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2003
World Cup Dressage Finals
Christian Pläge and Regent, A Fresh Breeze
on the Scene
May 3, 2003
 In
one way, the 2003 World Cup Dressage Finals were once
again an event of which the ranking was highly predictible.
With the absence of the top Dutch combinations, the
World Cup Finals were a duel between German and American
dressage riders. Ulla Salzgeber fulfiled her steady
role of undisputed number 1 and McDonald proved to be
the best American dressage diva of the moment. One rider,
however, was the fresh breeze in the Scandinavium indoor
arena for the Finals in Goteborg, the Swiss Christian
Pläge riding the elegent Regent Scoring 68.20%
in the Grand Prix and 74.91% in the Kur, Pläge
and Regent finished on a 7th place, just behind the
strong pack of German and American riders.
Christian Pläge is a German native, but Swiss
citizen, and lives with his wife Birgit Wientzek-Pläge
in Rüti bei Büren, Switzerland, where the couple runs
a dressage stable. The 47-year old Pläge was born
in Dusseldorf, Germany, and has his equestrian roots
in eventing and show jumping. Slowly his focus shifted
to dressage and Pläge became the head trainer at
the Hessian State Stud in Dilburg in 1982. Plage travelled
to the U.S. and Australia for several training seminars
and was mostly known for being a proficient dressage
trainer instead of a competition rider.
 Coaching
riders such as Sven Rothenberger, Gonnelien Rothenberger-Gordijn
and Eva Senn, and training world famous mount such as
Gestion Silvano N, Heuriger, Sappalot, Nektar and Trakehner
stallion Maizauber, Christian Pläge decided to
put the spotlight on his own career in 2000. Riding
the 11-year old Danish warmblood Regent, Pläge
has probably discovored and trained the best horse in
his career so far. Regent is a bay gelding by Resident
out of Lise (by Lagano) and is born in 1992.
Images copyrighted: Dirk
Caremans
Related Link
Coverage of the 2003 World Cup
Dressage Finals
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