Isabell Werth and Emilio grabbed kur gold and rounded out their glorious conquest at the 2017 German Dressage Championships in Balve, Germany, on 8 - 11 June 2017 with two gold medals and the national title in the technical division (Grand Prix + Special) as well as in the artistic division (Kur). Kur silver went to Sönke Rothenberger, bronze to Dorothee Schneider.
Werth and the 11-year old Westfalian gelding Emilio (by Ehrenpreis x Cacir AA) were unbeatable and had the favour of the judges, receiving whopping scores on each day. For their freestyle ride they almost cracked the magical 90% marker. With 89.125% they won the kur and made Balve their show this year. Werth's supremacy is beyond belief as she now has two horses scoring astronomical marks.
"Weihegold is my number one, but Emilion is number 1 a," she joked. "He's only done the kur for the fifth or sixth time and today he was the best by far. He was so incredibly light, I felt entirely secure. When you get goose bumps yourself, that's a great feeling.
Sönke Rothenberger and the 10-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Cosmo (by Van Gogh x Landjonker) finished with a second silver medal after scoring 87.6% in the kur to music. The sensitive bay gelding spooked from a gush of wind that blew water from the tv camera's plastic cover, but that was the only issue in the ride.
"Cosmo was a bit distracted by his surroundings the past two days and was not entirely on my aids," said Sönke. "Even though he spooked briefly, I did have the feeling I was able to ride him. Yesterday and the day before he had the hand brake on a bit, but today it worked. With both medals, all my expectations were fulfilled and finishing behind Isabell is wonderful."
Dorothee Schneider moved from fourth place in the technical division to third and the bronze in the artistic freestyle class. With the Bavarian bred Sammy Davis Jr she rode a freestyle to Latino tunes and scored 81.650%.
"It went better than planned here," said Schneider. "Sammy developed fast and well after Frankfurt. He gained more strength and for the first time completed three tests. This is not an automatic feat that a horse still has willingness to dance in the arena in the last test. He exceeded my expectations. I always knew he had much charm and talent, but that he would develop so quickly and get nominated for Aachen is incredible."
German team trainer Monica Theodorescu is more than pleased with the results of her riders in Balve. "I'm very content with the entire weekend and I rejoice in the good performances and amazing atmosphere here," said Monoca. "The withdrawal of Weihegold, Desperados and Showtime was hardly noticed and the others were very well able to fill the gap. It's great when so many good horses can close the ranks."
Photos © Barbara Schnell
Related Links
Scores 2017 German Dressage Championships
Isabell Werth Throws First Punch at 2017 German Dressage Championship
Isabell Werth Wins 2017 German Dressage Championships, 13th Career Title