Witte-Vrees and Maas Dominate 2012 Dutch Indoor Dressage Championships

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2012 Dutch Indoor Dressage Championships

Madeleine Witte-Vrees and Lynne Maas dominated the 2012 Dutch Indoor Dressage Championships in Ermelo, The Netherhands. The event, which was postponed to 16 - 18 March 2012 due to an Equine Herpes Virus outbreak in The Netherlands, was a well visited event, where spectators witnessed the impressive accomplishment of Witte-Vrees winning both the small and big tour.

Aboard the liver chestnut Vontango B (by Contango x Jazz) the Schijndel based Madeleine reigned supreme at Grand Prix level. She won the Grand Prix with 73.16% and claimed the Kur with 76.92%, to put her on an average winning score of 75.04%. In the Grand Prix Patrick van der Meer and Uzzo (by Lancet x Indoctro) were second with 72.84% and Hans Peter Minderhoud finished third on Withney van 't Genthof (by Ferro x Balzflug) with 69.75%, but both riders opted not ride the Kur. This left plenty of room for Marlies van Baalen to move up the ladder and earn silver aboard the Westfalian registered Miciano (by Medici) with a 70.84% average. Stephanie Peters and the 10-year old Vitana (by Donnerhall) finished on the bronze step of the podium with 69.78%.

Judge Eddy de Wolff was very pleased with the quality of riding in the big tour. "Vontango was nice in the contact and was pure in the rhythm in walk, trot and canter. Especially the piaffe and passage were well executed," said De Wolff. "Marlies van Baalen rode two bold tests but Miciano seemed to be getting hot once in a while. In the kur she had well-fitting music which influenced the performance in a positive way." De Wolff liked Stephanie Peters' "beautiful, open frame with the horse always moving nicely away from the hand."

Madeleine Witte-Vrees was proud of her fourth national title aboard Vontango. "This is only our fourth competition at this level so there were still a few mistakes because of inexperience. I made a mistake in the zig zag which cost us points. The piaffe was very well ridden to my feeling as well as the pirouettes and tempi's." Witte-Vrees is aiming for a Dutch Olympic team spot. "I have the feeling that I can ride myself on the Olympic team and I'm totally going for it."

Witte-Vrees and Wynton Win Small Tour

Madeleine Witte-Vrees on Wynton Madeleine Witte-Vrees also made her mark in the small tour championship which took place on Saturday. Aboard the licensed stallion Wynton (by Jazz x Matador) she won the Prix St Georges with 73.20% and Kur to Music with 76.71% to finish on a powerful, winning average of 74.96%.

Lynne Maas and the black Uranium W (by Metall) were solid on second place in the Prix St Georges (71.80%) but dropped to a sixth spot after a slightly tense kur (70.00%). Her average of 70.90% still put them in silver medal place, a fraction ahead of Christa Larmoyeur on Uphill (by Oscar) with an average of 70.88%. Larmoyeur, who divorced her husband Sjak Laarakkers but still works together with him, was only 0.03% from the silver medal. The close finish between the second and sixth place was only 0.41% between riders.

"In my eyes there is nothing Wynton can't do," said the small tour champion. "In my opinion the pirouettes were perfect and I should have scored at least nines for shoulder-in. I rode Patser's old kur and I became a five-time champion with this single freestyle." Lynne Maas was very pleased she was able to finish second after a tense freestyle. "I was experiencing more tension building up in Uranium throughout the kur," said Maas. "I think it was caused by the loudspeaker boxes. You are dealing with live animals which react differently from time to time. Uranium is a very sensitive horse and I tried to make the best of it. This was rewarded with a second place with which I'm very happy." Laarakkers was pleased with her bronze considering that her stallion Uphill hadn't been trained for long. "He's also a breeding stallion and they were freezing his semen, so he had to stay in quarantine for a while. I got him back less than three weeks ago and maybe that was just not long enough."

Maas and Zamora Win ZZ-Zwaar

Lynne Maas did end up with gold in the ZZ-zwaar division (Fourth level) on Friday afternoon. Aboard the 8-year old chestnut Dutch mare Zamora (by Krack C) she first scored a winning 70.57% followed by a second place-getting 75.92% in the Kur to average a total of 73.25%. This put them on gold medal position. Theo Hanzon and the licensed stallion Zhivago (by Krack C) were second with 68.10% and 76.92% (average: 72.51%). Diederik van Silfhout and the licensed stallion Arlando K (by Paddox) were good for bronze with an average of 72.16%.

Lynne and Zamora won their third consecutive Dutch title. "I thought Zamora trotted more expressively in the kur than in the first test. That's because I rode with a bit more guts," she explained. "All exercises in this test are child's play to her, which makes it all look very easy." Theo Hanzon won the freestyle with Zhivago. "He was a bit sharper on the aids," said Hanzon. "This stallion still needs to gain a bit of strength to improve the balance. I hope we can continue the improvement we made the last few months." Van Silfhout was content with bronze. "This morning Arlando was a bit messy, but in the kur he was nice to ride and because I had that control I was able to really ride to his full potential."

