The 2016 German Dressage Championships at castle Wocklum in Balve, Germany, came to a close on Sunday 5 June 2016 with Dorothee Schneider surprisingly capturing the gold medal in the Kur to Music. The 2015 German Champion Kristina Sprehe won the silver on Desperados while Isabell Werth and Emilio earned bronze.
The 47-year old Dorothee Schneider, who is based at her family's yard Gestut St. Stephan in Framersheim, proved solid form the past year but her sudden rise to the top of the board came unexpected. Aboard Gabriele Kippert's 10-year old Hanoverian Showtime (by Sandro Hit x Rotspon) she scored a winning 86.725%for her freestyle, which she only rode for the second time.
"When I drove to the show I never expected that I would take home my first title at the German Championships," said an ecstatic Schneider. "I'm absolutely thrilled and impressive the way Showtime performed this weekend."
Kristina Bröring-Sprehe was unable to renew her title from 2015 but did end up going home with Grand Prix Special bronze and Kur silver. Aboard her 15-year old Hanoverian stallion Desperados (by De Niro x Wolkenstein II) she scored 86.075% for silver and was pleased with her achievements on the weekend. The pair performed to her violin dominated classsical music freestyle, which she last showed at the 2015 European Championships last August.
"I had a really good feeling (in the kur) and the mistakes in the two tempi changes were my fault," said Bröring-Sprehe.
Isabell Werth and her Rhinelander bred Emilio (by Ehrenpreis x Cacir AA) felt tough competition from 21-year old shooting star Sönke Rothenberger on the 9-year old Dutch warmblood Cosmo (by Van Gogh x Landjonker). The experienced team rider Werth had to pull out all the stops to keep Rothenberger at bay. With her final mark of 84.075%, Werth scored only 0.025% more than Rothenberger who finished on 84.050%. Both Emilio and Cosmo performed their first Grand Prix freestyle in their career.
"I'm happy that the youngest member of the A-squad was such a gentleman to leave the medal to me," Werth joked. "Emilio performed wonderfully." Sönke Rothenberger rode his first senior championships and was thrilled with his results. "My freestyle was only ready the day before and today everything worked out perfectly. I'm over the moon," said Sônke.
Judge at C for the freestyle, Katharina Wust, was enthused by the achievements of the German riders in Balve. "I've never experienced this. It was insane to see such world class horses here today." Team trainer Monica Theodorescu concurred, "it was sensational to see what performances the top placed pairs produced. But also the other horses were impressive. Because they stayed under 80% doesn't mean they were bad. On the contrary. All horses improved today."
Photos © Barbara Schnell
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