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2007 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses
Blind Date Wins the 5-year old Qualification Class
at the WCYH Verden
August 2, 2007
 Brigitte
Wittig and the Hanoverian mare Blind Date won
the 5-year old qualification class at the 2007
World Championships for Young Dressage Horses
in Verden, Germany, on August 2, 2007. The chestnut
mare scored an overall mark of 9.10 and led a
field of 37 five-year olds that are competing
at the Championships this year.
Everyone was praying for lovely summer weather
and while it stayed dry for a short while in
the morning, almost all competitors had to suffer
misty rain during their ride. Once again, the
WCYH show ring has been relocated back to the
center of the Verden show grounds as the WCYH
competition had to give up its beautiful stadium
for the CSI show jumpers. Bad weather and a lackluster
show ring did not damper the spirits of the crowds,
which flocked together in the big white hospitality
tent, and in general many lovely horses presented
themselves in the ring. One peculiarity stood
out this year in the 5-year old division and
that was "Girl Power". 16 of 38 horses
were mares and of the eight top placed horses,
which received a ribbon in the award ceremony,
five were mares! |
 It
was Blind Date, however, who took highest honours.
Bred by Margret Klare and owned by Wolfram Wittig,
this chestnut mare (by Breitling x Donnerhall)
excelled in her rideability and three outstanding
basic gaits. Her trot work was light, engaged and
well suspended, though the mare could have had
moved a bit more freely from the shoulder. The
walk was delightfully relaxed and ground covering
and canter showed fantastic suspension and power
but the hind leg could have flexed some more in
the hock. Especially the light, steady contact
with the bit was praise worthy in this combination.
The judges rightfully awarded her 8.60 for the
trot, 9.20 for the walk, 8.80 for the canter, 9.50
for suppleness and submissiveness and 9.40 for
overall impression. This totaled an average of
9.1 which deservedly earned her the victory. |
 Placing
second was the Westfalian bred mare Cayenne W.
Bred by Mr Wittig and Mr Tiemann, owned by the
Japanese Akemi Tanaka and ridden by the British
Susan Pape, this mare is by Carabas x Bismarck.
Her highlight gait was without a doubt the walk
for which she scored an undervalued 8.4. In the
trot, the mare showed much lightfootedness, self
carriage and engagement. Pape had a lovely light,
steady contact with the bit and especially when
the reins were lengthened in the rising trot, the
mare gave a very relaxed and balanced impression.
She scored 8.0 for her trot. The canter was nice
with a good hind leg but could have been jumped
rounder over the back. The 8.6 canter score might
have been a bit generous, but the judges were right
in awarded her 8.8 for suppleness and 9.0 for overall
impression. Their total mark was 8.56. |
 Third
place went to the Oldenburg stallion Revanche de
Rubin. Second to go in the ring, this bay stallion
by Rubin Royal x Landadel was generously marked
even though he is a lovely dressage horse. Ridden
by Juliane Brunkhorst, the stallion has a lovely
silhouette and is naturally uphill. He showed good
extensions in trot and canter. In the extended
walk he could have covered more ground and especially
in canter, he should have jumped more over the
back. The judges were generous in scoring the horse's
canter 8.8 but were quite on the dot with their
other marks. Brunkhorst and Revanche (named "revenge" by
his breeder Harli Seifert because the horse was
not licensed as a stallion) placed third with 8.42. |
 A
mare which should have placed much higher --
let's say second behind Blind Date because she
made one mistake in her test-- was the Danish
warmblood beauty Polka Hit Nexen, by Sandro Hit
x Templewind xx. This highly noble, refined mare
was one of the sensations of Verden. This bambi-beauty
has long legs and moves like a model on the catwalk:
elevated, active, lightfooted. A small spook
in the serpentine put some tension in the rider
but Dorthe Sjobeck Hoeck kept everything well
under control. The walk was world class, loose,
relaxed, ground covering and in a clear four
beat rhythm. The canter work was uphill and active.
The contact with the bit could have been a bit
more steadier, but in general Polka Hit was absolutely
one of the stars of the class. The judges gave
a very meager 7.9 for the trot, and then 8.7
for the walk, 8.2 for the canter, 7.8 for submissiveness
and 8.2 for overall impression. The total mark
was 8.16. Polka Hit's owner Berit Nielsen was
hunted down on the show grounds by all the big
German (and international) horse dealers who
were interested in selling her mare. However,
Nielsen's replay was a clear "nej, not for
sale."
|
 The
best placing Dutch warmblood horse was the KWPN
and Oldenburg licensed stallion Johnson (by Jazz
x Flemmingh). Under Hans Peter Minderhoud this
quality horse showed some lovely gaits, but the
ride was not entirely smooth. The rider's aids
were often rough and the horse was put under much
pressure to excel in his movements, which led to
an inconstant contact with the bit. Johnson, who
is a former KWPN licensing champion, regularly
went behind the vertical. The bay stallion does
move with much expression and his trot is engaged
with much push. The first diagonal in walk showed
little overtrack but it improved slightly on the
second diagonal with two hooves overstep though
the head of the horse was unsteady. The canter
work was decent but not brilliant and the 9.0 score
for the canter had to compensate the 6.8 mark for
the walk. The trot earned an 8.2 and the overall
mark was 8.08. |
 The
sixth place was obtained by the French rider
Jessica Michel with the black Oldenburg mare
Noble Dream (Caprimond x Donnerhall). Bred by
Claus Fenske and owned by Mrs Dallara, the black
mare is not a beauty queen because of her slightly
croup high top line, but she is an elegant ladies
horse which is soft in the mouth and moves with
good balance. The walk was nicely relaxed with
two hooves overtrack and the working canter was
a bit stocky (Caprimond like) but in the extended
canter she moved with more engagement and expression.
The lightness and naturalness of this combination
earned them a 8.04 total score.
Text and photos copyrighted: Astrid Appels/Eurodressage
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