Words by Thomas Hartwig, and photos by Kiki Beelitz and Thomas Hartwig
For a German author who has strong relations with German breeding, the German horse sport and also to the German national federation (Thomas was for many years the FN press officer) it is not so easy to write an absolutely objective article about the Federal Championships of Young Horses, the most important event for breeding and the sport with young horses in the year, for international readers. On the one side there is the wish to give an impression of the great number of wonderful young horses especially in the discipline of dressage, and on the other side, there is the duty of a journalist to be objective and to tell also things which were not so wonderful…
First it should be mentioned that this year we could see two innovations in the 40 year old tradition of the Federal Championships called in German Bundeschampionate. This year on all warming up arenas for dressage and the three and four-year-old classes of the riding horses, we could see automatic camera systems which documented all riders and horses about the whole time. This system – remembering on “Big brother is watching you” – was the result of the great discussion in Germany about the right kind of warm up for young horses in the last years.
You can have two very ambivalent interpretations to this innovation. On the one side it shows that the National Federation is trying everything in the matters of animal protection, but on the other side there is the feeling that the Federation doesn’t have total confidence in their riders and their stewards.
The other innovation was much more interesting. With the support of an APP for smartphones, the spectators had the chance on the last two days of the championships to evaluate the horses like the judges. This was interesting because the results of the spectator judging were published like the scores of the judges. In the first day nearly all spectator scores were clearly less than of the judges. In the second day a lot of spectator scores were higher than the scores of the judges – but on both days the scores of the judges and the scores of the spectators, had mostly only a small difference. Perhaps proof that judges and spectators can see the same things in different ways and come nonetheless to similar results. But now we should come to the real sport.
In the class of the six-year-old dressage horses, the first qualification on Wednesday saw a competition and especially a judging, which could not satisfy riders, spectators and perhaps also not the judges. Looking to the scores of the different horses it was impossible to guess what the judges wanted to see. After the competition there were a lot of discussions between the involved persons. But from the next day on, the judging was much better and in the final competitions on Saturday and Sunday, it was excellent.
The six year old horses – A normal year´s issue?
In the final for the six-year-old horses on Saturday, an unbiased observer could come to the result that this was a normal (when a German says ‘normal’ they really mean something rather like we would say, ‘a bit ordinary’) year´s issue, because only a few horses could give a great feeling to the spectators. But don´t forget that the horses had to perform the same dressage test as the horses in the final of the World Championship four weeks ago in Ermelo. And this test really is a great challenge for a six-year-old horse. Everyone who has to do with the schooling of young horses, knows that the learning of the collection, of the half pass and especially of correct flying changes, is a demanding job for horses at this age, so it is easy to go wrong in assessing this class. A horse which had no problems was the winner of the final, the mare Deluxe. The daughter of Don Primus and Wolkentanz II made a perfect job under the saddle of Laura Blackert. Perhaps one advantage of the Rhineland mare was her experience of the last year when she was in the final of the five-year-olds in 18th place.
Winner of the six year old class: Deluxe and Laura Blackert
The dressage arena in Warendorf, with its stands and the tense atmosphere is sometimes similar to a little cauldron for the young horses. But Deluxe, who made a much more mature impression than last year, had no problems with this. For the really impressive trot, the judges gave her a 9.5, and also for the general impression. 9.0 for the canter and the submissiveness. Only the walk with the 8.0 was a little bit under the level of the other scores. A highlight were the flying changes of Deluxe. The international official judge Dr Dietrich Plewa who was, after the retirement of Christoph Hess, the new commentator in the dressage arena, was full of praise for the flying changes, but also for the trot of the mare. With a total result of 9.0 Deluxe was a justified winner of the final.
The new vice-champion was also the vice-champion of the five-year-old class last year. To view, the Trakehner gelding Goldmond (Imperio/Latimer), gave the same pleasure as the winner. With his rider, Birgit Hild, convinced with a perfect combination of suppleness and dynamic. The walk with the score 9.5 and the flying changes were the highlights. The total result was a score of 8.8.
The very nice presentation of the Trakehner Goldmond by Birgit Hild
Like the winner Laura Blackert, Birgit Hild was a prime example of a sensitive kind of riding and a great correctness in her seat. Perhaps reasons why the two horses made a very harmonic impression.
The Oldenburger stallion Sonnenschein with Nicole Wego in the saddle made the third place, with the little handicap that they started first of the 18 horses in the final. In comparison to Deluxe and Goldmond, the son of Sir Donnerhall II, was in the first view not so impressive in his gaits, but it seemed that this horse will have a good future because of his good riding characteristics. The total result of Sonnenschein was 8.4. In the walk, he got with 9.0 his highest score.
