German 2013 World Cup Champion and double 2013 European silver medalist Helen Langehanenberg captured the CDI 5* Grand Prix class aboard Damon Hill NRW, but she was not on top of her game at her second show since the 2013 European Championships in August. The duo scored 76.915% to win the class but her ride was fraught with unusual mistakes.
With a barn full of competition horses, there is hardly ever a time for Helen to relax as he commutes from show to show each time with a lorry full of different horses. This contrasts with European Champion Charlotte Dujardin, who has a very light show schedule and can fully focuses on her one, top horse Valegro. Coming right of a third place with Rohjuwel in the 2013 Louisdor Cup Finals at the CDI Frankfurt five days ago, Langehanenberg trailered Damon Hill to Mechelen, Belgium, for the World Dressage Masters competition, which she won there last year.
Helen's 13-year old Westfalian stallion Damon Hill (by Donnerhall x Rubinstein) was fresh and fruity in the show ring, excelling with unlimited elasticism and athleticism in the passage and all three extended gaits. There was huge cross over in the half passes. The passage is bouncy and breath taking, but in the first piaffe Damon Hill struggled with the transition, taking too big a step out. The second piaffe-passage was more even in the rhythm. A few atypical mistakes crept into the text as soon as the canter started. There was a mistake in the two tempi changes and two issues in the one tempi's. The zig zag was well ridden but the stallion could stay more up in the bridle. Damon Hill took big strides in the small pirouettes. On the final centerline, Helen lost the passage with the horse stalling too early for the halt.
The judges' panel in Mechelen consisted of Fouarge, Withages, Baarup, Saleh and Van Daele and they disagreed on Helen's final score. She got a total of 76.915% but her marks ranged from 74.362% to 80.319%. “We had to work a little longer during the warm-up as it was a bit windy. The last line was my mistake, but I had a real good feeling in the passage and the half-passes,” Helen commented afterwards.
The same oscillation in scores occured with the second placed pair, Dutch Danielle Heijkoop and her 14-year old KWPN bred Siro (by Gribaldi x Hemmingway). She scored a solid 75.766% average but her marks ranged from 72.660% to a generous 77.129%. Heijkoop produced a very settled and controlled test in which the super rhythmical piaffe and passage were the highlights. Her tall black gelding, however, has quite a sour expression on his face and is consistently too tight in the neck, which could explain Withages' low score of 72.6%. Heijkoop rode a very clear medium trot, according to the requirements, but the extended trot was quite conservative. In the extended walk the horse could relax more over the back forwards-downwards. The zig zag was fantastic and the one tempi's straight as a die. The left prirouette was the better one. Heijkoop lost a few points by executing her final halt two meters before the marker.
"My Grand Prix debut was in the World Dressage Masters Youth Challenge in Munich in 2012," Heijkoop commented. "I’m really happy I was given the opportunity to start in Mechelen. Last year I could not come because Hans Peter Minderhoud and Edward Gal were competing here. It offers real good prize money and it is only a 2 hour drive from my home."
German Ulla Salzgeber and her 14-year old Rhinelander bred Herzruf's Erbe (by Herzruf x Caletto I) slotted in third with a fairly generous 74.362%. The combination has all the quality in store to be one of the world's top contenders, but in the Mechelen Grand Prix the ride lacked polishing. The chestnut was not immobile in the halt at entry. He seemed a bit impressed by his surroundings, which interrupted with the seamless flow of the test. There was quite some halt halting or loss of tempo on the short sides or in the corners, but most of the movements were high class. The half passes were big but there was some loss of the rhythm at the end of the left one. The extended trots were powerful, regular and ground covering. The horse could have dropped the neck more in the extended walk and he became crooked to the right in the collected walk. The same crookedness happened in the one tempi changes. Herzruf's Erbe achieves much sit in his piaffes and the passages are lightfooted, active and well collected but in Mechelen the transitions needed fine-tuning. The south German based rider got 74.362% with 75.319% as high score and 71.809% as low score.
Dutch Katja Gevers and her 13-year old KWPN bred Thriller (by Gribaldi x Amor - full brother to Edward Gal's former GP horse Sisther de Jeu) had a ride of a life time, on the other hand. The young duo was fresh and sharp with Thriller standing out with superb piaffe-passage work. The bay gelding has great rhythm and regularity and takes the weight much better on the hindquarters than Sisther ever did. The trot extensions were hurried though and the horse definitely needs to be more open in the throat latch throughout the test. They earned an international personal best score of 72.830%.
Swedish Patrik Kittel and the Oatley family's Swedish warmblood Toy Story (by Come Back II x Concorde) completed the top five with a 71.617% score. The big chunky bay performed nice trot extensions, a very regular passage and a powerful canter extension, but he does not sit in the piaffe even though the bay does his best at keeping a good rhythm with the last piaffe on the centerline being the best one. The gelding dropped the poll in the half passes and rein back and the overtrack in the extended walk was quite limited. The one tempi changes were good but in the two's one change behind was short.
Text and Photos © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction Allowed
Related Link
Scores 2013 CDI Mechelen