Britain consolidated its position at the top of para dressage, bringing home 11 medals and plenty of hope for Rio

Grade Ia rider Sophie Christiansen plays a pivotal role in British team success, winning two individual golds on Athene Lindebjerg

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50 HORSE & HOUND . 24 September 2015

PARA EUROPEANS

Brilliant Brits remain unbeaten

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Para European Dressage ChampionshipsDeauville, France17-20 SeptemberBy Madeleine Hill

GREAT BRITAIN’S undefeated world, European and Paralympic champions retained their

position as the best in the world taking home team gold and 10 individual gold and silver medals from Deauville in Normandy, France.

Everyone is aware of the growing strength of other nations, and so chef d’equipe and World Class Programme manager David Hunter was delighted with the team’s performance.

“I’m immensely proud, we came here with some very experienced riders and horses and some younger horses too, but everyone rose to the occasion,” he said.

“The outstanding results of the Ia riders gave us this great result and they make a massive difference to us, and of course Lee Pearson and Sophie Wells, and the commitment of everyone behind the scenes has all contributed.”

Britain has been the strongest nation in Paralympic dressage since its inception, due to the historically strong tradition of Riding for the Disabled and the lottery-funded World Class Programme. The fi rst gold medals were taken home in triumph from Atlanta 1996, when para dressage was fi rst contested, and Britain have won every team gold and many individual medals ever since. Now other countries, notably the Netherlands and Germany, have been catching up, and so the pressure is always on.

Grade Ia rider Anne Dunham was at the fi rst Paralympics.

“I was on the team that was the fi rst to take gold home in Atlanta and the last thing I want is to be on the fi rst team that goes home without a gold medal,” she said.

Focus and accuracyTHE strength of the Ia riders secured this emphatic win in Deauville. Sophie Christiansen and Anne Dunham, both riding in the grade for the riders with the most physical impairment, and therefore riding a walk-only test, scored the highest marks in the

Great Britain

Netherlands

Germany

Great Britain

TEAM MEDALS

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team tests. Both riders are very focused and accurate. Watching Sophie and Anne carefully would convince any rider that riding a walk-only test, maintaining the same rhythm throughout and riding exactly to each marker, and riding precise circles is not as easy as you might think. These two experts in walk-only tests never throw away a single mark.

Sophie Christiansen has had the ride on Athene Lindebjerg, an eight-year-old Dutch warmblood by Gribaldi, for just six months.

“I was really quite nervous in the team test, not knowing how she would react,” said Sophie. “Six months is not long for me to get to know her, so to score over 75% at our first major championships together is great. I’m thrilled with her for coping with the intense atmosphere; it’s all about getting her used to everything — the flags, flowerpots and spectators. She’s only eight and any horse can have a scary moment.”

“It’s a real sense of achievement to be back at the top of the sport again,” said Anne after her team test. “It’s been really good fun, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.”

In the grade II and IV both Natasha Baker and Sophie Wells also have new young rides. Sophie

Wells decided only a week before coming to Deauville that her top, very experienced horse, Valerius, was not right and so brought eight-year-old C Fatal Attraction, a dark bay Fidertanz KWPN gelding owned by Charlotte Hogg.

“He kept his cool, there’s a lot that could have happened that didn’t,” she said. “This is his first big championship and he’s still very green. He needs more experience but I feel there is much more to come.”

For another team veteran, Lee Pearson riding Zion — an 11-year-old KWPN gelding by Flemmingh owned by Mrs Chinn and Mrs Pearson — it was a slightly more disappointing competition. Although he eventually went home with two silvers, he was knocked back into fourth after his team test.

There are no medals awarded for the team tests and the riders regard them partly as a warm-up

for the next two days. The team test scores are combined with the individual scores to make up the team’s total marks and a team medal is awarded, so the pressure was on for medals in the individual tests. This was the first time that another team — the Dutch — had finished the first day in such a strong position.

Dutch team coach Joyce Heuitink said: “We are trying to get close to the Brits, but we don’t have the [grade] Ias,” she said. “We are happy with three wins in the team competition and a third individually today. We won our first team medal [a silver] last year on the first day at Caen [World Equestrian Games] but no first places, so this already feels like an improvement, tomorrow everything can change.”

The British team finished the day on 223.487, with the Dutch on 219.738, followed by the Norwegians on 216.581.

TALKING POINTQuality horses are vital

AS the standard of para dressage improves in other countries, and more and more nations take up the sport — 20 countries competed at these championships — the question is always how the Brits are going to retain their superiority.

David Hamer is British Dressage’s director of para dressage and has been involved with the paras for 12 years.