The third placed Sonnenschein needs a little bit too much help from the rider
Not only in the final, but throughout the competition it was clear to see that the judges looked very carefully to the walk of the horses. Horses with problems in this gait were filtered out mercilessly in the qualifications in the days before. This led to some tough decisions, but was absolutely right. Unlike some other countries, it seems that in Germany the judges remember that the walk has the same importance for any good horse – not only a dressage horse – as trot and canter.
The five year old horses – A hippological delight
Unlike the final of the six-year-old horses on Saturday, which featured some normal and average presentations, the final of the five-year-old horses on Sunday afternoon was a hippological delight, not only for spectators who were first time visitors to the federal championships, but also for long time viewers.
He was the right winner in the five year old class: Lordswood Dancing Diamond with Anne-Kathrin Pohlmeier
A great number of fantastic, and in the sense of the principles of riding, very correctly presented horses with sensitive riders, made the visitors happy and provoked the judges to first-rate performance. Proof of this statement was the fact that the first and the second starting horse in the competition of 19 candidates got the highest and the second highest scores. Only very good judges are able to find in this circumstance, the right winner and the second best right at the start.
The worthy winner of this class was the Hanoverian gelding Lordswood Dancing Diamond (Dancier/Wolkenstein ll), with Anne-Kathrin Pohlmeier, who were second to go in the competition. In 2014 and 2015, he won the silver medals in the three and the four-year-old classes of the riding horses in Warendorf. At the World Championships of the young dressage horses in Ermelo some weeks before, the gelding had a perfect start with third place in the first qualification, but in the final the atmosphere in the dressage arena was too much for him. Thankfully, at the final in Warendorf, his nerve held. Also Anne-Kathrin made a wonderful job with a sensitive kind of riding.
Third place was given to the stallion Nymphenburg´s Ampère with Tessa Frank
Commentator Dietrich Plewa observed: “This was an enthusiastic competition and a grand lesson in the art of correct riding.” Indeed the horse was in a perfect balance between power, dynamic, and submissiveness. For his future perspective and general impression, Dancing Diamond got the only 10.0 of the whole competition. For the trot and the walk he got 9.5 and only the walk with 8.5, was a little lower evaluated. He won with the total score of 9.3 for the championship.
As the first starter, the Holsteiner Champagner opened the competition with the second highest scores. The stallion – a son of Catoo from a mare of Aljano – was presented by Claudia Rüscher, one of the more experienced riders of young horses in the show. For trot, canter, submissiveness and general impression, Champagner, who is owned by Claudia’s family, got a 9.0 and for the walk 8.0. With the total result of 8.8, Champagner incarnated with his elastic, his dynamic, and his harmonic – the prototype of a dressage horse. The family Rüscher Konermann, which has a small but very successful stallion station in Westphalia, can be happy to own a stallion like him.
Third place was given to the stallion Nymphenburg´s Ampère with Tessa Frank. After the first qualification on Wednesday, where he finished in second place, the really impressive Hanoverian son of Ampère and a mare from Weltruhm, was considered one of the favorites for the final. Perhaps on Sunday a little bit more than third place could be possible, but some small mistakes reduced the scores. Trot, canter and general impression were graded with 9.0 so his final result was a score of 8.7.
Belucci beautifully shown by Kira Wulferding
An absolute noteworthy horse was the stallion Belucci W OLD, which was ridden very nicely by Kira Wulferding. His breeder and owner Wolfram Wittig can be happy to have bred such a fine horse. For more than three quarters of the competition, Belucci looked like a medalist, especially because Kira presented him very harmonic, but also in a powerful way. But in the last rounds, he lost for some seconds, a little bit the concentration. In a group with such good horses, he was unlucky to get no medal.
With the class of the five-year-old dressage horses, the German breeding scene can be happy, because the chance is very high that we will see a lot of the competitors later on again, at great shows, and perhaps international championships.
In the end some words for the friends of breeding statistics. The father of Lordswood Dancing Diamond, Dancier, presented over the whole Federal Championships a lot of very interesting horses. The 13-year-old son of De Niro, who is owned by the Lower Saxony state stud in Celle, is profiling more and more as a producer of above average dressage horses.
Also one other really great German sire should be mentioned in the connection of the Federal Championships 2016. Florestan I, who died in 2012, had no actual champions this year in Warendorf, but more than 100 competing horses at the show had this famous sire in their ancestry. It is doubly remarkable that his progeny were not only to found in dressage and the classes for the three and four-year-old horses, but also in show jumping, eventing and driving.