{"id":66659,"date":"2023-07-02T23:46:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T13:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=66659"},"modified":"2023-07-03T12:50:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T02:50:58","slug":"aachen-freestyle-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2023\/07\/aachen-freestyle-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Aachen \u2013 Freestyle Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Christopher Hector wrote the words, Rebecca Ashton took the photos<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that this is the last day of our Aachen +<\/strong> trip. The first day of the plus bit was so good that the majority of our travelers suggested that I couldn\u2019t come up with another day as good as that. Master dressage trainer, Johan Hamminga with the help of his partner, Jennifer Sekreve, gave a wonderful demonstration of the classical training principles in action, before Johan gave an extraordinary lecture on the conformation and balance of the dressage horse before agreeing to a request from our visitors to demonstrate two reined lunging. It was an exhilarating day.<\/p>\n

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Johan Hamminga talks about what to look for in the conformation of the dressage horse<\/em><\/p>\n

That was followed by visits to two of the powerhouse studs in the world of dressage. Joop van Uytert\u2019s stud has been home to some of the most influential stallions in Dutch Dressage breeding \u2013 Gribaldi, Krack C, Partout, United, and is now home to one of the dominators \u2013 Vivaldi, who we saw\u2026<\/p>\n

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United at home<\/em><\/p>\n

We then moved on to visit my friend Eug\u00e8ne Reesink, who has bred, discovered, or sold about 35 international stars, including, Vitalis and Vamos Amigos, and now has an exciting lineup of cutting-edge stallions.<\/p>\n

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Vaderland we saw Dinja van Liere riding him<\/em><\/p>\n

Eug\u00e8ne is one of those people with ideas bubbling out of their heads all the time, our travelers were entranced as he talked about one of the major health problems facing dressage breeding, shivers, a problem that no one, particularly the breeding associations, wants to talk about. More to come on that one…<\/p>\n

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The next highlight was a visit to Carina and Fabian Scholz at Sportpferde Scholz. This young couple are making a name for themselves, producing horses that have been trained gradually along classical principles, and it was wonderful to see when Fabian worked a gelding in hand that the changes of balance he set out to achieve, actually happened. It was the same when we watched Carina\u2019s ride her horse into a totally different balance and way of going.<\/p>\n

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But maybe our best day was the next when we were privileged to visit one of the modern masters, Hubertus has not been riding recently and the most I hoped for was to see him school the talented group of riders he has assembled at Fleyenhof, it was very special to watch him ride a full-schooling session on a Grand Prix horse. Sad that the poisonous digi world extends even to this little oasis of civilised riding, you are welcome to take videos and photos for your own use, but please no faceback or internet. And of course we respect our host\u2019s wishes and thank him again for riding for us…<\/p>\n

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Here’s the foal that one of our happy band of travellers, Judy Sonnefeld\u00a0bought.The foal is by Prince Samarant from a Benicio mare. Some of our group were astonished to find that the prices in Germany were much, much lower than in Australia…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The next day as we sat down to a welcoming glass of ros\u00e9, at our table at the most prestigious Westfalien foal show, at the Beckmann stud, the sound track switched to Walzing Matilda, and our welcome was doubly warm when one of our group bought a stunning foal, and the foal then went on to be crowned premium foal of the show. It was a fabulous day stunning mares, and exceptional foals.<\/p>\n

What a week, then it was on our bus again heading down the highway to Aachen to the Show of all Shows, CHIO Aachen. We\u2019ve had a great week here, and now, the absolute highlight, the Dressage Freestyle.<\/p>\n

Oh dear, the judging has been all over the place, we were hoping the judges would get their act together over night, but with five horses gone in the Freestyle, we have four different \u2018winners\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Time for the big kids, Frederic and Bluetooth, more nothing music, but it is proof that correct training can really change a horse for the better. Light contact, lovely self-carriage, soft, supple, rhythmic. While the horsework tells a story, the soundtrack is just cleverly synchronised noise. Bingo, all five judges have them first, 84.480.<\/p>\n

