Also the last title clash of these Longines FEI/WBFSH World Breeding Dressage Championships, the one for the six-year-olds, had an exciting conclusion. The Spanish Sevreo Jurado Lopez drew the longer straw. Third in the intermediate rankings with his Hannoverian talent D’Avie (Don Juan de Hus x Londonderry), he convinced the judges the most today. His 9.26 proved to be the golden score. Commentating judge Isobel Wessels: “The light-footed and energetic trot has a lot of go and you can already clearly see his ability to collect, he receives a 9.8. The walk is relaxed and always correct, the extended walk could cover more ground and show a little more suppleness in his body, but the medium walk and ability to collect is good, an 8. Then.. the canter: dynamic, uphill, withs lots of expression and also important: ability to collect. Three flying changes of this happy athlete were great, one was a little bit less, but he still deserves the ultimate 10. D’Avie is effortless in his transitions, only a few moments there was a lot of balance, so submission gets a 9. D’Avie is a superb horse with a bright future ahead: a 9.5 for perspective.” The horse bred by Dorothee Heitmüller yielded the fourth golden medal for Severo, the third in a row in Ermelo. That also meant, he was handed his third Longines watch today. “This horse has such a great future ahead of him, I have to thank him for this medal. He was good the first day, but today could not have gone better! I hope I can continue to ride him and that we can come back here next year”, says an excited Severo.
Bronze medalwinner Hermès
Bronze for the KWPN-stallion Hermès under Dinja van Liere. 12thin the intermediate rankings and the first to start today, but their 8.78 was on top of the scoreboard for a long time. The stallion was bred by G. Gijsbergs. Isobel Wessels: “What an amazing horse, work-willing, with elasticity and self-carriage, all qualities that are very important in this sport. The elastic, energetic trot deserves a 9. Beautiful to see how forward he remained in the half-passes. The walk was pure, with a good suppleness in the body, only the half-turns could be more closed. An 8.6. In the big, expressive canter, the stallion shows a lot of elasticity and the flying changes were nice and straight. Also the transition into the collected canter was good, an 8.5. The first halt was not perfect, but the rest of the performance went well and throughout the test the stallion stayed nicely uphill, an 8.8. He has a lot of potential, so perspective receives a 9.” His rider Dinja van Liere was extremely happy with the stallion of Joop van Uytert. “The colour does not matter, I am so happy with this horse! In the qualification I did not want to make any mistakes and the test was too safe. Today I thought ‘this is the final, so I am going to show them what he’s got’. And it turned out for the best, it went 10 times better than Friday. This is so cool! Hermes has a great career ahead of him and I hope it’s with me. He has a lot of Grand Prix-potential so the world is going to see a lot more of him.”
Silver medalwinner Villeneuve
Last starter of today, was the leader of the intermediary rankings, the German rider Laura Strobel and the by Edeltraud Hähn bred Rheinlander Villeneuve (Vitalis x Dancier). She was able to nestle her expressive stallion between numbers 1 and 2 and consequently claimed the silver. “The trot has a lot of rhythm and expression and continued to improve during the test,” says Isobel Wessels. “In the collection he stays nicely uphill, a 9.4. The walk was active, pure and with good overtrack. He could follow the hand a bit better at times, an 8.8. The canter is expressive, uphill, covers a lot of ground and shows a lot of ability to collect and extend. The flying changes were good too, a 9.8. The submission receives an 8.7 and we truly believe this is a horse for the future, a 9.5 for perspective.” The 9.24 brought Laura the silver medal. “Unbelievable, this is the first time I participate in this championship. It felt good, so I hoped it looked good as well. I am so happy with this horse! Hopefully, I can continue to ride him for a while!”
President of the judges Dietrich Plewa was full of praise about the organization. “It keeps getting better every year. The first year in Ermelo was good, last year was very good and this year was nearly perfect. We got honour some great champions out of an already top collection of horses.”
Chairman of the organizing foundation Aat Both continues: “We look back on a successful third edition of the Longines FEI/WBFSH World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses in Ermelo. Also this year, we have enjoyed excellent dressage talents. The jury awarded several 10s, which indicate the high level we saw in these arenas. The over-all quality was formidable with some spectacular highlights. My compliments to the riders, who presented their young talents in such a way their qualities were expressed in an optimal manner.
Thanks to our sponsors such as Longines, Province of Gelderland and Anemone Horsetrucks we were able to organize a well-rounded event. We receive positive responses from the riders about the training facilities for their horses. In light of the warm weather, we took additional measures to safeguard the well-being of the participating horses. Through various clinics and classes, we have tried to offer our visitors an exciting program as well as a wide range of food, drinks, shopping and a vibrant atmosphere. We are very proud that the FEI has granted us another year to please all the riders, visitors, exhibitors and officials. We hope to see everyone back in Ermelo next year: 1-4 august 2019.”
Project leader Joris Kemperman also looks back satisfied on the event: “First of all, congratulations to all the medal winners! But also to the breeders and owners of these horses. Furthermore, we would like to thank our sponsors, in particular Longines, for their support. We, as the organization, are very satisfied with amongst others a sold-out grand stand on Sunday. Despite the heat, we welcomed 22.000 visitors from all over the world. Following last year’s evaluation, we have rescheduled the qualification for five- and six-year-olds to a singular day again. We were able to organize various exciting side-classes again and the exhibition village was expanded with entertainment for children and a sushi bar. It remains a wonderful championship where 200 members of staff help us all days to let everything run smoothly. A total of 180 horses entered the arenas and no less than 19 studbooks competed in the classes revolving around the world breeding championships.
The KWPN was the main supplier with 31 horses, followed by Hannover (17) and DWB (16). The gold medals were obtained by Westphalen at the five-year-olds, Hannover at the six-year-olds and KWPN at the seven-year-olds. A thrilling battle for the studbooks, but certainly also for the audience. We would like to welcome you back in Ermelo next year!”
