The Young Riders classes at the 2014 CDI-JYR Ryazan in Russia were quite a family affair with two half-brothers collecting the top two placings all weekend, and one clear winner in all three classes: Ekaterina Melnik, who topped both the team and individual tests by a 5% margin on the 13-year-old black Russian Warmblood stallion Indor (by Intrigan).
Melnik was the only rider to break the 70% barrier in the non-music classes and to score over 70% in the technical marks in the freestyle. Her horse outshone the rest of the field, with three virtually flawless tests, bar a final halt in the team test which was not square and a mistake in the three tempis in the individual test.
Their music freestyle, entitled ‘Faith’ and tailor-made for the combination by a friend, may not have had a particularly difficult choreography but everything looked exceptionally harmonious, with very uphill canter work, ground-covering flying changes and powerful extensions. The stallion has no real weaknesses, but his highlights are probably the stunning pirouettes, very small and expressive, as well as his temperament: he is always willing, focused on his rider and collaborative – belying the fact that this is a relatively recent combination, only ten months old.
The 19-year-old Ekaterina commented: “All three tests were quite easy for me; we started our outdoor season in Vidauban and Nice, and we had some problems there, because they were our first outdoor tests. Here, on the contrary, he was in super form, really with me, calm and happy. I love my music; I love the mood, and love riding to it: it makes me feel good.”
“This is a very good competition; the Club Victoria is a beautiful equestrian centre, with excellent stables and organization – all this is very important for us, because obviously we care for our horses,” continued the Moscow-based University student, who is reading sports management and trains with Elena Gilfer, with additional help from Inessa Merkulova.
The gorgeous stallion used to breed, but is concentrating on sport at the moment, although Ekaterina is always getting expressions of interest to have him standing again.
“Russian warmbloods tend to be very energetic and are always temperamental, but Indor always concentrates on me in the tests; he never does something bad, he doesn’t spook – he always fights for me and with me, and he is a real winner – he truly is a horse with a big heart. I’ve never had a horse like him before,” concluded the rider, who is aiming for the Europeans in Arezzo although “of course anything can happen with horses. We will keep working and training every day, doing everything we can to maintain his welfare and health.”
Second place in all three classes went to Elizaveta Belyaeva on another black Russian WB stallion, the 16-year-old Rubin, out of the same dam as Indor but by a different stallion, Barin, and previously produced by the same rider. Their freestyle, to contemporary pop music including Beyonce (for the canter work) and One Republic (walk and trot parts) had a very difficult floor pattern including flawless four tempis on a circle and three tempis on a curved line. It was the first time Elizaveta had ridden to this freestyle in competition, and she managed to produce a clean test despite the high degree of difficulty.
“I was really nervous that my trainer, Olga Soboleva, wouldn’t like the music, but she was happy with it. Phew! It was a good weekend but by the Sunday, Rubin was a little tired after competing on three consecutive days. He tried his best though, and I am really proud of him because we are able to compete against such strong horses and riders like Indor and Ekaterina. It can also be really difficult to compete against horses who are so much younger than Rubin,” said Elizaveta, who has had the stallion – who, like his half-brother, also used to breed but is now concentrating exclusively on sport – for three years.
Third place in the music went to Roman Pchelin on Diana Zakharova’s Latvian-bred Priator (by Peyzano), whose particularly effective and original western-inspired freestyle scored a fraction below 70% artistically to finish on 67.73% overall. The freestyle was actually prepared for a fun New Year fancy dress show, but worked so well for the horse that Roman decided to continue using it (minus cowboy costume, of course!).
“In the freestyle Priator was totally with me; we lunged him a little in the morning to encourage him to relax more, and it was indeed a better test than the previous days, without mistakes,” said Roman, who trains with his mother Tatiana. The 19-year-old, who, like Ekaterina and Elizaveta, is also studying sports management in Moscow, has only started competing internationally this year. They are now aiming for the University championships in Moscow.
In the individual test, the third place had gone to the only Belarussian rider in the section, Nastassia Kastsiuchenka on the Trakehner Oblepiha (by Hiramas), first of a handful of riders finishing on 65%. In the team test it had been Ekaterina Volonchunas on the big Rhinelander mare Louise La Belle (by Louis Le Bon) to finish behind the two black stallions, on the same score as Ekaterina Pavlenko on the Russian Hanoverian Aurora (by Aristey) but with higher collectives.
Text and Photos © Selene Scarsi for Eurodressage
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