Ebeling, Berktold, Boucher Win as FEI Nations' Cup Concludes at 2022 CDIO Wellington with Freestyle Finals

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2022 CDIO Wellington

The FEI Nations Cup at the 2022 CDIO Wellington came to a conclusion on Sunday 20 March 2022 with the individual freestyle finals at big and small tour level.

As a number of riders dropped out of competing in the final freestyle, it left plenty room for others to be highly ranked.

Ben Ebeling Wins on Dad's Indeed

Benjamin Ebeling (USA) rounded off a busy week of competition, scoring a new personal best and topping the leaderboard with a commanding 78.41% in the Grand Prix Freestyle CDIO3*. British Olympic judge Stephen Clarke awarded Ebeling and Indeed, Vantage Equestrian Group II LLC’s 14-year-old mare by Hofrat, over 80%. Katie Duerrhammer (USA) clinched second, riding Quartett to 75.09%, with Germany’s Michael Klimke third on Harmony’s Sanrino RHP (73.78%).

Ebeling, 23, said: “It’s been really awesome to watch Indeed develop, first, of course, under my dad, who did a fantastic job. These past couple of months have been serious development for her, and she continues to get better and impress me. I think she just loves being at the show; it’s her favorite thing, and she’s turning into a really consistent horse.”

Ebeling rode to a freestyle put together by Karen Robinson, initially for his other horse Illuster Van De Kampert.

“I knew that coming into this week, I had some difficult competition in this individual final, and I wanted to crank up the difficulty with Indeed,” continued the California-based rider. “This is the first time that she had ridden through it. It’s been a long season, but it means a lot to end if off with a win. And I have to thank my coaches; my dad and Christoph Koschel. I’m really hoping to take Indeed to Europe, hopefully do a couple of competitions out there, and continue developing her. She continues to get better every week, and it’s really fun to see.”

Second-placed Katie Duerrhammer was full of praise for Quartett, Kylee Lourie’s 14-year-old gelding by Quaterback: “He’s a very consistent, reliable horse, and you can always count on him,” she said. “It’s the end of a very long, hot week, and he just went out there and tried as hard as he could and completed everything. The music was made for him by Terri Gallo, and it really fits him. I wanted something that was fun and upbeat. He’s just a really pleasant horse and makes you feel like you’re having a good time.”

Michael Klimke, who was part of the gold medal-winning German Nations Cup team, was riding Sanrino RHP, a 13-year-old stallion by San Remo in his first ever freestyle at the level. This was only their third big tour CDI together.

“This was Sanrino’s first time doing three classes [at one show] and today the horse gave everything, but I felt he was tired. And the last line — this joker line — you know, when I started to ride freestyles there was no joker line, so I make the wrong decision to make the pirouette the second time, and then I was behind the music. And I think I confused him a little bit, because I was confused.

“Overall it was a great season, and we were very happy to win the Nations Cup a second time. Thank you to the organizers — especially in these difficult times when lots of shows in Europe are cancelled, that for three months here you can compete in seven CDIs with different four-star and five-star judges.”

Chestnut Mares Lead the Way in Inter I Freestyle

In the small tour ranks, another personal best performance from an American rider clinched the win, with Bianca Berktold sitting atop the pack in the Intermediate I Freestyle CDIO3*. She rode Imperial, her own nine-year-old Charmeur mare, to 76.43%, an improvement of almost four percentage points over their previous best.

“She’s really an amazing mare, and she walks in the ring like she owns it,” said Berktold of the mare she has owned since it was two. “It’s amazing to have a horse that really likes to show, shows up to the occasion, and enjoys it. It has been an exciting journey. My amazing coach Ashley Holzer and I made some significant changes to the floor plan yesterday, and we thought, ‘Okay, let’s try this and see what happens,’ and it’s paid off. Imperial was so on point with the music today, so it was really fun.

“I had Marvin’s Music do the music, and then we did the choreography — and then Ashley changed it all,” she added with a grin.

Another nine-year-old chestnut mare slotted into second, with Canada’s Beatrice Boucher laying down 71.345% on Monica Von Glahn’s Summerwood’s Limei — to yet another score by Karen Robinson.

“The incredible thing about this is that there’s so much room for improvement but she still does everything,” said Boucher. “The judges really like the music; it’s classical and gives them a bit of a refreshing feeling. I’ve never ridden this freestyle before today. The pattern is not that hard, so Limei was just cruising along and doing everything quite nicely.”

Third-placed Lars Ligus (GER) rode Katherine Kuss’s 15-year-old Sir Donnerhall gelding Soccer City to 62.75% to slot into third.

“That was the first freestyle for me and the horse,” he said. “It felt great, but I forgot to ride the medium canter, which was very expensive. And then I had a mistake in the right pirouette, but I think overall it was a fantastic week. It was so much fun, and I’m so happy that I got this opportunity to ride with the German team.”

Carier in the Blue in CDIO Under 25 Freestyle

Canadian under-25 rider Camille Carier Bergeron recorded her second win of the week on Sound Of Silence 4 when she topped the CDIOU25 Grand Prix Freestyle. The top four in the class all scored over 70%, but Carier Bergeron and the 14-year-old gelding by San Amour led the pack with 72.23%, narrowly edging out Benjamin Ebeling and Status Royal OLD (72.05%). Quinn Iverson (USA) finished third, riding Beckham 19 to 70.46%.

Carier Bergeron was riding Sound Of Silence at only his second under-25 CDI, and they managed to claim victory despite their inexperience at the level and veering off their intended floorplan. It was another score put together by Karen Robinson from Applause Dressage.

Camille Carier Bergeron on Sound of Silence

“The music is actually from my other horse, Acoeur, in the last two Nations Cups,” said Carier Bergeron, who garnered a high score of 74% from the Dutch judge Mariette Sanders Van Gansewinkel. “Because Sound Of Silence is so new at this level, I didn’t really plan a freestyle yet for him. It’s the second time I’m riding ‘SOS’ with this music as I used it two weeks ago in the Palm Beach Derby. But I switched the pattern around to fit him better, and I went off course today. I was going like I used to with Acoeur, and I realized I was going off course, and then I did a half-pirouette and went into my one-tempos right away.”

Sound Of Silence is proving a worthy successor to Acoeur: “I was first in the FEI world ranking with Acoeur and then to have SOS coming up to the level and showing as much talent, it’s really exciting for the future. He has a lot of potential and so much more room for improvement. I’m really looking forward to next year and getting him to develop even more and become even more confident and expressive.

“I came into this show not really knowing what to expect, so I didn’t want to put too much pressure on him,” added Carier Bergeron, who has ridden Sound Of Silence at young riders level at GDF for the past three seasons and trains with Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu. “We had an awesome team here. That’s the feeling that I really like in all the Nations Cups I’ve participated in, is all the Canadians being a big family, supporting and cheering for each other.”

**Lauren Knopp Wins 3* Inter I Kur**

In the Intermediate I Freestyle CDI3*, Lauren Knopp topped the all-American field, riding the 12-year-old stallion Amadeus de Massa to 69.017% — the exact same score as second-placed Rebecca Waite and Beirholms Eclaire. Amadeus De Massa — a former ride of Belgium’s Claudia Fassaert and France's Arnaud Serre — is a Portuguese sport horse by Fürst Romancier and out of a Lusitano dam by Mulato.