Emmelie Scholtens and her hyped licensed stallion Apache (by UB 40 x Krack C) was screaming throughout his warm up but turned out to be very focused in the first morning test, which earned them a second place score of 69.33%. In the Kur, however, he spooked hard in the extended canter and Scholtens lost control for a while. "Emmelie made a very strong recovery because despite getting behind her music she did end up showing all the required movements," said judge Janine van Twist.

Results 2012 Dutch Indoor Dressage Championships

Big Tour - Grand Prix + Kur
Judges: De Wolff, Mouw, De Bel

1. Madeleine Witte-Vrees - Vontango - 73,16 - 76,92 ---- 75,04
2. Marlies van Baalen - Miciano - 68,51 - 73,17 ---- 70,84
3. Stephanie Peters - Vitana V - 67,84 - 71,71 ----- 69,78
4. Petra Logger-Beers - Odame K - 65,21 - 67,67 ---- 66,44
5. Petri Bax - Something Special C - 64,79 - 67,71 ----- 66,25
6. Jeroen Okkema - Tjechov - 65,35 - 67,13 ----- 66,24
7. Mireille van Kemenade-Witlox - Royal Dancer - 62,06 - 64,92 ----- 63,49
8. Doreen Proos - Smile - 59,86 - 61,13 ---- 60,50

Small Tour - Prix St Georges + Inter 1 Kur
Judges: De Wolff, Drohm, Peutz-Vegter

1. Madeleine Witte-Vrees - Blom's Wynton - 73,20 - 76,71 ----- 74,96
2. Lynne Maas - Uranium W - 71,80 - 70,00 ----- 70,90
3. Christa Larmoyeur - Uphill - 70,22 - 71,54 ----- 70,88
4. Marlies van Baalen - Ratzinger - 70,66 - 71,04 ----- 70,85
5. Adelinde Cornelissen - Ulissa - 69,43 - 72,00 ----- 70,72
6. Angela Krooswijk - Flash - 69,30 - 71,67 ----- 70,49
7. Dennis Ausma - Randy - 68,42 - 69,04 ----- 68,73
8. Thamar Zweistra - Zodinde - 68,95 - 67,46 ---- 68,21
9. Alex van Silfhout - Locke - 67,19 - 69,04 ----- 68,12
10. Marjolein Cho Chia Yuen - Cho's Pepper - 68,11 - 67,71 ---- 67,91
11. Lotje Schoots - Zarah - 66,18 - 69,17 ----- 67,68
12. Michelle van Lanen - Urchin B - 66,27 - 68,79 ----- 67,53
13. Jeroen Okkema - Tops-Field - 67,15 - 66,67 ----- 66,91
14. Kim Huizer - Oxford - 65,39 - 68,21 ----- 66,80
15. Mara de Vries - Saint Tropez - 65,70 - 67,33 ----- 66,52
16. Marije de Lange - Valencio D - 66,49 - 63,88 ----- 65,19
17. Jeanine Nieuwenhuis - Practical Magic - 65,39 - 61,50 ----- 63,45

ZZ-Zwaar - ZZ-Zwaar + Young Riders Kur
Judges: van Twist, Wolters van den Berg, Terra

1. Lynne Maas - Zamora - 70,57 - 75,92 ---- 73,25
2. Theo Hanzon - Zhivago - 68,10 - 76,92 ---- 72,51
3. Diederik van Silfhout - Arlando K - 69,14 - 75,17 ---- 72,16
4. Geert-jan Raateland - Zorro - 67,71 - 73,54 ----- 70,63
5. Jeroen Okkema - Top's Zoe - 65,90 - 70,79 ----- 68,35
6. Christa Laarakkers - Aston Martin - 66,00 - 70,33 ---- 68,17
7. Emmelie Scholtens - Apache - 69,33 - 66,08 ---- 67,71
8. Jessica Nijpjes - Vigo - 62,29 - 68,92 ----- 65,61
9. Bart Veeze - Wonderboy - 63,62 - 67,21 ---- 65,42
10. Femke Beljon - Pylottie W - 62,38 - 66,38 ---- 64,38
11. Maike Wiebelitz - Warendorf - 60,76 - 68,00 ---- 64,38
12. Unforgettable - 61,33 - 66,75 ----- 64,04
13. Jessica Buying - Sting - 61,71 - 65,79 ---- 63,75
14. Janneke van Riet - Ziroco - 62,48 - 61,71 ----- 62,10
15. Mariska Schalekamp-Middelk - Riwals Prisco - 56,76 - 62,79 ----- 59,78
16. Sylvia Naagen-Pigmans - Wantano - 59,05 - 59,25 ---- 59,15