At the conclusion of day 1 of the WEG dressage Grand Prix test—with all of the teams’ first riders competing—Germany leads the pack, with Heike Kemmer in front with Bonaparte (see earlier story) and Hubertus Schmidt in sixth on Wansuela Suerte (69.20%).
The U.S. team lies in fourth, with 134.04 points, just behind Great Britain (134.91 points). Germany’s total of 145 points is just ahead of the favorites, the Netherlands, who have 140.04 points. Much talk ran around the showgrounds about a situation involving Dutch rider Laurens van Lieren (see sidebar below).
The U.S.’s Guenter Seidel was the bright spot today, finishing in fifth place with Aragon (69.79%). Seidel and the dynamic gray gelding looked very polished and professional today, with little of the potential explosiveness, which has marked Aragon’s tests in the past. Leslie Morse and Tip Top dropped to 18th (see earlier story).
“Aragon has really improved in the past three weeks. I was training him with this competition in mind, so he wasn’t as fit as he could have been at [the selection trials at Gladstone in June]. Being here, and having Klaus [Balkenhol] help has really helped develop Aragon and made him stronger. He feels great here,” Seidel said.
“In the two years [since the 2004 Olympics, where they contributed to the U.S. team’s bronze medal and placed 14th individually], he’s matured and settled more. And I’ve learned, as a rider, every time out with him. I’ve gotten smarter about handling his little weaknesses.
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“I warmed up over next to the stadium where they were doing vaulting, and they were all screaming, there was music playing loudly and Aragon got a little tense about it. But in retrospect it helped, because then when we went into the arena he said ‘Oh, here it’s quiet,’ and was relaxed,” said Seidel.
Seidel was well on his way to a score above 70 percent, scoring consistent 7s and 8s in the early trot work. He earned major bonus points by picking up three 8s and two 9s in his first piaffe, and his passage tours earned straight 7s.
But in the one-tempi changes, Aragon got a bit tense, and threw in one extra change at the end, and Seidel had to do another to arrive back on the right lead. The subsequent 17 changes, instead of the required 15, lowered their scores for that movement to 6s and 5s.
“He got a little bit tight in the one-tempi changes and skipped in that last change—I didn’t ask for it! And then he wasn’t as connected, so in the pirouette he was a little tight in his back,” Seidel said. Aragon scored from a 4 to a 7 in the first pirouette, but recovered in time to score four 7s and an 8 in the second pirouette.
Regardless of the slight mistakes, Seidel was “very pleased with all the piaffe and passage work, and the trot work. It was smooth and consistent,” he said. “Overall, I was very happy with it, even though I wish it had scored over 70 percent. I hope it was enough to up the score for our team.”
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Kemmer was thrilled with Bonaparte’s score, a best for them in the Grand Prix. “It was a really good feeling in the ring with the atmosphere of the audience. It gave us a big kick, and Bonaparte grew in the ring, and said ‘OK, let’s do our job now,’ ” she said.
The riders commented on how they liked the layout of the ring at Aachen. The all-weather surface dressage ring has been built in the middle of the huge grass show jumping ring of the main stadium. The horses enjoy the wide buffer between them and the crowd. “Bonaparte doesn’t like the audience being close to the arena, but here, I could really go forward and show off his exciting extensions,” said Kemmer.
Dutch rider Imke Schellekens-Bartels took over second place with a score of 71.54 percent. “Sunrise was a bit tense because she was excited about the arena, but I enjoyed a lot of moments in the test,” she said. And Sweden’s Tinne Vilhelmson lies in third with Solos Carex (70.33%). Mexico’s Bernadette Pujals rode her way into fourth on Vincent with a 70.00 percent.
Van Lieren Creates A Stir With A Saddle Pad
The Dutch team has come to Aachen fully loaded to aim for the team gold, but they were dismayed with a hiccup in their plans just before their first rider, Laurens van Lieren, went into the ring. As van Lieren was warming up, a steward questioned his saddle pad. According to WEG rules, no sponsor of individual riders can be displayed on a rider’s equipment. But sponsors of entire country’s teams can be displayed. The steward asked van Lieren if the logo on his saddle pad was a sponsor logo.
Van Lieren—thinking that the steward was asking if it was a team sponsor–replied affirmatively. The steward assumed he’d affirmed that it was an individual sponsor, and directed him to remove it immediately. Van Lieren had to hurry back to the stable area to find a new, non-logoed saddle pad. “It cost me 15 minutes. Normally, I have a 45-minute warm-up, and this time I had to go directly to the small arena [the final warm-up area]. In the test, I felt my horse was a bit hot, and not as relaxed as he could be, and we lost points,” he said.
Rumors ran rampant that van Lieren had requested to ride again the next day, but no such formal request was filed with officials. Van Lieren’s score of 68.50 percent put him in seventh individually.
