WELLINGTON Fla.--Germany won the gold medal at the dressage Nations Cup over the silver medal team from USA, while Sweden won the bronze medal with Canada fourth at the Global Dressage Festival on Thursday, Feb. 22.
Felicitas Hendricks on Drombusch OLD (Photo by Susan Sickle)Germany won the gold medal for the fourth consecutive year with 213.369 points.
The was US team was second with 210.978 points, while Sweden’s 198.956 points secured the bronze.
The Nations Cup format has been simplified for the first time since the series first came to Wellington in 2014.
Formerly, countries could put forward horse and rider combinations at small tour or big tour, but the new format requires all competitors to compete at grand prix level.
The placings are now decided by adding up the top three scores from each team’s riders.
Both Germany and the United States fielded four team members, while Sweden and Canada had three members each.
The CDIO Grand Prix Special and Freestyle classes this weekend will be individual contests under the overhauled format.
THE 23-YEAR-OLD Felicitas Hendricks on Drumbusch OLD led the Germans, topping the Grand Prix individually with 72.087%, while Anna-Christina Abbelen scored 70.825% on Sam Donnerhall and Frederic Wandres scored 70.456% on Total Recallon.
Dressage Nations Cup podium (Photo by Susan Sickle)Michael Klimke on Domino 957 was the drop score 0f 67.565% for the winning nation, and he was also the Chef d’Equipe.
Hendricks, who was also on last year’s winning Nations Cup team on her senior squad debut, said, “It’s a great honor to be back on the senior German team. I had a fantastic team with great teammates and team spirit. The scores are reflecting our improvement, but it’s not just about the scores. I was able to do a more detailed test today than last year, so we improved our Grand Prix for sure."
“There are still things to work on and we’re far from being perfect, but we keep working on it,” she said. “This season can’t really be going any better for me. It’s a great honor to be showing this horse in this fantastic ring. He’s so happy to be showing, and that’s the best feeling in the world when they’re willing to give their all in the ring. So whenever a mistake happens, you know that’s on me.”
The 36-year-old Wandres was riding Total Recall for the first time in competition after borrowing him specifically for the Nations Cup.
“When we saw that we have to bring four grand prix horses, that meant for us we really have to bring four good ones,” said Wandres. “I have Bluetooth here with me, but I have another plan with him, so I asked Jemma, our Australian friend, if I can maybe have the ride on Total Recall and she directly said yes. I really liked this test ride and there is a lot more in that horse.”
Like Hendricks, Abbelen was also representing Germany for the second year in a row.
“Sam is really strong in all the extensions like the extended trot, extended canter,” said the 28-year-old. “He has a great passage, and I really could celebrate my half-passes. I’m super honored to be on this team and it’s always fun because we know each other from home. We all come from the same region in Germany, from the Münster area.”
For the silver medal winning U.S. team, Jan Ebeling on Jubi’s Tenacity scored 70.087%, Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee scored 71.326%, Erin Nichols on Elian Royale scored 69.565%, a new career-high score, and Jennifer Williams 0n Joppe K scored 68.652% for the drop score.
USA was led by Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig in their first team outing of the 2024 competition season.
Kohmann, who is 35, finished second individually, with his 71.326%, a new personal best on Dünensee.
“I’m super thrilled to be in a situation with these guys, some old teammates,” said Kohmann, who represented Germany on Nations Cup teams at AGDF until he switched nationalities three years ago. “Today my half-passes were great and the pirouettes were super."
“Every show I feel more comfortable riding these movements and push a little bit more. Every time it’s a bit better. To be the anchor rider for my team made me so proud. And to get the top score? I’m just thrilled,” he said.
The bronze medal winning Swedish team consisted of Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfvén, 70.5% on Devanto, Caroline Darcourt, 70.152% on Lord Django, and Christina Devine, 58.304% on Slæbækgåard’s Santino.
A good sized start list of 19 competitors competed in the CDI3* Grand Prix.
Going second to last, Great Britain’s Susan Pape on Harmony V-Plus shot to the top of the leaderboard with 71.391%, 2.6 percentage points clear of the eventual runner-up, Pablo Gómez Molina of Spain on Servus Ymas, who scored 68.783%.
Yvonne Losos De Muñiz was third on 68.326%.
“For his age, Harmony V-Plus doesn’t have so much mileage in grand prix, so I’m very happy,” said Pape, who will return to her German base in two weeks. “The pirouettes were really nice and he was in a good frame. He felt confident even though he’s not been doing grand prix for very long.
“I did have a blip in the ones and it was totally my mistake, but other than that he was so concentrated in the ring. There’s still lots to improve, but I think the quality is there once he has more strength.”
Pape has been riding the V-Plus since he was 4, and their partnership is gelling well.
“He really is with me — except for the jog, where he’s not very nice — but other than that he’s such a sweetheart,” said Pape, who trains with her husband Inge and Gareth Hughes. “You depend upon your horse as a partner. Everybody has to stay healthy and the training needs to get to the point where you can be really confident about everything, but V-plus is definitely in a really good way.”
