Sanne van der Pols and the black KWPN bred Excellentie became the winners of the very first Children's class held at Dutch show as part of a pilot project, which is investigating whether it makes sense for the KNHS to send a Dutch team to the 2017 European Children's Championships.
The Dutch equestrian federation (KNHS) launched the children's pilot project this year as The Netherlands will be hosting the 2017 Europeans for Children in Roosendaal this summer. The federation holds two "qualification" shows, one in Vragender on 18 March and one in Exloo on 7 May, in order to decide on a potential team.
The first show of the pilot took place in Vragender on Sunday 18 March and was judged by M. Drohm, P. Wolters and J. van der Harst.
Coby van Baalen's student Sanne van der Pols became the high scorer on Excellentie (by Don Schufro). The pair scored a winning 71.67% in the Children team test. Chiel van Bedaf became second on Armano (by Morgenland's Fabian) with 70.00% and Lara van Nek landed third place on Fariska (by Vivaldi) with 68.61%.
Eleven combinations were entered for the show, ten competed.
"We have a lot for ponies here in The Netherlands, but that's not the case in all countries," said Dutch pony chef d'equipe Monique Peutz. "You see children ride horse from very early on and there classes for them are common. We don't want to stay behind and that's why we began the pilot. We have to have more of these classes in the future. I was very happy with what I saw today. The tests are at (Dutch) M1/M2-level and they include a simple change, for instance. Based on today we invited the top four for the competition in Nieuw en St. Joosland beginning of April. It's an international show where they have a Children's division. Let's go with the project from there."
Photo courtesy Van Baalen
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