PrintThe German can’t be beat, but U.S. rider Courtney King makes her presence known.
German dressage icon Isabell Werth quite simply dominated the Stuttgart German Masters CDI, Nov. 16-18, in Stuttgart, Germany. Werth won the Grand Prix for the freestyle and the Grand Prix freestyle aboard Warum Nicht FRH and then conquered the Grand Prix for the Special and the Grand Prix Special on Satchmo.
And while the spotlight shone on Werth, American Courtney King scored her own personal victories with admirable performances on her veteran Idocus and her rising star Mythilus. King is currently training with Klaus Balkenhol in Germany, and plans to return to the United States at the end of December for the Florida circuit.
King and Idocus placed eighth in the Grand Prix for the freestyle with 66.54 percent.
“I was very happy with our Grand Prix test,” King said. “Idocus was light on the bit, responding very well to the aids and I think there were no major mistakes. I had hoped he would have scored higher.”
But things didn’t go quite as well in her freestyle.
“The music started and Idocus got heavy in my hand. That made everything difficult and nothing was as good as it could be,” King said.“This was the second time that this happened, both times when the music starts. It seems to me that Idocus somehow dislikes this kind of music. I would really like to change the music to one he enjoys more to become really competitive in the freestyle.”
It’s a pity that the expressive, 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion doesn’t like the American-style parade music, since it fits so well to his freestyle. The test appeared much better to spectators than it must have felt to King. The piaffes as well as the canter pirouettes were well-settled, active and light in the forehand. The whole ride had a lot of expression.
Furthermore, Idocus was one of the few horses who stood correctly and squarely in the final salute. With 70.20 percent the combination placed eighth.
King rode Mythilus in the Grand Prix Special tour in the 13-year-old gelding’s, first international outing. They scored 69.16 percent to qualify for the Grand Prix Special.
“I was really happy with my Grand Prix with Mythilus,” she said. “It was a safe and clean Grand Prix test, and Mythilus really stayed with me. He was light on the bridle and confident.”
One of the highlights of this test was the second piaffe, which was active and in good rhythm, while the one-tempi changes could have been more upward and forward.
“In the Grand Prix I was still riding for a safe, clean test. But when the Grand Prix left Mythilus very confident, I wanted really to go for it in the Special,” she said. “But today he was spooky at the sponsor banners. In the trot tour we had some mistakes, but I think the canter tour was really good.”
German dressage icon Isabell Werth quite simply dominated the Stuttgart German Masters CDI, Nov. 16-18, in Stuttgart, Germany. Werth won the Grand Prix for the freestyle and the Grand Prix freestyle aboard Warum Nicht FRH and then conquered the Grand Prix for the Special and the Grand Prix Special on Satchmo.
And while the spotlight shone on Werth, American Courtney King scored her own personal victories with admirable performances on her veteran Idocus and her rising star Mythilus. King is currently training with Klaus Balkenhol in Germany, and plans to return to the United States at the end of December for the Florida circuit.King and Idocus placed eighth in the Grand Prix for the freestyle with 66.54 percent.
“I was very happy with our Grand Prix test,” King said. “Idocus was light on the bit, responding very well to the aids and I think there were no major mistakes. I had hoped he would have scored higher.”
But things didn’t go quite as well in her freestyle.
“The music started and Idocus got heavy in my hand. That made everything difficult and nothing was as good as it could be,” King said.“This was the second time that this happened, both times when the music starts. It seems to me that Idocus somehow dislikes this kind of music. I would really like to change the music to one he enjoys more to become really competitive in the freestyle.”
It’s a pity that the expressive, 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion doesn’t like the American-style parade music, since it fits so well to his freestyle. The test appeared much better to spectators than it must have felt to King. The piaffes as well as the canter pirouettes were well-settled, active and light in the forehand. The whole ride had a lot of expression.
Furthermore, Idocus was one of the few horses who stood correctly and squarely in the final salute. With 70.20 percent the combination placed eighth.
King rode Mythilus in the Grand Prix Special tour in the 13-year-old gelding’s, first international outing. They scored 69.16 percent to qualify for the Grand Prix Special.
“I was really happy with my Grand Prix with Mythilus,” she said. “It was a safe and clean Grand Prix test, and Mythilus really stayed with me. He was light on the bridle and confident.”
One of the highlights of this test was the second piaffe, which was active and in good rhythm, while the one-tempi changes could have been more upward and forward.
“In the Grand Prix I was still riding for a safe, clean test. But when the Grand Prix left Mythilus very confident, I wanted really to go for it in the Special,” she said. “But today he was spooky at the sponsor banners. In the trot tour we had some mistakes, but I think the canter tour was really good.”