“The only thing that will help us win medals is to have good-quality, well-trained horses that are being ridden correctly,” he said. “There are no tricks; riders just have to ride well. We get our riders as physically optimal as we can off-horse to maximise their potential and ability and we get the horses as physically correct as possible too.

“Now we’ve got to keep the flow of quality horses coming through. We have great support from the Lady Joseph Trust, and other owners like Christian Landolt, Charlotte Hogg and Di Redfern, and we are very lucky to have owners and supporters like them and the UK Sport lottery funding. But we are always looking for quality horses.”

‘He kept his cool’: grade IV rider Sophie Wells on C Fatal Attraction, a new ride for her at championship level, en route to silver

Grade III champion Hannelore Brenner on the 20-year-old Women Of The World

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ON day two the Brits won one gold and four silvers; these scores combined with the team scores

secured team gold. Once again it was the Ia riders that had the highest scores of the day. For both riders their physical condition — Sophie has cerebral palsy and Anne has multiple sclerosis — means they have to work hard at controlling their bodies and not interfering with their horse’s movements. They scored highly for consistency and accuracy. The Italian judge at C Katherine Lucheschi said that Anne and Sophie are always impressive.

“What makes them so special is their experience, talent, training, and competition skills,” she said. “They have the whole package.”

Sophie Christiansen has had the ride on Di Redfern’s Athene Lindebjerg for six months. This lovely mare, with the necessary brilliant walk, was found by the Assoulines in Denmark. Last year she won the national elementary championship title under their groom Jess Thompson. Sophie scored just under 80% here.

“I’m so proud of my team,” she said, “I have a new horse and new trainer [Linsay Coleridge-Smith] so to win gold is brilliant.”

Anne Dunham won silver on

LJT Lucas Normark (see box), an impressively consistent horse.

“It’s just practice, practice, practice,” she said. “I don’t let my body alter its rhythm, I have to relax. It worked today and he was pretty calm, cool and collected.”

In the grade II competition, Dutch rider Rixt van der Horst took gold on her 14-year-old KWPN gelding Uniek NOP (by Gribaldi). Natasha Baker, riding Sookie St James, was less than 3% behind. Rixt, who won gold at WEG, has a condition that causes her to have spasms and problems with balance.

“Last year I had only had Uniek for a year,” she explained. “We know each other now, and we have really improved.”

Natasha was thrilled with her mare, who is only seven.

“I never expected to be that close,” she said. “My aim was a clear round; it’s a new partnership, but she gives me so much confidence.”

In grade Ib Lee Pearson had a better day and moved up to silver-medal position on Zion, but it was his long-term rival, the Austrian rider Pepo Puch on his

18-year-old Hanoverian mare Fine Feeling S, who took gold.

“I have no feeling in my arms and legs after I broke three vertebrae in an eventing accident,” he said. “I used to train horses, but now they train me!”

In grade III, German rider Hannelore Brenner and her veteran chestnut mare Women Of The World won, keeping her unbroken record. Dutch rider Frank Hosmar took the gold in grade IV on his KWPN gelding Alphaville NOP with 73.76%, while Sophie Wells took silver.

IN THE GENESRegally bred

BRITISH team veteran Anne Dunham rides the Lady Joseph Trust’s 14-year-old Knapstrupper stallion LJT Lucas Normark (Ravaldi x Stella Normark). This was their first really big championship together and the horse seems imperturbable. Although a breeding stallion, he is very reliable and calm — characteristics which Anne puts down to the breed.

“These horses were bred to pull the Danish royal family’s carriages, to be very calm in a big atmosphere — I think it’s in his genes.”

ONE TO WATCHKathryn Gallagher

IT was a first major and international championship for a young rider new to the Irish team — 23-year-old Kathryn Gallagher, who recently changed her passport from British to Irish. She rides 12-year-old KWPN gelding Waragon, and the pair were third in the music freestyle at the CPEDI3* at Bishop Burton in August. At home Kathryn trains with David and Serena Pincus. Irish chef d’equipe Dara Kearney is delighted to have her on board. “She’s very talented and she’s a team player. Waragon is so well behaved, well mannered and well schooled, I’m sure we’ll see them on the podium one day.”

