As we took our place in the dressage arena grandstand for the first class at 9.30, our neighbours pulled out mini champagne bottles, popped the corks and toasted ‘Bundeschampionate 2007’ – it’s that kind of show.
And despite threatening grey clouds blanking out the blue sky every now and then, the rain never came and the day was perfect and sunny most of the time. What bliss – 60 or so of the world’s best five year old horses ridden by the world’s best dressage riders. And despite the class starting at 9.30 and not finishing until half past four, the attention never flagged. Here is the perfect opportunity to get your eye in.
Alas it would seem that the two judges were finding it hard to get their collective eye operating. You know those Wild West posters? Wanted Dead or Alive, with the pic of the desperado in the middle? Well it was as if the judges had a poster on the wall of their little huts: Wanted – In The Final – and a series of ‘faces’ of the usual suspects. Thus there were some nice tests with unknown riders who did not get good marks, nice tests from unknown riders who did get good marks, nice tests from famous riders who got good marks, and indifferent tests from famous riders, that got good marks. At the end of the day, the astonishingly well-informed local German spectators were not amused…
Last year they radically changed the format of the dressage classes at the Bundeschampionate. Instead of one big qualifier with the top 12 straight in to the final, followed by a small or kleine final, with the top 2 or 3 joining the others in the final, we now have a first round, this year with 57 entries, with the top 70% going into a second round. The bottom 30% go in a consolation round on the next day, with the winner, if he or she scores 8 or better, joining the top 70% in the second round on the third day, with the top 12 out of that second round into the final the day after that. The change has not been universally welcomed.
It is interesting that two of the best informed and most intelligent participants on the German young horse scene, Susanne Miesner and Ulf Möller, have totally opposing views on the new format. Susanne does not like it at all, pointing out that it is possible that a horse might have to compete four times – much too much of an ask, in her opinion, and further, that the second round has robbed the first qualifier of much of the drama and interest it had in the past, with spectators drifting in and out rather than riveted to their spot.
Ulf, who helped devise the new scheme, thinks it gives the judges a better chance to get it right. He argues that it is impossible when you are judging horse No.55 to precisely assess whether it was better or worse than horse No.5, seven plus hours ago – however the argument doesn’t really work when organizers use two different judges for the second round as they did this year. And to the suggestion that the new format results in the horses being over worked, he replies, what do you think they did when they qualified on Wednesday? Put the horse in the stable for a rest until the final on Saturday? He sees the new system as more horse friendly, with less pressure on the horses in the first round, a chance for them to get used to the atmosphere, and a better test of the rider’s ability to pace their horse and present it at its top in the final. Susanne hopes that the classes will revert to the old format after this Bundeschampionate, Ulf hopes that the new system will stay in place, although many others I spoke to hope that next year we will be back on the old system.
The day started brilliantly with Dorothee Schneider on Ibikon’s Rostropowitsch (Rockwell / Coriograf B) so lovely and flowing, the test so accurate and complete. 8.5.
Londontime
The next test to get the heart beating faster was from the chestnut Hanoverian stallion, Londontime (Londonderry / Walt Disney). He has such a super trot, when he lengthens there is absolutely no change in rhythm, and he proves you can have dramatic extended trots without the front leg waving way higher than the back as has become fashionable at the highest levels of recent years. Londontime’s front and back cannons are absolutely parallel. The canter is also wonderful while the walk is a worry. The score of 8.2 is a bit mean, although the rider, Wolfhard Witte, is no showman and doesn’t do much for the horse.
Insa Hansen is the most wonderful rider, but Rossano R (Rohdiamant / Weltmeyer) is a strangely built beast and you get the feeling that 8.3 is the first of the ‘face’ marks. Her colleague at PSI, Ulf Möller, riding Weitsicht (Welt Hit IO / Andrew) is another whose head seems to feature on the Wanted Poster. 8.4.
To underline the situation, Danish rider, Kristine Möller (no relation to Ulf, but my friend next to me swears that if she ever competes at Warendorf she will change her name to Möller-Klimke-Finken-Wittig) has the sweetest test on the cutest little black Trakehner, Zenith II (Monteverdi / Saint Cloud) for a miserable 7.1.
