With two of the kur medalists injured to their foot, gold medalist Anne Meulendijks and bronze medalist Jorinde Verwimp definitely put their best foot forward in the Kur to Music Finals at the 2014 European Young Riders Championships in Arezzo, Italy, on Sunday afternoon 13 July 2014. Winning individual and kur gold, Meulendijks became the overall 2014 European Young Rider Champion. She and Verwimp sandwiched Lisa Maria Klossinger in the ranking. The German grabbed her second individual silver that week.
The Young Riders kur to Music finals was judged by de Wolff van Westerrode (NED), Leyman (BEL), Truppa (ITA), Matthiesen (DEN), and Maknami (RUS). Dutch individual test gold medal winning Meulendijks, who injured her foot early in the morning when her horse had stepped on it, rode the top score in the Kur. With 80.275% she claimed the gold on her 9-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Avanti (by United x Farrington).
Meulendijks rode to brand new music based on the movie The Holiday. Unfortunately there were a lot of overlapping musical parts with Edward Gal's kur for Voice which is also arranged with soundtrack of that Hollywood movie. Meulendijks' rather traditional floorplan with many diagonals and a low degree of technical difficulty was quite uninspiring. Nevertheless, Anne put in a strong ride. The trot that was well carried, uphill and engaged from behind. The horse could have been a bit lighter in the bridle in general, and the collected walk was unimpressive. The extended walk did not have enough overtrack at the start but improved gradually. The canter work was excellent with big flying changes, small half pirouettes and a powerful extended canter. The pair placed first with all five judges and averaged 80.275%. Their low score was 77.875 (Maknami) and their high score was 83.750 (De Wolff).
German Lisa Maria Klossinger certainly upped the bar with her ride on the Baden Wurttemberger Daktari (by Donautanz x Carpaccio). Her bright bay, long legged gelding is a more refined, elegant mover and does not have the power that Meulendijks' Avanti displayed, but the pair certainly had a very high level of technical difficulty with unbelievably complicated lines and an extended canter ridden with one hand, but her challenging ride did not empower the judges enough to be brave and place her first. Klossinger did have a mistake with a break in the travers but the half passes were beautifully uphill. The collected walk was quite short and the horse could have been straighter in the tempi changes. Trained by Ulla Salzgeber, Klossinger rode to music of the movie Daktari and scored 78.825%. Her low mark was 77.375 (Maknami) and her high mark was 81.000 (De Wolff).
Belgian Jorinde Verwimp found a "bronze lining" to a difficult week of competition at the Europeans. On the day of the vet check, her horse jumped on her toe and fractured her left big toe. Verwimp, who trains with Anky van Grunsven, ignored the pain and rode with full dedication. A bronze team medal was certainly in reach had the judge at C not made a mistake during team mate's Alexa Fairchild's ride (the fences were blown over by the way. In principle the competition had to be stopped to have that fixed first, before Fairchild would start her ride). Verwimp give it her all in the Kur and rode to funky and fun Motown music which becomes her tall Dutch gelding Tiamo (by Lester x Hemmingway). Verwimp rode a nice combination of trot lengthenings, shoulder in and half passes. The transition from canter to trot was difficult. Verwimp scored 75.425% and ended up with bronze as several other medal candidates were unable to stay fault free. Verwimp is the first Belgian young rider ever to take an individual medal. Now Grand Prix rider Vicky Smits won individual silver as a junior rider at the 1996 European Championships in Helsinki.
Dutch Jeanine Nieuwenhuis achieved a personal best performance with her fourth place in the kur aboard her own 8-year old Baldacci (by Havidoff x Rubiquil). The judges were very unanimous about her performance and agreed on the average of 75.150%. Nieuwenhuis' Baldacci is not the most spectacular mover, but is extremely consistent and reliable. Danish Anna Zibrandtsen's 9-year old Oldenburg stallion Detroit (by Dimaggio x Lord Liberty G) is quite the opposite. This flamboyant mover has unlimited movement potential but is still quite green and not entirely fault-free. Issues with the tempi changes pushed these medal candidates from a podium place to a fifth position (74.925%). Their atmospheric music should have more supported the horse's gaits and movements in their floorplan.
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Eurodressage's Astrid Appels was on the scene taking photos of all riders in Arezzo. Contact us if you are interested in photo prints, collages or albums.
Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2014 European Junior/Young Riders Championships