Dressage rider Dorothee Schneider wins the Grand Prix Special at the Whitsun tournament in Wiesbaden. For the experienced Amazon it is the second success in this test after 2018.
Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - Team Olympic champion Dorothee Schneider was a little surprised by her victory in the most difficult dressage test at the international horse show in Wiesbaden. "I wasn't sure if he could cope with this dressage arena with so much flair and the close spectators," she said on Monday after her successful ride with twelve-year-old First Romance. For Schneider it was the second success after 2018 in the Grand Prix Special.
The judges rated her performance with almost 75 percent. The 53-year-old won just ahead of Isabell Werth from Rheinberg, who had saddled her hope for the next generation, the Superb. Not even half a percentage point separated the two. "If she shows her potential, she will also be fantastic in competitions," said Werth, the most successful dressage rider in the world, about her ten-year-old mare. However, the horse has hardly any tournament experience, so it is still missing the adjustment in the test. Nicole Wego-Engelmeyer from Hagen a.T.W. with Saphira Royal.
Australian dressage rider Kristy Oatley excelled in the Grand Prix Freestyle on Sunday evening. The 43-year-old who lives in Lütjensee scratched the 80 percent mark with her proven Du Soleil. That was easily enough for the win. At the award ceremony that followed, she said goodbye to her 18-year-old horse, with which she had competed at world championships, World Cup finals and the Olympic Games. Laurence Vanommeslaghe from Belgium came second with Edison, followed by Anja Plönzke from Heidenrod with Fahrenheit.