Bertoli W
Brigitte Wittig on Bertoli W (Breitling / Diego xx) is another face generously scored. 8.2.
Susan Pape is a known face, and her mare, Cayenne W (Carabas / Bismark) recently crowned World Young Horse Champion, is in line for an easy trip into the final, but she earns every point she gets. Sure there is a bit of a problem sustaining the halt, but once they get going the rhythm is absolutely perfect, the uberstreichen one of the few to actually break the contact (most just move their hands forward and up, keeping the contact the same). Cayenne might not be the most impressive horse standing still, but moving, she is poetry. Score 9.3.
Damsey
I love Damsey (Dressage Royal / Ritual) and have bred a mare to him, but I have seen him work better, and Inga von Heldorff is lucky to get the 8.4.
Dante
Ingrid Klimke’s Dante (Diamond Hit / Beach Boy) looks a bit under-done, but again there is an 8.3 and a ticket to the next round. Delon VR (Don Frederico / Lauries Crusador) is one of those horses with a very very short neck – if it gets any shorter, Holga Finken can forget the reins and just hang on to the snaffle rings – and the work is just so so. 8.2.
I saw the chestnut Trakehner stallion, Birkhofs Meraldik (Münchhausen / Caramel xx) at the big stallion show earlier this year, and loved him then. Watching him again working with Nicole Casper, I love him even more. So handsome, so cool, so rideable, and such a lovely mover. 8 is way mean.
Don Auriello
The next horse, Don Auriello (Don Davidoff / White Star) ridden by Birgit Welthausen-Henschke is all excitement, flashy but is that trot really correct? 8.7. It gets worse in the final when the judges give individual marks for each movement – in this round the trot is very artificial with the front legs much higher than the slow back legs, and yet the judges award an 9.5 for trot – it seems their excuse is that they knew they were going to give low marks for the rest of the work and wanted to be nice to the rider. Okay, give her ten for general impression, but we do not need to see artificial and manufactured trots rewarded at the Bundeschampionate – we see enough of that at Olympics and WEGs thank you.
Famaso (Fürst Heinrich / Aletto) is another wonderful horse, and Andrea Müller-Kersten is a supremely stylish and effective young rider. The 8.1 would have been 8.3 without an error of course…
The next horse, Famoso (Florestan / Damenstolz), Dorothee Schneider’s second ride, is also fabulous, particularly when the horse is asked to lengthen his neck in the trot. 8.1.
Fürst Khevenmüller
There are a number of brilliant young riders in Germany, but none better to watch than Helen Langehanenberg. Her liver chestnut gelding, Fürst Khevenhüller (Florestan / Rohdiamant) opens his test with the best, squarest, most sustained halt of the day and is off, so elegantly forward. There is also the best rein back of the day, but in between the super work there are a few little hiccups. They finish with another perfect halt. Score 9, and they have room to improve. One more test, and it is time to go home for the day… it looks as if 2007 will be a vintage year.
The five year old consolation round saw Eva Möller (Ulf’s wife) pick up a ticket for the second round of the 5 Year Olds on the black mare, Ronja M (Relevant / Weltmeyer) with an 8.3, pushing the State Stud stallion, Dancier (De Niro / Lancier) and Wolfhard Witte into second, they got their 8 score, but miss out on the second round. This is a big problem for Celle as they have heavily promoted the stallion!
Oh dear, there is nothing quite so unappetising as that half filled glass of yesterday’s champagne – all the bubbles and fizz are gone, and the Six Year Old Dressage first go round certainly lacks sparkle.
Samira on her way to setting the record for the highest scoring six year old EVER! Better than her dad, Sandro Hit even!