Practice and work at control in the saddle pay off for grade Ia rider Anne Dunham and LJT Lucas Normark, who take the silver

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INDIVIDUAL TESTS

Gold in the bag for BritainBritain’s grade Ia riders secure the team’s position on the top of the podium

RESULTSFEI INDIVIDUAL TEST GRADE Ia1, Sophie Christiansen (GBR) Athene Lindebjerg 79.56%2, Anne Dunham (GBR) LJT Lucas Normark 76.26%3, Elke Philipp (GER) Regaliz 73.17%

FEI INDIVIDUAL TEST GRADE Ib1, Pepo Puch (AUT) Fine Feeling S 74.55%2, Lee Pearson (GBR) Zion 71.72%3, Nicole den Dulk (NED) Wallace NOP 70.62%

FEI INDIVIDUAL TEST GRADE II1, Rixt van der Horst (NED) Uniek NOP 75.54%2, Natasha Baker (GBR) Sookie St James 72.85%3, Stefan Zeibig (GER) Feel Good 4 71.51%

FEI INDIVIDUAL TEST GRADE III1, Hannelore Brenner (GER) Women Of The World 72.73%2, Susanne J Sunesen (DEN) Thy’s Que Faire 70.97%3, Lotte Krijnsen (NED) Rosenstolz 70.24%

FEI INDIVIDUAL TEST GRADE IV1, Frank Hosmar (NED) Alphaville NOP 73.5242, Sophie Wells (GBR) C Fatal Attraction 71.8333, Carolin Schnarre (GER) Del Rusch 70.048

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JUDGE’S VIEWAnne Prain, president of the ground jury

“THE standard was quite good — we didn’t have any results below 64% and we went up to 80%, which is quite high,” she said. “We had some new combinations like Sophie and Fatal Attraction and some old ones like Frank and Alphaville, but even the old combinations keep improving.

“Even with three new horses Great Britain is still on top, which means the riding and training is good. The Dutch also have a good standard of horses, there are just small things to correct and improve. At the end of the day we, the judges, still expect to see the dressage scales of training. Even in grade Ia the horses must be regular, supple, on the bit and active, be able to bend and have good balance.”

THE freestyle gives the riders the opportunity to show what they can really do. In grade Ia Sophie

Christiansen threw in quarter pirouettes, and Anne Dunham and fourth-placed German combination Elke Philipp and Regaliz put lateral movements into their tests. But Sophie’s accuracy, correct way of going and consistent rhythm gave her the edge. She was the only rider at these championships to break the 80% barrier.

In the Ib, Pepo Puch once again had the edge over Lee Pearson. Although his body moves much more than Lee’s in the saddle, his test was more fluent and his transitions were sharper.

It was unlucky for Natasha Baker in the grade II tests that she had to go early both mornings. It was cold and because she has neurological damage from her condition — transverse myelitis — her legs can go into spasm when they get cold, which happened to her just before she went in.

“I couldn’t move at all, it felt like my body had gone rigid,” she said. “Sookie carried me. I can’t believe we got through it, she did all the work — I just steered.”

Natasha still scored an excellent mark for such a young horse of 74.45%. Rixt van der Horst put in an impressive performance, performing a half-pass straight after she entered. She produced an immensely powerful extended trot across the diagonal and also rode some pirouettes.

In the outdoor arena, Dutch rider Frank Hosmar rode Alphaville very forwards to strong music and a line of changes helped to convince the judges he could take gold.

Sophie Wells was less than a mark behind, having also performed a very impressive test, doing her pirouettes to the beat of a bell tolling, and performing a walk to canter transition precisely on the beat of the music.

“I love the music, you can show your individuality,” said Sophie. “This is new music for Rio composed by Tom Hunt, and he’s done a great job. Fatal Attraction has so much energy and power and he’s so expressive.” H&H

RESULTSFEI FREESTYLE TEST GRADE Ia1, Sophie Christiansen (GBR) Athene Lindebjerg 80.7%2, Anne Dunham (GBR) LJT Lucas Normark 76.3%3, Sara Morganti (ITA) Royal Delight 76.25%

FEI FREESTYLE TEST GRADE Ib1, Pepo Puch (AUT) Fine Feeling S 77.75%2, Lee Pearson (GBR) Zion 74.05%3, Nicole den Dulk (NED) Wallace NOP 72.1%

FEI FREESTYLE TEST GRADE II1, Rixt van der Horst (NED) Uniek NOP 79%2, Natasha Baker (GBR) Sookie St James 74.45%3, Stefan Zeibig (GER) Feel Good 4 73.8%

FEI FREESTYLE TEST GRADE III1, Hannelore Brenner (GER) Women Of The World 77.95%2, Susanne Sunesen (DEN) Thy’s Que Faire 75.1%3, Lotte Krijnsen (NED) Rosenstolz 74.15%

FEI FREESTYLE TEST GRADE IV1, Frank Hosmar (NED) Alphaville NOP 79.95%2, Sophie Wells (GBR) C Fatal Attraction 79%3, Carolin Schnarre (GER) Del Rusch 73.15%

British riders collect one gold and four silvers in the freestyle classes, with Natasha Baker battling against the odds

Former eventer Pepo Puch takes double gold in the grade Ib category on Fine Feeling S

Grade II rider Natasha Baker achieves silver despite going into spasm before her test

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FREESTYLE

Consistent Christiansen tops 80%

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