It’s a German kind of day today.  Hot on the heels of their team triumph on their home turf, the Germans also claimed the first of two individual gold medals with a win in the Special.  Isabell Werth rode a foot-perfect Grand Prix Special test to score a 79.480 percent for the gold.  She relegated the defending World and Olympic champion, Anky van Grunsven, into the silver medal position. 

The U.S.’s Steffen Peters had another banner day today, riding Floriano to a stellar Special test and scoring a 75.200 percent to finish just out of the medals in fourth.  Denmark’s Andreas Helgstrand—the surprise winner of the Grand Prix on Wednesday—rode Blue Hors Matine to the bronze medal.  Guenter Seidel and Aragon also qualified for the freestyle tomorrow evening, placing 14th today (70.560%).

And while Peters will give it his all under the lights in Aachen’s main arena tomorrow night in the freestyle, he’s going to go home with a smile regardless of the results. “My last two rides were more than I ever expected.  It’s neat to dream about having moments like this, and when your dreams become reality, it’s really very special,” he said.

Peters’ ride on Floriano brought many Americans—including his wife, Shannon—to tears with its harmony, precision and obvious joy.  Floriano doesn’t have the overwhelming presence or raw talent of Salinero, but his heart and trust in Peters are bottomless and shine through.

 After his Grand Prix ride, Peters was almost speechless, but he claimed that today’s ride topped even that moment.  “It really did.  I didn’t expect it, because he came into the ring a little bit nervous.  When I came in, the crowd was still pretty excited about Imke Schellekens-Bartels’ ride, but as soon as I trotted around, he was OK,” said Peters. 

“I really liked how honestly he piaffed today.  That’s difficult with him, and the transitions are never 100 percent reliable, but today he was great.  I was a little bit worried about the end of the collected walk—I thought he might jig a bit.  I heard the noise of the crowd and thought that I must have gotten a good score on the extended walk,” he said.  “It’s amazing, at 16, how much energy this horse has.”

Werth was just as thrilled with her upset victory on Satchmo, who was a last-minute replacement for her other horse, Warum Nicht.  “It was unbelievable.  Satchmo and I had the best test we’ve had here.  It was such a great feeling,” Werth said.  “My only chance to get a medal was to give everything we could.  Satchmo did that, and everything worked.  This was the best I’ve ridden, and I knew this horse could do it.”

The German selectors weren’t originally going to use Satchmo, 12, for the WEG because he’s had a little bit of a spotty history.  “Satchmo’s career has been quite strange,” Werth said.  “He started out very good in his first year, but then we had one year with big problems.  I spent a while trying to find the right solution, but I think now we’ve fixed the problems.  Now we have our confidence back and he can be like he was today.  He’s given me a great feeling all month before the WEG.”

Van Grunsven was gracious in defeat.  “I was really happy with my test.  He was really concentrated and relaxed, and I didn’t make any mistakes,” she said, referring to her Grand Prix test on Wednesday, which had errors.

Van Grunsven had a bit of concern, however, about Salinero’s state of mind. During the victory gallop in the awards ceremony for the team WEG medals, he bolted with van Grunsven uncontrollably, galloping for the in-gate with her pulling and yelling for help.  Van Grunsven claimed that only a line of police horses stopped them.  And Salinero remembered the episode when she got on him next.

“When we tacked him up, he was shaking all over.  It was still in his head that something was wrong.  But luckily, we could ride in the main arena last night, and he settled.  That’s where he feels safe, where he does his test, and he’s confident in there,” she said.

Helgstrand was surprised to be sitting in the press conference for his bronze medal win.  His horse, Matine, is only 9, and certainly not a big name on the international dressage scene.  Yet.  The powerful gray mare has a relaxed athleticism that makes every movement look easy.  And her ears bounce in rhythm to her stride—especially in the piaffe—in a way that will remind American fans of Rocher. 

“She was only 8 last year, and I could feel that she had the potential to do the job. But she made lots of small mistakes at the shows.  We took her home and just trained all winter.  She showed at Aachen in May, and did four shows before the WEG, and she just got better and better,” said Helgstrand.

Just like Helgstrand, Seidel is confident he’s sitting on a horse with a bright future. While they didn’t factor in the final top 10, Seidel sees the WEG as confirmation “that I do have a great horse under my butt with a lot of potential.  It’s good to have shows like this, when you have highlights and great moments, so you know why you picked the horse and what they can be in the future,” he said. 

Aragon, 14, made a few mistakes in today’s Special test, including some tension and a leap in the last passage-piaffe tour up the centerline, and a miss behind in the one-tempi changes.

“He got just a bit tight, and he had one mistake behind, but I really thought his one-tempis were quite good other than that.  They’ve been getting more up and expressive,” Seidel said.  And in the last passage, “he just got a little bit excited, and I put my leg on—it was more rider error.  I thought he had a very expressive tour in the first passage-piaffe tour, and the beginning of the canter work was very good.  Overall, I think he was great.  The mistakes were a little bit of pilot error.”

And while Seidel hasn’t made the FEI World Cup Final a goal in the past, he’s not ruling out making a bid for it next year in Las Vegas, Nev. “Even though indoor shows haven’t been his forte in the past, I think I might try for it.  He’s growing up, and it’s good for him to get into the more difficult environments,” he said. 

WEG dressage competition concludes tomorrow night, Aug. 26, with the freestyle.  Another set of individual medals will be awarded for that competition, giving the world two individual World Champions.