Minderhoud, Witte-Vrees, Krooswijk and Te Riele Proclaimed 2011 Dutch Dressage Champions

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2011 Dutch Dressage Championships

Hans Peter Minderhoud, Madeleine Witte-Vrees, Angela Krooswijk and Antoinette te Riele were proclaimed champions at the 2011 Dutch Dressage Championships in De Steeg, The Netherlands, 9 - 12 June 2011. Even though it was cold and damp with hardly a crowd nor any festive atmosphere on the first few days of the Championships, the competition level was high.

Minderhoud Adds National Grand Prix Title to List of Achievements

Hans Peter Minderhoud is quadruple World Young Horse Champion, multiple Pavo Cup Champion, he has won golden team medals at European and World Championships and on Sunday he added that another still-missing title to his list of achievements: the Dutch Grand Prix Champion.

In the absence of all Dutch WEG team gold medal winning horses (Totilas sold, Sunrise and Parzival "not fit to compete" and Nadine at home), Minderhoud only felt tough competition from his life-partner Edward Gal. Hans Peter opted to ride his second Grand Prix horse Tango (by Jazz x Contango) for this event and kept Nadine at home, who had performed well at the World Cup Finals in Leipzig one month ago.

Minderhoud and Tango were third in the Grand Prix (72.659%), won the Special (76.187%) and were second in the Kur (78.725%). Their total score of 227.572 outclassed that of his parter Gal on Sisther de Jeu. The victory was not an easy feat as Minderhoud's chestnut stallion was quite distracted by the mares in the warm up ring. They had a difficult warm up right before the Kur to Music.

"First Phoebe left and then Sisther because they had to compete before me and so I stayed there alone at the warm up arena. I was barely able to warm him up and it took a lot of time just to get his boots off before we could enter the ring. It was a something on good hope. Will it work, is he going to refuse or will he be up for the challenge? Once we were in the ring, he became relaxed and focused, so I was able to ride him."

Hans Peter Minderhoud on Tango "It wasn't brilliant, but that doesn't mean I'm less happy," Minderhoud said after the freestyle. The Harskamp based dressage rider is very pleased with his title. "This is of course great after the gold medals I won with the team. It was hard today though. I felt in the warm up that Tango was being difficult. In the ring it was ok but at the end of the test I had no idea if it were enough. Fortunately it was."

Minderhoud has been riding Tango since he was a 4-year old. "In the beginning he was a spooky, difficult horse. Now he's changed into a self-conscious macho. He's going really well lately and I'm sure there are a few points we can still improve on. That's what we're going to work on." When asked whether Tango will be succeeding Nadine, Minderhoud replied that, ""there will be a time that Tango will be taking over from Nadine, but I don't know yet when that is."

Hans Peter's partner Edward Gal became reserve champion with Emmy de Jeu's Dutch warmblood mare Sisther de Jeu (by Gribaldi x Amor). They won the Grand Prix (73.808%), were second in the Special (73.854%) and won the Kur (78.800%). The overall championship was a very close call but Gal finished second with a total of 226.463 points.

"After I rode the freestyle I went to watch Hans Peter's kur straight away. I saw that he didn't make a mistake. I know how difficult this stallion can be, but that's just the case with stallions," Gal commented. "I'm very proud of him," he added.

Marlies van Baalen and the Dutch elite sport mare Phoebe (by Regazzoni x Ulft) received the bronze medal. They were fourth in the Grand Prix (70.361%) and Special (71.625%) and third in the Kur to Music (74.925%). Her bronze was the 10th medal in her career. which she has won at the Dutch Championships "Last year I had silver in the senior division and now bronze. I'm so happy. Phoebe is hot to trot, but fortunately she now knows to transfer that tension into positive energy. I'm very happy with my three scores above 70%."

Witte-Vrees, Undisputed Small Tour Champion

Madeleine Witte-Vrees on Vontango B Madeleine Witte-Vrees and her Dutch warmblood Vontango B (by Contango) left no doubt about it that they are Holland's strongest small tour pair of the year. They won all three rounds with staggering scores: 71.710% in the Prix St Georges, 77.850% in the Intermediaire I and 76.958% in the Kur to Music.

"It wasn't my intention to make this championship so exciting. In the first round I had two major mistakes, but in the second I had my best ride ever. One judge even gave us more than 80%. In the freestyle it was my goal to wrap it up. Maybe my ride was less spectacular, but it was fault-free," Witte-Vrees commented.

