What's Happening in the Dressage World?

November 2007

The ride on the double Bundeschampion pony Voyager (Vivaldi x Night Power) has been given to Viktoria Braun. In 2006, Voyager became the Bundeschampion in dressage and eventing under Helena Camp, an unprecedented accomplishment in the history of the German Young Horse Championships. In 2007, Voyager went to Spain, through the negotiation of German pony dominatrix Connie Endres, as the dressage pony of Morgan Barbacon Mestres. The combination was not able to shine and Voyager returned to Rhineland to find a new partner in Vici Braun, who previously competed on Dartagnon and the Bundeschampionate finallist Dein Freund (pictured) and Concierge W. Braun is trained by Stefanie Meyer-Biss and Voyager is owned by Christian Richter, who has the pony up for stud. The Spanish pony team rider Alexandra Barbacon Mestres has leased Sanneke Rothenberger's palomino FEI pony Domino Dancing for the 2008 show season.

The 2007 Bundeschampionate finallist MacDuncan has been sold to the Meulendijks family in The Netherlands. The chestnut Don't Worry x Dornik B offspring was gelded in Germany and then sold to Meulendijks via judge Jan Peeters. Under Annabel Frenzen, he placed 10th in the finals of the 6-year old division at the Bundeschampionate. MacDuncan will be Anne Meulendijks third FEI pony. She is also competing Basalt and Silke.

The 3-year old licensed KWPN stallion Ziesto (by Lancet x Clavecimbel x Vanitas) has been partly sold to Bartels Academy in Hooge Mierde, The Netherlands. Owners Jacques Maree and Tim Coomans sold a share to Bartels to guarantee that the stallion will be ridden by Imke Schellekens-Bartels in the future. Currently, Gerdine Maree will be training the bay colt. Ziesto is bred by Mr. A de Jong.

Changes have been made to the Dutch A and B teams. FEI pony rider Danielle Houtvast got submitted into the Dutch pony A-team after her wonderful performance at the international pony competition in Beek. Houtvast was the best Dutch performing combination of the show. Following her two victories at the CDI Oldenburg, Coby van Baalen and her black Dutch bred gelding Ojay (by Jazz x Formateur) got submitted into the Grand Prix B-team.

The 70-day stallion performance testing in Schliekau, Germany, has been won by the Holsteiner De Chirico (by Dolany-, who scored 133 points for dressage and 122 for show jumping (total 134 pts). The reserve champion was the black Hanoverian stallion Hampton (by His Highness). Doug and Louise Leatherdale's Hampton scored 132 points (133 for dressage, 116 for show jumping). The highest score for dressage was achieved by the fourth placed stallion San Amour (by Sandro Hit). He got 135 pts for dressage.

Classical dressage master Alfred Knopfhart passed away on November 15, 2007, in a tragic car accident. The 80-year old was an internationally renowned trainer, coach, judge and author of, for instance, "Fundamentals of Dressage" and "Dressage - A Guidebook For The Road To Success." 82-year old Ludolf von Veltheim also tragically died in a car accident. Von Veltheim was the president of the Hanoverian Riding Federation for 26 years and worked for twenty years on the German Olympic show jumping selection committee. As of 1993, he was on the board of directors of the German Equestrian Federation.

At an FEI meeting in Dubai, the Dressage Committee decided upon allocating the 2009 European Young Riders Championships Dressage to The Netherlands. They will take place at the headquarters of the Dutch Equestrian Federation in Ermelo. The date still has to be determined.

Dutch gold medal winning team rider Laurens van Lieren will get his own reality show on television. A crew of camera men will be following Van Lieren on the road to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. Only three spots are available on each team, so it will be a battle to obtain a berth. Van Lieren will also be looking for a new talented rider all across The Netherlands. The rider will get one year free lessons from Laurens at his employer's Stable Zegwaard.

There are only a few days left to nominate a groom for the 2007 Kuster British Equestrian Federation Groom Award. Do you know a dressage super groom working for a British rider? There are only a few days left to nominate them for this worthwhile award. This year the fantastic first prize is £1000 of holiday vouchers, plus the Smash Hit Bronze Trophy which the winner will get to keep for a year. The Runners-up will not go away empty handed either with a second prize of £300 and third prize of £200. New for 2007 there will also be “The Newcomer Award” to recognise the growing number of nominations for grooms who are new to the industry but already show exceptional dedication and commitment. This category will be open to any groom who has worked in the equestrian industry for a maximum of three years but has shown the potential to be a super groom! The winner of this award will win a unique print by artist Tim Nathan. Entry is easy; grooms can nominate themselves or they can be nominated by an employer, owner or friend. Nomination forms are available to download. Entries to be sent to: Kuster BEF Groom Award 2007, British Equestrian Federation, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 2RH. Alternatively they can be emailed to info@bef.co.uk.

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