Pretender gives Stephanie Jansen such a lovely ride
The winner is Samira (Sandro Hit / Rockwell) ridden by Bärbel Förster-Henrich. From where I sat she had an artificial, out behind trot and a walk that tended to the lateral, even if the canter was fine. Still the crowd loves her, but I guess by now every second person sitting in the stand is the proud breeder of a Sandro Hit foal or two, or twenty…
Second place to Pretender, a very elegant son of Prince Thatch (out of a Weltmeyer mare), sympathetically ridden by Stephanie Jansen, with third to Rigamento (Riccione / Weltmeyer) and Dr Katja Weisbrod. At least this time the judges can’t be accused of handing the big scores to the names.
It was not a great class for the stallion keepers. Rascalino (Rotspon / Velten Third) is a wonderful horse but he is going worse and worse under the riding of Wolffhard Witte, score 7.9 – surely it’s time for Celle to look for a new jockey. And Susan Pape’s San Remo (Sandro Hit / Donnerhall) looked very under motivated for 7.8.
And did things get better in the Riding Horse Ring with the 4 year old stallions? Well no, in fact I didn’t see anything I would remotely consider putting over a mare. The winner, Rock Forever (Rockwell / Landstreicher), is a pretty enough horse, as was the second placed, Fürst Scheurenhof (Don Frederico / Weltmeyer) but pretty does not a stallion make.
Once again, on day three, it was the five year olds that brought the show alive.
Cayenne
Susan Pape rode Cayenne even better in the second round than the first, and even a little spook, as the mare came out of the halt towards C, could not spoil a round that was so light and rhythmic, the transitions so perfect and accurate, and the big crowd roared their approval as the 9.3 came up.
Still, Helen Langehanenberg and Fürst Khevenhüller are breathing down their necks coming into the final. They broke in trot right in front of C, made a hash of the turn on the hindquarters, and – more seriously – were slow behind in the extended trot. 8.8.
Birkhofs Meraldik
Third is Birkhofs Meraldik, tall, masculine, and yes, the trot is not so expressive, but the canter and the walk are wonderful. Beautifully ridden by Nicole Casper, they well deserved their 8.7.
Just behind them is the Celle stallion, Londontime. The horse really does have a fabulous trot and a wonderful canter. Pity about the walk. 8.6.
So the betting is still on Cayenne for the final, but one slip, and Fürst Khevenhüller will pounce.
If the four year old stallion class had been a disappointment, the three year old class is a delight, one of the real highlights of the show. In just the first group to show, we have already seen a couple of horses better than any in the four year old class. My theory is that it swaps each year. So this year the stallion owners will go home saying, wow, that was an ordinary class in the four year olds, next year I will enter a horse, while the three year old class looks so strong that next year, no one will dare enter and the standard will be low… until the next year.
Benetton
The winner, Benetton, has real stallion quality, big and masculine. He is by Brentano II and for a long time the hunt has been on for a really good Bolero line stallion – perhaps they have found one now. His dam is by Rotspon, and it looks to have been a very very good cross.
9.5 for walk, 9.5 for canter, 10 for walk (and every one deserved!), 9 for conformation and 9.5 for general appearance for a total score of 9.5.
Benetton’s mare line is more or less a history of modern Hanoverian breeding. His dam, Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood) is out of a mare by Davignon called Sleeping Beauty, who is turn is out of a mare by Weltmeyer, from a mare by Sender, out of a mare by Duktus, out of a mare by Duellant.
Zauberfürst
Second to the slightly over scored Trakehner, Zauberfürst (Interconti / Caprimond) ridden by the dashing lady in the blue uniform of the Schwaiganger State Stud in Bavaria, Freiderike Schulz-Wallner on a (9.0) with the very elegant Lord Fantastic (Lord Loxley / Roncalli xx) and another uniformed state stud star, this time Brandenburg, Christian Flamm, third on 8.5.
Lord Fantastic
Over in the dressage arena, the black mare, Samira continues to win hearts in the Six Year old second qualifier, with a 9.5, well in front of the Prince Thatch gelding, Pretender on 8.9. You get the feeling that the winner of this final is already decided.
