Dressage-News

By ILSE SCHWARZ

ERMELO, Netherlands, Aug. 4, 2023–What an extraordinary collection of talented and accomplished quality seven-year-old horses at the World Young Horse Championships.

This year, it has to be said that the quality over all divisions was outrageously good. I feel confident in saying, the best ever as a whole. I vividly remember when the seven-year-old division started and it was like a poorly executed version of a sad Prix St Georges for many of the horses. As the years have passed, this has actually become a realistic goal in the progression of training for the talented young horse and this year, 2023, it was wonderful to see so many horses competing that also presented as five-year-olds.

It is also worth noting that the judges have shown over the past few years that they have no interest in rewarding manufactured, tense versions of expression so as the horse reach this very first step of their FEI careers we see so much beautiful riding and correct execution of the movements that we can really see how this will progress to true FEI careers.

This class held extra interest to me as one of the competitors, Hope Beerling of Australia, was competing for the USA on the delightful mare Vianne, was bred by Catherine Haddad Staller of the USA.

Hope had contacted me as a fellow Aussie about a position when she first made the decision to leave Australia for training. I gave her Catherine’s contact, and then assured Catherine that she was worth taking a chance on, even though she would only be on a travel visa for three months. Obviously, it was the right decision for both of them and I have been so very excited by the progress and development of Hope. What an achievement for her making it here on a horse she actually started.

As I move to reporting on the results, it is truly fun to note that the top two places in this class, the stallions Danciero (Dancier x Fuchtels Floriscount) and Global Player, (Grand Galaxy Win x Blue Hors Don Schufro) were both medalists with Eva Möller as their rider in the five and six year old divisions. Eva retired earlier this year from competition as one of the top young horse riders, but it is wonderful to see the horses successful under their new riders.

Hope, 23, and Vianne were third to go in a class of 40 rides. Not the world’s best draw, but what can you do?

She had a beautiful ride. The mare is so elastic through her body in all the gaits and has such cadence, balance and scope in the trot. Neither Hope nor Vianne were affected by the atmosphere. Hope’s aids for the flying changes are basically invisible, with only a small mistake in a half pass.

I had my fingers crossed that the judges would look at the performance and not either flag Hope was wearing–yes, she had the Australian flag on her jacket and the USA flag on her saddle pad. The judges couldn’t have cared less about the flags and rewarded the ride with a 77.234. Let me tell you it was a seriously long day waiting to see if she made the finals directly. I am happy to report she finished in 10th place, beating some extremely well known, successful riders. I can now say that I have seen Catherine crying, The mare she bred and trained was in the top 10 in the world, with the rider she has developed and nurtured… I would be ugly crying. It was special to be involved, even on the fringes.

This was a really fun class as there were top rides throughout. Some I predicted, some I totally didn’t! It was extra lovely to see some of my favorite stallions, Hesselhoej Donkey Boy and Dante Weltino OLD as sires of some of the top 12.

The winner of the class was the stallion Danciero, now ridden by Anna Kasprzak for Helgstrand Dressage/Schockemöhle. He was uniformly very good in everything: trot 9.1, walk 9.2, canter 8.6, submission 9.0, perspective 9.3, a technical score 76.250% for a total of 83.325%.

In second place was the stallion Global Player OLD. He was world champion six-year-old last year with Eva Möller and I certainly wouldn’t bet against him doing the same again this year, ridden by Leonie Richter of Germany. He dropped to walk in his canter pirouette right which had a big impact on the canter, submission and technical scores. He had 9.4 for trot, walk 9.3, canter 8.6, submission 7.7 and perspective 9.3 with a technical score of 77.768% for a final total of 83.184%.

Third place went to the Dimaggio stallion Diaton (Dimaggio x Benetton Dream) ridden by Nicole Wego-Engelmeyer for Germany. The duo directly followed Hope and held their high ranking through the entire class: trot 8.9, walk 9.3, canter 8.8, submission 8.8, perspective 9.4 for technical of 75.714% and a total of 83.057%.

Las Vegas (Ferdeux x Wynton) currently ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud for the Netherlands is an extraordinarily loose, powerful large stallion with a canter that drew gasps from the spectators. With such incredibly big movement on such an enormous stallion, the collection is still a little tricky, but he has all the presence in the world and is an absolute crowd-pleaser. Unfortunately his walk is a little tight, although in clean rhythm: trot 8.9, walk 7.5, canter 9.0, submission 8.6, perspective 9.0, technical 76.340% for a total of 81.170% This was the only score over the last two days to elicit “boos” from the crowd!

