Adelinde Cornelissen and her 14-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Parzival (by Jazz x Ulft) bagged the Grand Prix win at the 2011 World Cup Finals in Leipzig, Germany, on Thursday evening 28 April 2011. While Cornelissen fulfilled all expectations by achieving the winning score of 80.957% after a virtually flawless ride, the big thrill of the day was Nathalie zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein finishing as runner up with a personal record score of 76.884%.
Adelinde's test was a bit rocky at the start with some heavy half-halting in the corner at K after the first extended trot, but the pair soon after found their stride and showed great trot half passes and rhyhtmical piaffe-passage work. The passage could have had more understep as the chestnut gelding tending to pull his hocks high. This also caused him to slightly lose his balance in the second piaffe but the quality was still high. The pair's level of riding only rose in canter with superb pirouettes and fantastic one tempi changes in which the horse just skips like a young schoolboy coming home from school. The duo posted a score of 80.957%. Judge Rockwell had an even brighter mark in store for them (84.6812%) but the Danish Tornblad was more reserved and on the dot with his 79.043%.
"He felt great and was good," Cornelissen commented at the press conference. "He’s getting more and more relaxed at the time. Last year he could still be spooky and scared and afraid of things, now he likes to be in the arena. He goes for it." The young Dutch rider added that Parzival is 'in top shape" and that she "hopes to keep it up."
Stellar Ride by Danish Power Pair
The stellar ride of the day was produced by Danish Nathalie Zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein who finished second aboard her home bred Danish warmblood gelding Digby (by Donnerhall x Sandro). The 14-year dark bay gelding is known for his signature piaffe and passage, which are always off the ground, rhythmical and with the weight taken on the hindquarters, but also the horse's weaker sides showed major improvement today. The trot work was much more confident and the trot half passes were neatly executed despite some heavy tail-swooshing. The canter work was almost flawless and what really crosses the tees with this pair is the superb contact with the bit which is always soft and light.
"I’m rather speechless," Nathalie zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein said at the press conference. "If someone would have told me four years ago that I would get 76% I would have laughed." The Danish Princess praised the perseverence of her horse. "He really tries. It’s not been easy for him but he really tries his heart out," she admitted. Nathalie reported that she has been working on hard on consolidating the horse, making him stronger in all three basic gaits. "Already in Den Bosch he had a lot of expression in the trot, which he already expressed over the winter. He really started to give it to us. I can ask more and more. Here, I tried to repeat what I had in ’s Hertogenbosch."
Salzgeber Coming Close to 80%
Today Ulla Salzgeber showed that she has the highest scoring Grand Prix horse in Germany at the moment. Aboard her 12-year old Rhinelander branded Herzruf's Erbe (by Herzruf x Caletto I) the Bavaria based dressage rider showed off stunning trot work with breath taking half passes and brilliant piaffe-passage work. The chestnut gelding sits beautifully in piaffe and has super elasticity and bounce in the passage. The extended walk was excellent and half way through her test, Salzgeber was scoring 80% and almost beating Cornelissen. Unfortunately in canter the hand break seemed to have been on as the horse became overly collected and lost his brio. The canter extension was conservative and when a mistake happened in the one tempi's the scores plummeted down to a final 76.216%. The harmony between Salzgeber and "Herzi" was gorgeous nonetheless with lovely with the bit contact and it became obvious today that Salzgeber is definitely a pair to challenge the current dominators of dressage world or at least put himself in line with them: Parzival, Mistral Hojris, Totilas, Ravel.
The stands were filled to half capacity today for the Grand Prix, but the crowds had the enthusiasm of a sell out stadium. Regularly people already began to clap upon entry which generated a vibrant atmosphere. "There's a great atmosphere here," Ulla said. "It was very cute when they started to clap when the riders saluted. It was great to ride inside." Adelinde added that, "not all horses like it, but okay," while Zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein believes that it's “not always easy to get spectators, but we are catching them (with dressage)."
Judge at C, Ghislain Fouarge, was extremely pleased with the quality of riding today. "We saw fantastic sport today," the Dutchman said like all judges do at the press conference. "We had a clear winner and I was happy that this time there were no problems for her. She had so many in the past as we all know. Today it was a joy to look at. It also was Nathalie’s best test ever. Very harmonious. Then you had a group really close, you could easily change them. There were many young upcoming riders, such as Helen Langehanenberg. We as judges enjoyed it. I’m proud just like my colleagues"
Judging to a New Level
For the first time a championship was judged by a team of seven and with a Judging Supervisory Panel in place to correct possible mistakes. Two new positions were taken at the short side by A with the intentionof reducing the individual influence of each judge by adding two more judges to the ground jury. For five riders out of seventeen in total, two scores on their sheet differed round 5% which is considered problematic. This happened with Adelinde's test, as well as with Isabell Werth's, Hans Peter Minderhoud's, Jan Ebeling's and Catherine Haddad's.
When asked if the panel judged differently today than otherwise, Fouarge replied "we do our job like always. We had a good group today. It’s a bit strange to sit at a place where you have never judged before. It will be more difficult with the freestyle because all tests are built up towards C. I have not sat there yet and I’m not looking forward to Saturday, when I sit there. It will be strange to judge everything from behind."
Furthermore the first group of riders that went today scored significantly lower than the second group as several of the horses performed below par due to distractions and tension. "The first part was indeed not so exciting as the second one," Fouarge admitted. "Many horses in the first group had problems with the environment, like Edward’s horse. She was so tense. But there were more horses like that. Here we have dressage riders from all over the world, the level is not as high everywhere." FEI Dressage director Trond Asmyr did, however, stress that "there is a minimal qualification to start here. All riders had to have 68% twice in a freestyle to get here. Most of them have had better days. They have shown that they are at a high level. We are talking about horses, they are not motorbikes."
Asmyr also explained that the Judging Supervisory Panel changed four marks in total on all Grand Prix sheets. Those were one mark for four different rides. The riders and press will be notified which marks in which rides were altered but at the time of the press conference the details were not yet know. "It’s not confidential at all, but I don’t have the details just yet. The riders also get notice of the correction," Asmyr stated.
German Dominance in the Top Five
Germans Isabell Werth and Helen Langehanenberg completed the top five with 74.818% and 73.480% earning rides. Isabell Werth saddled her 17-year old Hanoverian gelding Satchmo (by Sao Paulo x Legat) who's always up for a high quality test. The mileage on this horse is definitely showing in his trailing hind legs in passage and the one tempi's and though the piaffes are decent they never were spectacular. Werth is always up for a challenge and aboard her obdient Satchmo the Rheinberg based rider proved she's an anchor for Germany. She rode the purest collected walk of all, the trot half passes were outstanding, the canter work was meticulous, and of course the contact with the bit is textbook!
Germany's young rising star Helen Langehanenberg opted to ride in Leipzig her most talented and highest scoring horse Damon Hill NRW instead of her previously announced mount Responsible OLD. The choice was a wise one as the liver chestnut stallion is a crowd favourite. Super trot extensions, beautiful sitting piaffe and the super extended walk were a pleasure for the eye. The 11-year old stallion still needs to gain more strength as he regularly goes behind the vertical and loses some uphill tendency or rhythm. If these issues are fixed in the future, her score of 73.48% today will definitely sky-rocket as well as their fame.
Text and Photos by Astrid Appels - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED
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