After winning team silver on Tuesday, Germany's Ann-Kathrin Lindner moved to the top of the board in the Short Grand Prix and earned individual gold at the 2020 European Under 25 Championships in Pilisjaszfalu, Hungary, on 19 August 2020.
The 2020 European Youth Championships, hosted at Arie Yom Tov's Stable Unikornis in the Budapest region, consolidates all five youth championships from children to Under 25 over a three-week period. In this 2020 corona year, dressage is the only discipline to maintain its European Championships this year thanks to the generosity of Yom Tov and the Hungarian Equestrian Federation.
The Short Grand Prix for the Under 25 individual championship was judged by Peter Hansaghy (HUN), Henning Lehrmann (GER), Elisabeth Max-Theurer (AUT), Annette Fransen Iacobaeus (SWE), and Paula Nysten
Lindner Goes for Gold
The long legged black gelding showed nice trot half passes although the rider sat a bit crooked to the right in the saddle. The passage was now more engaged from behind and regular, while the piaffe is not really true. Although Sunfire keeps a good rhythm, he does not really sit behind and comes close to crossing in front. The extended walk had good relaxation, but could have shown more overtrack. The canter work went smoothly but in the future the quality of the collection canter could be better with more swing in the back. The pair showed very good pirouettes and very nice, easy uphill two tempi changes. In the one's the horse swung a bit to the right. Lindner produced clean, quiet riding that was pleasant to watch. They earned 75.590% for the gold medal and had the judges in unison.
Silver for 2019 European Under 25 Champions
The very tall, chestnut Athene is probably one of the most powerful movers in the Under 25 field. The horse is strong, engaged and ground covering but in all this greatness, it is the collection that is his weakness. The piaffe is almost non-existing, even though the passage has much suspension and airtime. There was no difference between the medium and extended trot, it was all pedal to the metal. All this power was difficult for his rider to bolster and the half halting was far from discrete. The very hand held horse with a lot of pulling and steering, paraded through the arena, shining especially in forward movements such as the fantastic two and one tempi changes, which were brilliant. He got away from his rider in the canter half passes, and the extended walk had no real relaxation, but interestingly in the canter pirouettes, the horse does sit and can produce small ones.
They scored 74.103% for a silver medal with the judges' marks going from 73.333 to 75.385%.
Bronze for Sympathetic Netz
The pair produced a very appealing, friendly ride with a good bridle contact. The horse has quiet and soft in the contact, even though Lacoste is not ideally built and moving, often with the croup high in the passage and piaffe, yet bouncy and regular in the rhythm. The extended walk had good overtrack, but the nose needed to be more out and forward. In the pirouette left he struggled to sit behind, but the right one was much better. The one tempi changes were clean and straight, but could have had more ground cover.
The pair scored a well earned 73.308% with marks going from 71.667% to 75.897%.
Rio Olympian Foco Loco W Now Fourth
Foco Loco W is the most thoroughly trained, experienced Grand Prix horse of the lost and bring so much quality to the fore. Under his temporary rider, Anne-Mette Strandby, who works at dealing yard Helgstrand Dressage, the bay finished fourth in the Short Grand prix with 72.949%.
The contact with the bit was quiet and consistent, although Foco Loco W was quite rigid in his mouth. The piaffe could have had more impulsion and the horse regularly swayed to the right with the hindleg. The passage was bouncy, the half passes fluent. The highlights of the test were the big tempi changes and the super pirouettes.
Hannah Erbe and Carlos Fifth
Soft in the contact, the nose nicely at or in front of the vertical most of the time and with minimal aids, Carlos was up in the bridle and showed lovely, lightfooted passage. The second piaffe was too forward and had not enough sit behind. The extended trots were very pretty with an impressive front leg, but there needs to be more ground covering from behind. The extended walk was mediocre with the nose not going out and little ground cover, but the collected walk was good. The extended canter and flying change were gorgeous, the right pirouette a bit big and one change in the one tempi changes was short behind. The changes were straight and uphill though. Erbe finished with a good, sweet centerline.
They scored 72.026% with marks going from 68.846 to 73.462% with the higher score seemingly being the more accurate one.
What is the Under 25 Division For?
The judging of the Team Championship Intermediaire II test became highly controversial. Eurodressage will cover this matter in a later article based on statistics.
Text and Photos © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction Allowed
Eurodressage is on the scene in Budapest taking photos of all Under 25 and Young Riders. If you are interested in prints and files for social media, send us a message. Please respect our copyright and do not use our photos without permission.
Related Links
Scores: 2020 European Young Riders & Under 25 Championships
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2020 European Youth Championships
