Isabell Werth on Apache

Groom Anna rewards Apache with pieces of carrot

"I'm not giving away any secrets when I say that the last two shows haven't been so great for me and Elvis", said Nadine Capellmann, who fell victim to technical difficulties in Frankfurt but had also had trouble with Elvis' inconsistency in both Stuttgart and Frankfurt. "We wanted to show in Muenster that this isn't a lasting problem, and we succeeded. Saturday's Grand Prix was the best I've ever ridden with that horse, I think. The Pi-Pa-tour has been our big obstacle, and we've put that behind us." After an indeed superb Grand Prix, which the pair won with over 76%, they also dominated the Special despite an obvious mistake in the flying changes between the two pirouettes. "My mistake", apologized Nadine. "I didn't collect him enough after the first pirouette, and he just didn't know what to do." Still, again, the trot and Pi-Pa-tour had been grand enough to make up for that. Coach Holger Schmezer also expressed his relief at this boost for the rider's self confidence.

Photo Right: Nadine had brought her impressive, but still nameless black mare to ride at the price-giving ceremonies. She's planning to gently start showing the horse this year.

A rare sight in public: Klaus Balkenhol on horse back. Klaus is riding Dablino, the young Hanoverian that competed at the 2006 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses under Holga Finken. The horse is now being ridden by Annabel Balkenhol.

After Dablino (the horse her father is riding on the other picture to help him get used to event surroundings) completely let her down on Thursday, Easy made it very easy for Annabel Balkenhol in the Grand Prix. The pair presented a lovely, light-footed (and handed) round and qualified for the Special.  

The ubiquitous Wittigs -- in addition to coaching Isabell, Wolfram had horses in both Grand Prix tours, Brigitte in the Special tour  

Susanne Lebek and Healey's Beluga won the Special last year, placed third this year.
 

After Zancor had trouble with the bit in the Grand Prix and failed to qualify for the Special, Anna-Katharina Luettgen tried again on Duvalier -- and placed second in both tests of the freestyle tour.  

Petra Wilm is the only woman in the Trakehner licensing commission. Aboard the Polish-bred Rosenstrauss (pictured) she became Schleswig Holstein's dressage champion last September.  

Matthias Alexander Rath won second place in the Special and more than made up for his mistakes in Frankfurt. At the press conference, the first thing he did was thank his horse for his highly sucessful first Grand Prix season. 

Hubertus Schmidt and the Hanoverian gelding Andretti, a new pair, that showed beautiful piaffes 

They made a smooth transition from the Junior to the YR camp: Verena van der Linde won the preliminary test for the "Preis der Zukunft" aboard Mitchell and placed second in the freestyle. 

Hubertus Schmidt and his own Westfalian gelding Forest Gump NRW (by Florestan) dominated the Freestyle tour.