- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)
The Danish team countered Germany's grasp on gold with consistency and captured the highest step of the podium in the team championship competition at the 2023 European Young Riders Championships in Pilisjaszfalu, Hungary.
Delayed Start
The team competition came to a conclusion on Thursday afternoon 13 July 2022 with the second group of riders performing the team test, the Prix St Georges.
The first two rotations competed on Wednesday in 30 ° C hot temperatures, but after midnight it started to rain in Pilisjaszfalu and by the start of the class at 8 am Thursday morning, it was still pouring, which led to issues with the electricity at the venue.
The test was delayed by three hours to give enough time for the technical issues to be resolved and ring maintenance to be carried out. By 11 AM, it was dry, sunny, and all puddles in the arena had disappeared on the all-weather footing.
Nail Biter Till the End, Gold for Denmark
Aboard the 9-year old Danish warmblood Blue Hors Elliot (by Erlando x Romanov), Ludvigsen delivered a very convincing ride that featured nice trot extensions and very balanced and fluenced trot work. The collected walk was good, although the right walk pirouette was iffy. The extended walk was super. In the left canter pirouette he lost the balance a bit, the right one was better. They produced nice four tempi changes and canter extensions; but the flying change came three strides too early to the market, a lack of accuracy and a habit that many of Europe's top young riders showed today.
Ludvigsen scored 73.118% and secured the team gold for Denmark. That mark ranked her fourth in the test.
Jacobsen's sympathetic bay mare Zafina got rather quick in the extensions and slightly hurried on the left lead, but had good reach in the half passes and overall delivered a very stable performance. The collected walk was good, the extended had good relaxation, even though the overstep was not the greatest. The pirouettes were nice, but the first stride was quite to the side. The fours were very fluent 4x, in the threes the hindquarters swing to the right. Her final flying change on the extended canter diagonal was also very early to the marker.They scored 72.647%
Denmark's drop score was still a very impressive 72.118% ridden by Kristian Wurtz Green on Bovbjergs Zhivago (by Romanov x Don Schufro).
Denmark's team total was 218.618 points.
Germany Sent to Silver Position
Germany performed below expectations as they are usually rock solid in riding mistake free tests. Not this year though and there were quite some scoring discrepancies between the judges to boot.
The panel for the team test included Olivier Smeets, Vincenzo Truppa, Elke Ebert, Eva-Maria Vint-Warmington, and Gabriela Valeriánová and they gave Jana Lang and her 17-year old Baron (by Johnson x Krack C) 74.382%. Their scores went from 72.794% to 75.882%. The big mistake in the four tempi changes was scored between 4.0 and 7.0.
Germany's third score came from former European pony champion and 2021 European Junior Riders Champion Lucie-Anouk Baumgurtel. Horse Hugo has been her partner in crime in 2021 and 2022 at the Europeans in Hartpury, but he hasn't been shown since October 2022 so this year Lucie brought along a new ride, the 8-year old Hanoverian Ferati (by Furst Belissaro x Del Piero). The bay gelding has a lot of reach in the half passes, and showed big extensions with the nose out. there could have been a bit more collection in the corner as she flew into the right shoulder in. The other movements were more polished. Ferati produced good collected walk but lacked some activity in the right walk pirouette. The extended walk was very nice and active with a clear V-moment. Two big mistakes crept into the canter tour: she lost the canter stride in the left pirouette and he dropped out of the canter before the final halt. With 70.588% they were fourteenth.
Germany's drop score was 70.471% (Anna Middelberg on Blickfang HC) and the team total was 218.529% for silver.
Great Britain Gets Bronze
Annabella Pidgley delivered a confident ride on the 9-year old Westfalian mare Espe (by Escolar x Dimaggio) and topped the leaderboard with a personal best of 75.147%, the high score of the day. The gorgeous bay mare Espe is an active horse, showing much forward energy and willingness. In the extensions she leaned on the bit though and opened the mouth. On the left lead she appeared more fluent on the volte and with more reach in the half pass than on the right. Espe's collected walk is peculiar and prancy (score 6.5) but she showed good walk pirouettes. The extended had plenty of overtrack and relaxation. The canter pirouettes were good, the right one a bit big. There was good expression in the tempi changes, but the mouth opened at times. Also here the flying change after the well executed extended canter was way too early on the marker. The judges scored her between 73.382% and 76.167%.
With Lily Laughton's 69.412% added, Great Britain finished third overall. Their drop score was 69.029% (India Durman-Mills).
Worth Noting
Top scoring Dutch rider was Shanna Baars on the 13-year old Farzana G (by Ampere x Florencio) with a personal best of 71.706% but the individual marks went from 69.559% to 74.559%. Farzana delivered big trot extensions that were a bit hurried. There was good ground cover in the half passes. The collected walk was very edgy in the rhythm. The extended walk had good overtrack, but there could have been more V in the rhythm. The pirouettes were nice and the tempi changes clean. A polished test.
Photos © Petra Kerschbaum
Related Links
Scores: 2023 European Young Rider / Under 25 Championships
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2023 European Young Riders/Under 25 Championships