Dressage First Impressions
Once every four years the elite of the equestrian world come together to determine the World Champions. WEG 2006 combines seven disciplines, but for the host country dressage is one of the most significant events. In the forty year history of World Dressage Championships, the Germans have won a total of eight gold medals. The only time they have been beaten was in 1970, here in Aachen when they won team silver behind the strong Russian team. The Dutch team were hoping that history would repeat itself, that the Germans could be beaten on their own soil, but this was not to be, and once again Deutschland űber alles reigned supreme.
The format of the World Dressage Championships has changed this year. The FEI has introduced two individual medals. All riders compete in the Grand Prix as the qualification for the individual medals, this competition also determines the team medals. The Grand Prix took place over two days, Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th of August. In order to take part in the World Championships, horse and rider must have attained a score of 64% or more at two Grand Prix tests at international level (CDI***) between 01/01/05 and 24/07/06.
Five judges scored the riders. In the team competition, the highest placed three riders’ scores were added, with the winning team having the highest total score.
The best 30 riders then go into the Grand Prix Special, with all riders starting on equal footing. The highest placed rider in this competition becomes World Champion in the Grand Prix Special, and of course silver and bronze medals are awarded.
The judges for the Grand Prix test and their respective positions were
E - Ghislaine Fourage - Netherlands
H - Linda Zang - USA
C - Stephen Clarke - Great Britain
M - Bernhard Maurel - France
B - Dr Dieter Schule - Germany
The 15 highest place riders then compete in the final test, the Grand Prix Kűr, however, only three riders from each country may take part. The Kűr must surely be the crowd favourite, allowing riders to add flair and pizzazz to their dressage routine by composing their own test to their chosen music. The winner is then awarded Kűr World Champion and the second and third place getters also rewarded with silver and bronze medals.
A total of 92 competitors from 33 nations were entered to partake in the 2006 World Dressage Championships. Twenty countries have nominated teams and a further thirteen countries have nominated individual riders. Before the competition began on Tuesday a number of horses had withdrawn.
Canada lost its team entry when two horses were withdrawn prior to the first vet inspection. Cynthia Ishoy and her horse Proton, and Jacqueline Brooks and her horse Gran Gesto both failed to present at Monday’s trot up. The two remaining Canadian team members will now compete as individuals.
The Ukraine lost rider Olga Klimko and Welcome from the team, they withdrew prior to the trot-up. Two Russian horses failed the vets inspection, Zorro and Inessa Poturaeva and Wat a Feeling and Tatiana Miloserdova. This puts the Russian team out of contention and the remaining riders must also compete as individuals.
Two horses were asked to represent on Tuesday morning, subsequently authorised to compete and then withdrawn prior to their respective tests. Calambo & Hiroshi Hoketsu for Japan and Volan & Sergey Buikevich for Kazakhstan. It was very disappointing not to have seen this black gelding, as he is a rare Akhal-Teke. This combination were to be the first representatives at the World Equestrian Championships for Kazakhstan since they gained independence from Russia.
The electronic scoring displays around the arena enabled spectators to see the judge’s marks for each movement as it happened. It also gave a progressive percentage and a ranking. This was a fantastic opportunity to be able to "get your eye in" with the standards of the top experienced international judges, and to see what the judges looked for in each movement.
It was interesting to see that the first part of the Grand Prix test scores higher than the second part. In some cases the top riders were cracking 80% in the early stages, then ultimately settling for about 5% lower overall. The walk movements in the second part had the most influence in lowering the total score. A poorly executed extended or collected walk could see a drop of up to 10% overall, this played a very big part in final percentages.
Large screens displayed the tests on three sides of the arena, enabling spectators to see all the tests very clearly. Just as well as the arena in the centre of the show grounds is a long way from the grandstands. Test highlights were displayed in slow motion as the riders were leaving the arena. Coverage by the cameras was fantastic and congratulations must go to the organising team for this feature.
Germany continues to dominate the international dressage scene, the majority of horses competing here are of German breeding, a large percentage of the successful foreign riders are German based or German trained. Whilst it is evident that the standard of dressage in the world has improved, is worth noting that the discard score for Germany was 69.208%.
You will find on the following pages pictures and a report about each horse that took part at this major event. There can only be one World Champion of Dressage decided every four years, however every combination featured in this report is a champion of their home country and made up the colourful and exciting field to give two days of the best Dressage any fan could wish for.