In 5th place was the continually delightful mare Lightning Star (Ferguson x De Niro) ridden for the Netherlands by Kristen Brouwer. This petite mare blew me away when she arrived in the 5-year-old division in 2021, and again in 2022. Well, she is here as a serious contender in 2023, too. Trot 8.8, walk 8.8, canter 8.5, submission 8.3, perspective 8.8, technical 74.018%, for a final score of 80.209%

Results:

World Breeding Championship for Young Horses – First Qualification for 7-year-old-Horses

Place	Competitor	Score	E	H	C	C	B
1.	Anna Kasprzak (DEN) Danciero 7	83.325%		75.179	90.400	90.400	77.321
2.	Leonie Richter (GER) Global Player OLD	83.184%		79.464	88.600	88.600	76.071
3.	Nicole Wego-Engelmeyer (GER) Diaton 3	83.057%		74.464	90.400	90.400	76.964
4.	Hans Peter Minderhoud (NED) Las Vegas	81.170%		78.214	86.000	86.000	74.464
5.	Kirsten Brouwer (NED) Lightning Star	80.209%		73.036	86.400	86.400	75.000
6.	Susanne Barnow (DEN) Skovdals Dexter	78.995%		72.321	85.400	85.400	72.857
7.	Isabell Werth (GER) Valdiviani	78.400%		74.821	81.800	81.800	75.179
8.	Vendela Eriksdotter Rubin (SWE) Diploid	78.240%		73.214	83.800	83.800	72.143
9.	Claudia Chauchard (FRA) Apachi VD Biebosschen	77.395%		72.679	82.200	82.200	72.500
10.	Hope Beerling (USA) Vianne	77.234%		72.321	84.200	84.200	68.214
11.	Ida Nordenberg Küchenmeistern (SWE) Moretti Weltino	76.984%		72.500	81.200	81.200	73.036
12.	Sarah Rogers (GBR) Forest Hill	76.804%		69.286	82.000	82.000	73.929
13.	Annika Korte (GER) Beryll	76.584%		73.214	80.400	80.400	72.321
14.	Tommie Visser (BEL) Quinten Begijnhoeve	76.058%		70.536	81.400	81.400	70.893
15.	Niels Bax (NED) First Lewis	76.013%		70.179	81.400	81.400	71.071
16.	Santiago Damil (GER) L’ Amore Per Sempre OLD	75.916%		72.321	79.600	79.600	72.143
17.	Lena Waldmann (GER) Belinda FRH	75.550%		73.214	78.600	78.600	71.786
18.	Fransisco Benitez Sanchez (NED) Lord Platinum	74.534%		70.893	78.800	78.800	69.643
19.	Thamar Zweistra (NED) Hexagons Luxuriouzz	74.202%		71.964	77.600	77.600	69.643
20.	Kristine Möller-Engel (LUX) DSP Big Bang	74.036%		71.429	77.000	77.000	70.714
21.	Susanne Barnow (DEN) Aatoftens Dancing Memory	74.024%		70.893	77.600	77.600	70.000
22.	Lone Bang Zindorff (DEN) Bruunholms Flora	73.309%		69.643	77.600	77.600	68.393
23.	Majken Faaborg Glerup (DEN) Midt-West Franceska	73.288%		69.107	77.200	77.200	69.643
24.	Jennifer Svensson (SWE) Stradivariuz	73.111%		70.179	76.400	76.400	69.464
25.	Helene Melsen (SWE) Picabo	72.679%		70.357	75.000	75.000	70.357
26.	Charlotta Rogerson (SUI) L’Amour	72.652%		67.857	77.000	77.000	68.750
27.	Nina Verina Braun (GER) Borsalino’s Fairytale	71.699%		66.786	74.200	74.200	71.607
28.	Ruben Gonzalez Soto (ESP) Degas de Ymas	71.142%		68.929	73.800	73.800	68.036
29.	Martin Hauptmann (AUT) Aramis	71.049%		66.786	75.400	75.400	66.607
30.	Claudio Castilla Ruiz (ESP) Zeo Jocha	70.127%		66.607	73.200	73.200	67.500
31.	Alicia Ryan (AUS) Merricks Sonique	69.849%		66.250	74.000	74.000	67.143
32.	Laura Tomlinson (GBR) Full Moon II	69.486%		68.214	70.400	70.400	68.929
33.	Charlotte Chalvignac (FRA) Diamonds Diva 5	69.195%		67.857	70.800	70.800	67.321
34.	Alberto García-Briñon Martín (ESP) Pampero FS	68.525%		68.571	70.800	70.800	63.929
35.	Juan De Dios Ramírez García (ESP) Corinto Azores	67.125%		68.036	68.000	68.000	64.464
36.	Tom Heylen (BEL) Quberon van het Beukenhof	67.015%		65.893	67.600	67.600	66.964
37.	Andrea Sangiorgi (ITA) Soiree’s Night PS	66.813%		67.321	68.000	68.000	63.929
38.	Adelinde Cornelissen (NED) Luqiedo	66.450%		65.536	70.400	70.400	59.464
39.	Roberto Brasil (POR) Victory Prime	61.645%		62.500	63.200	63.200	57.679
40.	Juan Antonio Jimenez-Cobo (ESP) XO Girales Mor	59.434%		62.857	58.600	58.600	57.679
Find details on Equestrian Hub