Petra Middelberg On Form at the 2014 CDI Roosendaal Indoor

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2014 CDI Roosendaal Indoor

German young rider Petra Middelberg rode her final international young riders competition with great success in the Christmas deorated hall at the 2014 CDI Roosendaal Indoor on 4 - 7 December 2014. Middelberg and her 9-year old stallion Barclay were in top form winning two out of three classes.

Third in the team test with 70% Petra went on to win the Young Rider individual test and kur to music with 73.632% and 75.750%. She felt that in a tough field her horse really produced his best.

"You could see many great horses and good riders there, so it was a delight to go so well against good competition," Middelberg told Eurodressage.

In a field of about 16 international young riders pairs, Petra and Barclay stood their own. The rider is extremely happy to be working with her chestnut stallion, which she and her coach discovered in Hemmoor, Germany.

“Barclay is really very sweet natured, and not very stallion like, it’s only at the show he sometimes shows his macho side," said Petra about her Belissimo x Prestige pilot offspring. "However, in the test he is fully focused again and will always give his best. We discovered him at the Pape stallion station and my trainer Oliver Oelrich said immediately that we wanted him."

Moving into the Under 25 division next year, Petra will train diligently towards her goal of competing in the 2015 Piaff Forderpreis show circuit for German U25 riders. First she'll have to impress a selection panel at the end of January in Warendorf, where the Piaff Forderpreis selection trial takes place.

“I am also completing an apprenticeship as a clerk in the media FNverlag (publishing company of the German Equestrian Federation) in Warendorf," said Petra. "I do not think that I will make riding my profession, but it's a part of me and I think that I will ride as long as I can sit on the horse."

by Sarah Warne - Photo © Astrid Appels