the 2014 championship, said after Sunday’s ride, “I have no words. I’m totally happy that I’m coming so much together with this horse.. He is amazing.

“I think I was mentally calm. But Beatrice rode very good and, ‘Oops!’ then I have to give it my all. The mental situation was difficult but Sezuan did an amazing job. He’s an amazing horse who is for the Grand Prix.”

Dorothee said she will prepare Sezuan for the Nürnberger Burg-Pokal, the prestigious German championship for seven to nine year old horses at Prix St. Georges, an event that Beatrice has already been successful. She won the event in 2013 on Weihegold OLD.

Beatrice described Belantis (Benetoon Dream x Expo’se) as “really nice with super character” in the stables but establishes a performance presence in the show arena.

“I’ve never had such a nice feeling on a horse. I had a lot of fun.”

Dorothee also placed fourth on  Stanford, a Rhinelander  stallion  (Sir Donnerhall I x Diamond Hit) that scored 8.92.

Results:

World Breeding Championship for Young Horses 6-year-old final