2004 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses

Florencio Makes Crowd and Judges Go Wild

July 12, 2004

It has been five years in the history of the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses since the crowds and judges have gone this wild about a horse. In 1999, the black Sandro Hit made the audience faint in the stands with his beauty and elegance. This year the Westfalian stallion Florencio was the Don Juan of the Championships.

Though the black shiny star FBW French Kiss won the 6-year old class, it was the bay "elastique" Florencio who stole the heart of every single person that attended the show in Verden. Not one person at the show could mention a negative aspect of this drop dead gorgeous stallion.

Florencio convincingly won the first round with a 9.66 total, scoring 9.5 for walk and 9.8 for trot and canter. The Westfalian stallion was already check marked as the favorite for the title, but after his earthshaking first round, there was no doubt left that he would become the winner and produce a monster score in the Finals on Sunday.

Under Dutch rider Hans Peter Minderhoud, Florencio ran a breath taking final round in the big stadium in Verden. The crowds went absolute berserk when "Happie" and Florencio halted at X for his end salute. Cheering, clapping, stamping, whistling, the ruckus kept on going for minutes and minutes. Judge Jennie Loriston-Clarke, who did a wonderful job commenting after each test, said,"OK, we know you like this horse, we do too!"

Florencio and Hans Peter Minderhoud scored the highest marks every given to a combination at the World Championships for young horses combination. Loriston-Clarke explained it by saying, "this is a really exciting combination. We give him 10 for the canter because it's so uphill and with engagement. He gets a 9.7 for the trot and not a 10 because he was a bit too much bent to the left. The walk gets a 9.8 because it shows so much overtrack." Minderhoud and Florencio left the ring getting a standing ovation from the crowd and the additional "What a wonderful horse" from the judges.

Video Clip: Florencio

Text and photos copyrighted Astrid Appels/Eurodressage - No reproduction allowed!

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