Next day I catch up with Susan Pape over coffee next to the warmup arena. She is sweating it out, waiting for the five year final later in the day, and joking that this is the third year in a row that she has won the trophy for the highest placed horse going into the final, asking the lady who presented it, ‘how many of these do I have to win, before I can exchange it for the one they give the winner of the final?’ Despite the fact that she is leading, she is not a fan of the new format, believing that it is too much pressure on the young horses. She too, is feeling the pressure: “I thought it was supposed to get easier as you got older…”
Now the waiting is over, the afternoon of the final is here and Susan’s task has got just a tech easier since her main rival, Helen Langehanenberg has drawn the shortest straw in the draw: first out.
She enters the arena totally focussed. Take a look at Helen’s eyes in the photos when the horse is working and they are seriously scarey. Apparently she has always been that way, even riding ponies as a child, and there is no chance of getting a smile until the test is well and truly over. The halt is super, Fürst Khevenhüller’s trot so light and free, and the contact is really beautiful. Still the hind legs are a little slow in the first extended trot, but they are better on the second diagonal. Fabulous walk and a perfect canter depart. This is a lovely calm horse, brilliantly ridden.
Christoph Hess is on the mike, summing up the judges’ remarks, and in the final they get separate marks: “Elastic trot, but we would like more engagement behind – 8.5 for the trot. The walk – 9.5. The canter right from the first stride was collected, but the stride came out of the shoulder, A secure rhythm. 9.5. There were problems in the turn on the haunches and the first simple change, so 8.5 for rideability. 9 for general impression for a total of 9.”
Wow, now the pressure is really on Susan Pape…
Next out the lovely stallion, Birkhofs Meraldik with another super rider in the saddle, Nicole Casper. Okay the trot could be more active, but the walk and canter are great, and the big chestnut just looks so effortlessly rideable. 7.5 for trot, 8.5 for walk, 8 for canter, 8.5 for rideability, 8.5 for overall impression for an 8.2. My feeling is that this is a stallion who can go further as he gets older…
Just in front of Meraldik is another stallion, but a very different type – Londontime. Finer, more electric, he’s really an example of modern dressage breeding at work. But as seems to always be the case with horses ridden by Wolfhard Witte, there is a contact problem. The horse is always has the tendency to come above, or below the bit. Still the canter is fabulous while the walk is normal at best. The judges see it – 9 for the trot, 7 for the walk, 9.5 for the canter. In the rideability mark, the judges draw attention to the need to ride the horse is a lighter more sensitive way – 7.5. An overall impression mark of 8.5 gives Londontime, an 8.3 total.
Andrea Müller-Kersten is doing a great job on Famaso. The horse is loose and forward, and the canter is a dream – 9. The trot is elastic but the judges would like to see more stretching and more over the back, still an 8. 8.5 for the walk, while a little kick out at the rider’s leg brings the rideability mark down to 8. 8.5 overall for 8.4.
Brigitte Wittig’s Bertoli W (Breitling / Diego xx) is like all the Breitlings, a little common in type, but let’s not forget that Breitling himself is a Grand Prix competitor – or that the favourite for this class, Cayenne W is out of Breitling’s full sister. The Breitling offspring look strong and rideable, and the judges like what they see: “Well balanced riding in good self carriage, very straight, this is how you should present a young horse.” Trot – 8, walk – 8, canter – 9, rideability – 9, overall – 9 for an 8.6
Diamantenbörse (Diamond Hit / Rubinstein) looks fun to ride, and 22 year old, Jessica Süss is enjoying herself until she loses her way on the serpentine, and then seems to lose her way again, before she finally gets it right, but the judges are in a forgiving mood. They love the walk – 9.5, trot – 8.5, 9 for canter, 8.5 for rideability and 9 for overall impression. A total of 8.9 less .2 for getting lost, 8.7, ouch.
Dorothee Schneider is so professional, but Ibikon’s Rostropowitsch looks a bit ‘manufactured’. It seems my worry is not shared by the judges. They pay an 8.5 for trot and 9s for walk, canter, rideability and overall impression. For one horrible moment it looks as if she might go over Helen, but no, an 8.9.
