2005 World Cup Finals

World Cup Inventor Joep Bartels Moving On

April 24, 2005

The 2005 World Cup Finals in Las Vegas were a highlight this equestrian year and will probably go down in books as one of the most fun FEI events ever. With 12,000 endorphined, high enthusiastic Americans in the stands and Las Vegas Events, a show organizer who knows little about horses, but much about how to blow the roof off a stadium, the 2005 World Cup Finals were perfect cocktail of pure entertainment and top sport.

Walking around the Grand Concourse of the Thomas & Mack Arena was Dutchman Joep Bartels who can be very proud of his creation, the Dressage World Cup. At the 2004 World Cup Finals in Dusseldorf, he turned over the actual event to others, in order to concentrate on another aspects of the horse world, education.

"We have new generations of people interested in horses, and many come from an urban background, or a background of no horses. The horse sport must become more global, and there must be a way for people to come into contact with and learn more about horses," Bartels told Eurodressage reporter Lita Dove. Bartels added that he sees horses, and the human love for them, "as a bridge between nature and the urban world."

So he will concentrate on his family training facility, the Horse Academy in Hooge Mierde, The Netherlands, putting together some new events like the Horse Event September 16-18, 2005, and the now well-established Global Dressage Forum. The next Forum will feature, among others, George and Monica Theodorescu to represent the long tradition of classical dressage training, bio mechanics expert Hilary Clayton, and possibly Kyra Kyrklund. "And a few surprises," he promised.

Text by Lita Dove and Astrid Appels
Photo copyrighted: Dirk Caremans

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