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Isabell and Quantaz, at last a score that sounds like it is saying something, there\u2019s even an underscore for the walk work.\u00a0 Fabulous one-and-a-half pirouettes, dead straight ones into a little levade-ish something. Not sure the piaffe pirouettes really work, but it has been a grand test. Bonnie Tyler supplied the musical inspiration,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Oh, it’s a heartache
\nNothing but a heartache
\nLove him ’til your arms break
\nThen he lets you down<\/em><\/p>\n

Actually Quantaz is in fine self carriage, no chance of Isabell\u2019s arms being strained\u2026 A new leader on 84.84. Four out of five judges have her ahead on Artistic marks, but they split on the Technical, two have her first, three in third.<\/p>\n

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Charlotte Dujardin and Imhoptep, the entrance light and gay, as is the music, the trot flows but it would be so much nicer with the horse\u2019s neck a bit longer. Really lowering the quarters in the piaffe \u2013 and we haven\u2019t seen a lot of that \u2013 super unhurried passage. I don\u2019t know what the music is, but I love it, the effect is magic. Super one and a half pirouette, expansive ones, tight tight half pass. Piaffe demi pirouette then reverse and piaffe the other way\u2026 amazing! 88.415 Five technical firsts, five artistic firsts.<\/p>\n

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Charlotte Fry and Everdale. Really wide and swinging from side to side in the piaffe. Where Charlotte\u2019s ride was an exercise in harmony, this seems a bit of a battle and the stallion looks hollow backed, high behind and out behind to me. Just behind Charlotte with 87.515, two judges actually think her technical work better!?<\/p>\n

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Therese and Dante Weltino, what a lovely harmonious picture they make, passage to piaffe, and out in that huge trot he has, look at how sweet the contact is. Love the horse, can live without the music. Get\u2019s a bit tangled in the canter pirouette, almost doing a counter canter for a couple of strides. I have actually seen that wonderful Portuguese horseman, Rodrigo Torres ride a counter canter pirouette at home but I don\u2019t think it would be welcomed at Aachen. Still it\u2019s a lovely test from Therese.<\/p>\n

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Jessica and Dalera, perfectly in synch with their score, like Edith they have no regrets<\/em>, why would they, they are ranked number one. And Christopher resist the temptation to play around with Piaf, and piaffe\u2026 It\u2019s a little hymn to joie de vivre, a message of hope when not so far away, brave \u00a0Ukranians are trying very hard to be hopeful. It\u2019s not just the music. Jessy is working at a 10.0 level of difficulty, and the crowd claps along with the great chanteuse for that final centre line, into an explosion of rapturous applause. And an equally rapturous response from the jury, 90.820, \u00a0while the usually enthusiastic \u00a0spectators can only manage 89.038 for their scoring.<\/p>\n

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What an act to follow. Still Nanna and the horse sent home to be a schoolmaster, continue to shine. Zepter has such a wonderfully even, clear passage, the work is so clean, so correct. Here\u2019s a horse with great engagement, great rhythm, every step spot on the beat. Thank you Nanna, with your gelding, you have given us so much pleasure at this Aachen, and even managed to open the eyes of a couple of judges to what real dressage looks like. \u00a0Hope we see you next year\u2026<\/p>\n

And what an Aachen it is going to be in 2024 \u00a0in the final countdown for the Games, with team selections for half a dozen countries on the line.<\/p>\n

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Yes, we are running a tour, to put your name on the info list email<\/strong> reception@organisationunlimited.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Hector wrote the words, Rebecca Ashton took the photos It\u2019s hard to believe that this is the last day of our Aachen + trip. The first day of the plus bit was so good that the majority of our travelers suggested that I couldn\u2019t come up with another day as good as that. Master […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-dressage"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66659"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66676,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659\/revisions\/66676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}