The German young riders team was remarkably strong this year thanks to two incredibly talented riders, Fabienne Lütkemeier and Sanneke Rothenberger, with two amazing horses. The former won the Team Championships test aboard her 10-year old Hanoverian gelding D'Agostino (by De Niro x Shogun xx) scoring a massive 75.316 %, the latter placed second with a minimal point difference of 75.158 %.
Lutkemeier, who rode a young riders' world record score at the 2010 CDI Wiesbaden in May, was the last rider to go on Thursday and for her the skies seemed to clear as for the first time that afternoon it stopped raining. Everybody was eager to watch her test and see which level of greatness she was going to produce that day.
Lutkemeier's D'Agostino is born for dressage. The long legged, elegant liver chestnut is naturally uphill and has very elastic gaits. The trotwork was superb: swinging, with a constant rhythm and always engaged from behind. In the left shoulder in the horse was overbent, but the half passes and extensions were awe-inspiring. The left pirouette was great, the right one had one bigger step in the exit. The extended walk was outstanding with a hindleg that reaches far under the body. In canter the horse has great self carriage but occasionally opens his mouth even though he stays uphill. D'Agostino showed delightful tempi changes and the extended canter was impressive.
Sanneke Rothenberger and her 9-year old Oldenburg gelding Deveraux OLD (by De Niro x Rohdiamant) excelled with powerful trot exercises, especially the traversal movements. The walk was very nice though in the collection in between the pirouettes the black gelding seemed to stiffen his gait a little bit. The extended walk had great overtrack. In canter the Oldenburg gets slightly stronger in the hand and shows off a bit more body tension. This became fairly visible in the extended canter in which he could engage more uphill and through the body. The canter pirouettes had much sit and collection and the tempi changes were flawless.
With two 75% scores Germany easily grabbed the team gold medal, especially considering that the other two riders both finished fifth with 71.895%. It was hard to beat Germany's total score of 222.369%. The Netherlands followed in silver medal position with 213.157 % whereas Denmark got bronze with 206.948 %
The highest scoring Dutch rider was Coby van Baalen's student Danielle van Mierlo on the powerhouse Ucento (by Metall x Allegro). The black KWPN stallion moved with much power and expression. In trot he showed great self carriage and was very consistent in the contact with the bit. The trot extensions looked a little bit too much rushed forwards. The walk was very well regulated in its rhythm. In canter Van Mierlo rode great pirouettes and correct tempi changes, though Ucento slightly lost the uphill tendency in the ones every three strides. The extended canter was superb and the big black horse propelled himself forward with much groundcover and scope. The duo achieved 72.105 % and ranked ahead of team mate Angela Krooswijk.
2010 Dutch young rider champion Krooswijk saddled Revino, an eye-catching 14-year old Oldenburg gelding by Rohdiamant x Contender. The bay gelding stood out with his elegant trot and ground covering extensions. The extended walk could have been more convincing in its 4-beat rhythm. The canter pirouettes were super and the tempi changes went smoothly, though Revino slightly nodded his head behind the vertical throughout the test. The combination received 71.947 % from the panel of judges, which consisted of Summanen (FIN), Baarup (DEN), Swenden-Joly (BEL), Kogan (RUS), and Wüst (GER).
The best Danish rider was Camilla Orloff with Utah (69.474%), who competed on Wednesday. Anna Kasprzak and Blue Hors Future Cup (by Florestan) rode on Thursday and were the second highest ranked Danes on 9th place with 69.000 %. The bay licensed stallion broke into canter in the first extended trot, had a slight error in the rhythm in the second one and tilted his head in the left shoulder in. The canter work lifted the score back up thanks to super flying changes.
The Swedish team landed fourth place in the nations' cup and had to rely on Jan Brink's student Sara Henriette Bergstrom Kallstrom for their team high score. Aboard Diezel (by De Niro x Uttini), Bergstrom placed eleventh. The trot work was extremely forward (collected trot was medium trot almost) but there was much swing in it. The chestnut gelding was tense in the extended walk and piaffed in the strike-off to canter. A mistake in the 4-tempi's further reduced the score to 68.526 %. Mistake free, this blond Swede would have been over the 70% barrier.
View complete scores here
Text and Photos © Astrid Appels
Back to the 2010 EJYRC index