Horse & Hound – 22 August 2019

40 Horse&Hound 22 August 2019

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by

leszekwojcik.pl

DRESSAGE

PONYEUROPEAN

CHAMPIONSHIPS

13-18 August

PonyEuropeanChampionships,

Strzegom,Poland

INa historichat-trick,Denmark

collectedtheirfirst-everteam

gold,aswellastwoindividual

goldscourtesyof15-year-old

AlexanderYdeHelgstrand.

Lastyear’ssilvermedallistwas

unbeatableinallthreetests,never

scoringbelow77%andbreaking

the80%barrierinthefreestyle

ontheexperiencedAdrianoB (De

AngeloB x FlyingDream).

TheDanes,unusually,werethe

favourites,interruptinga German

dominationthat,since1990,had

previouslybeenbrokenonlyby

GreatBritainfouryearsagoand

theNetherlandsin2010.

“Itwasreallyclosebetween

alltheteams,soit wasquite

stressful,butit endedupgreatfor

us,”saidAlexander,whocomes

fromdressageroyaltyasthesonof

AndreasHelgstrand.

“It’sa greatachievementfrom

theDanishponyriders,”chipped

inDenmark’schefd’equipe

RigmorKristensen.“Wedidn’t

winthroughlackofcompetition:

Germanychallengedwithnew

and young riders who showed nice

DanishridersfendofftheGermansandtheDutchto

sweep the board, with the Brits just outoftheteammedals

rhythm,andtheDutchpresented

somereallyniceponies.Butthe

Danishriderskepttheirfocus.

Parentsknowthattheremustbea

propertrainingset-upindailylife

toreachthatlevel.Denmarkhave

somegoodponies,butalsoriders

whoworkhard:youcan’tjustbuy

a goodponyandletit gobyitself.”

TheNetherlandstooksilver

andGermanywererelegated

tobronze.Justoutsideofthe

podium,Britainfinishedfourth,

withconsistentperformancesby

AnnabellaPidgleyonhermother

Sarah’sCognacIXandIzzy

LickleyonMisterSnowman,both

onover71%,followedbyHolly

Kerslake(ValhallasZorro),alsoon

70%,andBonnieBourne(Fin C

WE)onjustover69%.

‘APOLISHEDFREESTYLE’

THEtopthreeplacingsremained

identicalacrosstheindividual

contests:Alexandertookboth

individualgolds,thesilvermedals

wenttohisteam-mateLiva

AddyGuldagerNielsenriding

D’Artagnan 187, while Shona

BennerfromGermanyandDer

KleineSunnyboyWEtookhome

thebronzes.

Alexanderrodea polished

freestyle,withaninterestingly

choreographedcantertour

sandwichedbetweenshoulder-ins

onthequarterlineandhalf-pass

zig-zagsatthestartandtheendof

thetest.

“Ididn’texpecttowinthree

times,”saidAlexander,who

hasalreadybeencompetingat

internationaljuniorlevelonthe

DanishmareGrevensSaVa.“I

chosemymusicandI’vehadit for

quitesometimenow—Adriano

knowstheprogrammeandthe

music,andit reallyfitshim.Heis

a niceandrelaxedpony,butwhen

he’sinthearenaattheshow he’s

fightingforpoints.”

‘FOCUSEDYETPOSITIVE’

IZZYLICKLEYfinishedbestof

Britsinthekür,makinghistoryas

thefirstBritishridertocompete

threedifferentponiesatEuropean

Championships.

“Thiswasthemostamazing

show,witha fabulousteam

atmosphere,”saidIzzy,whotrains

with her mother Nicola. “Snowy

BySELENESCARSI

British rider makes history

RESULTS

Teamtest(ATissot,E Ebert,J

Graham,L Tornblad,O Hillier).—1,

AdrianoB (AY Helgstrand)DEN

77.54;2,D’Artagnan 187 (LA Guldager

Nielsen)DEN76.02;3,DerKleine

SunnyboyWE(SBenner)GER75.8;

14,CognacIX(APidgley)GBR71.54;

15,MisterSnowman(I Lickley)GBR

71.31;ValhallasZorro(HKerslake)

GBR70.02;FinC WE(BBourne)

GBR69.4;46,Valido’sStarlight

(MJobling-Purser)IRL66.05;49,

MaverickS (SO’Toole)IRL65.11.

teams.—1, DEN226.82(AdrianoB,

D’Artagnan187,LykkejoejsDreamOf

Dornik/NThomassen,Morgensterns

Dakar/TR Hare);2,NED225.77(Elin’s

Noncisdador/MSchelstraete,Champ

OfDaily/FVanDerKuijl,Colourfull

Cannonball/RHeiden,KingStayerhof’s

Jango/EVanRooij);3,GER224.91

(DerKleineSunnyboyWE,Zinq

MassimilianoFH/LPBaumguertel,

DailyPleasureWE/A Busch-Kuffner,

DaddyMoon/ROatley);4,GBR

212.88.indtest.—1, AdrianoB 78.21;

2,D’Artagnan 187 77.35;3,DerKleine

SunnyboyWE76.29;14,CognacIX

71.43;15,MisterSnowman71.4;18,

FinC WE69.89;20,ValhallasZorro

69.64;34,Valido’sStarlight67.75;37,

MaverickS 67.56.kür.—1, AdrianoB

82.14;2,D’Artagnan 187 80.65;3,Der

KleineSunnyboyWE79.07;10,Mister

Snowman73.15;11,CognacIX72.98;

17,FinC WE70.09.

wasfantastic,witha personalbest

intheindividualtestanda 10thin

thekür.Hehassomuchmoreto

giveandI can’twaitforthenew

seasontostart.”

Izzywasfollowedcloselyby

AnnabellaPidgleyandCognac,

whoscoreda fractionbelow73%

for11thplace.

Alsobreakingthe70%barrier

inthemusicwasteamdebutant

BonnieBourne,whosummed

uptheEurosexperience:“The

campandteam-mateswerevery

welcomingandtheatmosphere

wasfocusedyetpositive.Chef

d’equipeCarolineBellwasso

efficientathelpingeaseour

nerves;theshowwasbeautifully

organised,andourteamvet

andgroomsgotalltheponiesto

Polandinreallygoodshape.

“Thiswasmylastchanceto

maketheteamsoit wasa real

privilegetoqualifyforthekür,

withmusicarrangedbyRos

EmeryKay.FinandI feltrelaxed

andconfident,and70%wasthe

icingonthecake,”concluded

Bonnie,whocreditedhome

trainerJoyceWood,travelling

trainerTraceyCollisandteam

trainerCliveHalsallfor“helping

andinspiring”.

ThetwoIrishrepresentatives,

MarthaJobling-Purseron

formerBritishteamponyValido’s

StarlightandSadhbhO’Tooleon

MaverickS,finished34thand

37threspectively in the individual

test.H&H

IzzyLickleyis bestoftheBrits

with10thinthemusictestaboard

MisterSnowman,becomingthe

firstBritishcompetitortoride

threedifferentponiesatthe

Europeans in the process