No horses for the prizegiving (look like a great choise the future) - photo: screenshot Clipmyhorse.
34 combinations for today´s Grand Prix at Festival4Dressage in Aachen
It was a very interesting field for today´s Grand Prix class in Aachen. The big Deutsche Bank stadium looked even more impressive and also kind of terrifying with all the empty spectator seats.
Many top riders was at start and it became a very intesting class to follow.
Dinja van Liere and Hermes were back. Last time they were at competition were at the World Cup final back in April 2023 where Hermes unfortunately got injured. Today they were back with their very strong piaffe & passage tours and overall very strong performance. Only thing was the trot half pass to the right where the balance and clear rhythm was failing.
Hermes & Dinja van Liere - Bit open halt, small unbalance before nice extension, uneven hind for half pass right, better balance left, good halt with rein back, good diagonal, super into passage, nice passage, super piaffe at the spot, easy out, bit tense hind before transition to walk, super nice extended walk, good collected walk, nice into passage, super piaffe tiny forward trend, good passage, good into canter, nice 2 times, good extended canter, bit unbalanced zigzag, super 1 times, nice 1st pirouette, same for 2nd missing tiny control, bit late into trot, good diagonal, super passage, direct into piaffe, bit tense final into halt. 75,522%
Wendy de Fontaine & Isabell Werth - Good halt, good diagonal bit hectic, good flow and go for half passes, good halt dragging rein back, good diagonal, nice into passage, good piaffe, good transitions, nice passage, super relaxation and over track for extended walk, good collected walk, super into passage, nice passage, easy into piaffe, super steps at the spot, bit tension, good transitions, nice into canter, good 2 times full diagonal, power extended canter, good zigzag, good 1 times, super 1st pirouette, 2nd missing bit more sit but nice centered, super into trot at M, good diagonal, super final centerline. 75,065%
Wendy really finding the balance for the piaffe tours today.
Jovian & Patrik Kittel - Super halt, power diagonal balanced, good flow and go for both half passes, super halt with good rein back, power diagonal, good passage, easy into piaffe, good steps and good out, good extended walk, very nice collected walk, good into passage, tiny tensions hind, good piaffe steps but missing more clear sit, bit tense into canter, ok 2 times could show bit more forward flow, good extended canter, bit unbalanced moments for zigzag, good 1 times, bit big 1st pirouette, 2nd better but tiny hind aides, good into trot, power diagonal well balanced, good final centerline, super halt. 74,500%
Sönke Rothenberger was back with his 10 year old Danish Warmblood gelding Fendi. Last time they showed was in Aachen last year. Today they were back in good form, gained more strength and security for the passage-piaffe-passage tours. Overall a very nice performance only kept them of the podium due to judge at M from France having them as no 17, where the other four judges placed them as 4-1-4-17-5!
Unfortunately there were some obvious judging issues during the class with biggest difference of 10% for two combinations!
If you want to catch up on running H2R comments during the class you can find them at H2R Facebook feed here.
Here you find the results for the entire class.