The Small Tour Kur to Music Finals were completely disrupted by the failing soundsystem put there by the Outdoor Gelderland show organisation. For most of the riders the music was crackling and squeaking from the boxes and with Lynne Maas the entire sound system collapsed and was unable to produce a tone, messing up Maas' entire freestyle ride on Uranium as well as her chances for a high placing.

Hans Peter Minderhoud won silver aboard the KWPN licensed stallion Johnson (by Jazz), while the bronze went to Joyce Heuitink on Wup (by Welt Hit II) who overtook Imke Schellekens-Bartels in the ranking, because Schellekens was unable to ride her terrified Toots (by Jazz) during her freestyle corrupted by the poor sound system.

"It's a big pity that external influences have disrupted the course of this competition," said judge Wim Ernes afterwards.

Angela Krooswijk Renews Dutch Young Riders Champion's Title

Michelle van Lanen, Angela Krooswijk, Melissa Tychon Angela Krooswijk was able to reconfirm her Dutch number one position as a young rider. Aboard the Rhinelander stallion Roman Nature (by Rohdiamant) she won all three rounds with 74.184%, 73.105% and 74.900%. Krooswijk also competed her second ride Flash (by Fidermark) successfully in the Championship but opted to ride Roman Nature for the freestyle finals.

"It was quite a transition for my horse, from the quiet arena where the first two rounds were held, to the impressive main ring. That caused a bit of tension which led to mistakes in the changes. I chose to ride Roman Nature because he was higher ranked in the first two rounds and he is also a bit more reliable than Flash, who suffers from some tension. Still I'd like to keep both options open for the rest of the season."

Michelle van Lanen and her huge liver chestnut gelding Urchin B (by Jazz) were the silver medallists after earning scores of 70.394% (2nd), 71.894% (3rd), and 72.350% (4th). Van Lanen's marks have been going up and down this season so she called in help from the Jazz-expert Tineke Bartels. "With her help we trained Urchin to be more focused on the rider. This has resulted in a constant Championship."

Melissa Tychon and the Trakehner bred Marinetty (by Solero x Itaxerxes) earned the bronze after a very strong kur to music with which she placed second. In the first two rounds Tychon was quite nervous. "I had some help from family and friends who told me that my life didn't depend on this championship," she admitted. "This enabled me to ride the freestyle in a more relaxed and carefree way."

Antoinette te Riele Beats Kooijman to the Gold

Stephanie Kooijman, Antoinette te Riele, Anne Meulendijks Antoinette te Riele made a successful transition from ponies to horses and in succession of her 2010 Dutch Pony Champion's title she now claimed the Junior title as well. Thanks to a very strong first round (73.891%) she built up the necessary point advantage for the overall victory as Stephanie Kooijman was on her heels the entire time.

Aboard the Hanoverian mare Fleurie (by Florestan), the Weert based Te Riele scored 73.891% in the team test (1st), 72.684% in the individual (2nd) and 77.025% in the Kur (1st). "Honestly, she was really going well at home in our preparation (for the Championship) and it's fair to say that I've never ridden such a good test with Fleurie as in the first round. On the second day we had a few small mistakes but in the kur we were top again," te Riele commented. "The reason for those mistakes in the second round is that I find it a very difficult test. In the freestyle you can highlight the strengths of your horse and yourself, and I think that went well."

The 18-year old Stephanie Kooijman won silver aboard her 8-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Winston (by OO Seven). She was third in the team test (70.216%), first in the individual (73.210%) and second in the kur (76.950%). "I had a few small mistakes on the first day which were caused by the fact that my horse was very fresh," Kooijman explained. "On the second day it went much better. I was able to ride him nicely and Winston kept doing his best. I'm also very pleased about my Kur. I think we rode a very strong freestyle, but we missed a change and that cost us points. Still I'm very happy with silver."

The bronze medal went to Anne Meulendijks on her Dutch warmblood Ohio (by Indoctro). They were second in the first round (71.919%), fourth in the second (69.973%) and in the kur (71.475%). "I'm really happy with my third place," Meulendijks stated. "In the first round my horse was very focused on me and we were able to put down a good test. In the second round there were a few small mistakes and Ohio could have been more uphill throughout the competition. Also the walk could have been better. In the Kur I rediscovered that good feeling from the first round so we did a good test and that was rewarded with bronze."