WELLINGTON, Florida, Jan. 26, 2024–Felicitas Hendricks rode her Drombush to victory in the Global Dressage Festival CDI4*Grand Prix Freestyle under lights Friday night, the fourth straight win for the 23-year-old German rider and her equine partner in four starts on this year’s winter circuit.
Felicitas and the 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding scored 78.790% for the musical performance before almost a full show grounds.
“It was so much fun,” she said. “When I heard that people started clapping, that’s exactly what I want to achieve with my music. I want to have good vibes and like a kind of party in the house and I’m so happy that we achieved that.
“Even though we had some small miscommunications… I’m so happy with my horse because I think we had a lot of highlights; the highlights were definitely much brighter than the lowlights,” Felicitas said of she and Dromusch that were the 2023 European Under-25 Championships gold medal pair.
Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén, Sweden’s seven-time Olympian, provided another Freestyle highlight, a revival of her “It’s Broadway,” popularly known as “Puttin’ on the Ritz” from 12 years ago. Tinne and the 15-year-old Holsteiner gelding Devanto scored 77.110% for runner-up in the first performance of the new version of the Cees Slings’ composition that he initially wrote for her ride on Favourit 12 years ago.
Fellow Swede Caroline Darcourt on the 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding Lord Django was third on 76.890%.
Felicitas said she and her mother who is also in Wellington, picked the music that she used to dance to in the disco. She and Christoph Koschel, her coach and uncle, produced the floor plan that has a high degree of difficulty “because Drombush can still make it look pretty easy.”
Results:
| Rank | Competitor | Score | E | H | C | M | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Felicitas Hendricks (GER)
Drombusch OLD
|
78.790% | 79.000 | 77.900 | 79.500 | 78.225 | 79.325 |
| 2. |
Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén (SWE)
Devanto
|
77.110% | 75.475 | 76.300 | 80.225 | 76.750 | 76.800 |
| 3. |
Caroline Darcourt (SWE)
Lord Django
|
76.890% | 76.525 | 74.775 | 78.000 | 77.375 | 77.775 |
| 4. |
Jan Ebeling (USA)
Jubi’s Tenacity
|
75.400% | 75.675 | 76.650 | 75.825 | 73.025 | 75.825 |
| 5. |
Hope Cooper (USA)
Flynn PCH
|
72.375% | 69.725 | 71.650 | 73.525 | 72.950 | 74.025 |
| 6. |
Mikala Münter (USA)
Skyfall
|
69.615% | 70.375 | 69.950 | 67.775 | 68.200 | 71.775 |
| 7. |
Monica Burssens (MEX)
Elfentanz
|
67.755% | 66.575 | 65.975 | 67.250 | 68.125 | 70.850 |
| 8. |
Micaela Mabragana (ARG)
Bradley Cooper
|
65.905% | 67.300 | 66.225 | 64.525 | 64.575 | 66.900 |
| 9. |
Evi Strasser (CAN)
Disney Tyme
|
65.525% | 65.325 | 66.850 | 64.925 | 65.475 | 65.050 |
 Find details on Equestrian Hub |