And Susan, what happened with poor Susan Pape and Cayenne? Right from the start they had problems. The mare backs out of the halt but then it starts to come right again. She is so soft in her body in the trot, and the walk is bigger today. Then she kicks out on the rider’s leg in the canter depart and it all starts to fall apart. The mare is really rushing in her canter work, it seems the pressure has got to her. Once again, there is no real halt at the end.
Another title for Helen Langehanenberg – this time the 4 year old mares and geldings class on Silberaster
Winning the three year old mare and gelding class
– FS La Noir (Lord Loxley / Lucito) & Jana Freund
It’s the job of the judges to separate the gold from the dross, and they do. “The extended trot was with maximum lightness, and looseness, not one bit faster – 10. The walk showed what good riding can do. 8. The canter is very energetic behind with big potential, but you have to read the body language. She got tighter and started to sweat, stopped in the counter canter, so a score of 8.5. 7.5 for rideability, and overall, 8.5. Total 8.5.”
Once again Susan has led the way into the final, only to lose in the round that counts. Later I see her husband, Ingo, ‘How is Susan?’, I ask. “It’s alright, she is used to it.”
At last, Helen Langehanenberg can smile. She has won her third championship at this Bundeschamps. She also won a Pony Championship, and the Championship of the Four Year old mares and geldings with Silberaster (Sandro Hit / Canaster).
Benetton holds his lead in the Three Year old stallion class, finishing on 46.5 with scores of 9 for trot, 9.5 for canter, 10 for walk, 9 for conformation and 9 for general impression. The Trakehner, Zauberfürst, is just behind on 44.5 followed by Lord Fantastic on 43.5. The test riders – Anna Junkmann and Nadine Plaster – both ride beautifully but it is a bit of a wasted exercise as they give all three horses the same score of 18.5! So Benetton is the champion.
Now remember what I said about the six year old class being drab? Forget it, it turns out to be one of the all time great dressage class finals at Warendorf.
Fine Time
Ulf Möller’s Fine Time (Florestan / Weinberg) might not be the most beautiful of horses, but Ulf has him steady and focussed, and as you expect from Ulf, it is a very polished test. Trot – 8.5, walk- 7.5, canter 9, rideability 8.5, overall impression 9 for a total mark of 8.5. Christoph Hess has finished his commentary, and Ulf turns the chestnut down the centre line and passages out, one handed with the crowd clapping in time. Ulf stops for the traditional glass of Champagne at the exit, and while he drinks, the horse piaffes. Bravo – the crowd is roaring their approval. What a showman!
Poor Susan Pape is determined to end the show on a high note, and she has the stallion San Remo really firing for the final. Correct and forward in the shoulder in, super half pass, big correct walk, and fabulous canter. A little sticky in the walk pirouettes, and that is going to hurt the rideability mark. 8.5 for the trot, 8.5 for the walk, 9.5 for the canter, rideability – 7.5,overall 8, for an 8.4 total.
The greatest performances ever! Samira &Bärbel Förster-Henrich – the mare has alrady been sold to the UK!
Last year we marvelled at the Prince Thatch gelding Pretender (out of a Weltmeyer mare), he was Stephanie Jansen’s first horse after a successful pony career, and what a sweet horse to step up on to. So rideable and with lovely long Thoroughbred legs. Rhythmic trot, super walk. One late change but the others are fine and the judges love it – 9 for everything!
Rigamento
Rigamento gives Katja Weisbrod another lovely ride, forward, powerful, good changes. 9.5 for trot, 8 for walk, 8.5 for canter, 8.5 for rideablity and an overall, 9. Total – 8.7.
I take back any nasty thing I wrote about Samira and Bärbel Förster-Henrich, in the first round. The extended trot is exquisite, so even, so light, so elegant. Super half passes with huge crossing of the legs in perfect rhythm. Wonderful walk and the best pirouettes we have seen. A wonderful canter depart and straight into the best big straight changes. It’s a test that just leave you feeling exhilarated, it is worth coming all the way to Europe just to see this one ride. Christoph Hess reckons it is the best test he has ever seen on this arena, and right now, as the crowd claps and cheers and leaps to its feet, there is no-one who is going to argue with him…
Time to break open some more bottles of fizz – what a show…