Ulla Salzgeber and Isabell Werth were the divas of the 2011 CDI Stuttgart, one of the fanciest and most prestigious indoor competitions of the year. While Werth dominated the Special tour, Salzgeber reigned in the Kur tour and scored sky high scores, something typical for Stuttgart, the venue where world records and top scores are born.
Salzgeber and her Rhinelander bred Herzruf's Erbe were outstanding in the Grand Prix and freestyle, scoring a winning 77.979 % and 82.575%. These percentages could make her dream of something sparkly and bright at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
"I would lie if I were to say I wouldn't be interested to compete in London," Salzgeber told St. Georg. "But I'm not thinking about it concretely. One thing is sure, I won't ride Herzruf's Erbe in the World Cup."
Isabell Werth and her European Championship team silver medal winning El Santo NRW aced the Special tour winning the Grand Prix with 76.787% and the Special with 77.867%. Whle Werth was pleased with the progress El Santo made since the summer, especially in piaffe, she was not pleased to ride the new Olympic Grand Prix Special for the first time.
"I rode the new Special for the first time today and I don't like it," said Werth. "The heart and soul of the test in which one can make the horses shine are the transitions between passage and extended trot - between high collection and forward riding. These were taken out to save 40 seconds. I wonder if that's a solution? I hope that we'll go back to the old test after the Olympic Games."
Laura Bechtolsheimer was supposed to make her come back with Mistral Hojris after the European Championships but two days before planned departure the horse started to cough. "We had the vet out and he advised against a long journey and an indoor competition," Wilfried Bechtolsheimer explained. "It is a great shame because Alf likes Stuttgart. He will now either go to London Olympia or to Amsterdam in January."
Spanish Beatriz Ferrer-Salat was also supposed to make her come back with her top horse Delgado after more than a year off due to a tendon injury. Unfortunately the chestnut took a wrong step in the warm up and became unlevel again. He was withdrawn from the competition.
Check out "on the scene" photos from the 2011 CDI Stuttgart in the image gallery below.
Photos © Barbara Schnell
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