At the subtop competition in Mariënheem Lisanne Veenje and Friesen Exclusiv Wirdmer (Beart 411) achieved 60,9%, the highest scores in the Grand Prix. In combination with the Inter 2 this took them to a second position. What´s more, this lady rider also received some nice jury comments to take home.
Small hiccup
‘The test felt very good. At the start of the half pass we had a little hiccup. That led to some miscommunication and my horse included some strides of passage. We unfortunately lost a few points there because it was not a fluent transition. Wirdmer was very responsive to my leg today which helped to achieve a very smooth transition from piaffe to passage. There was another little hitch in the pirouette. Because he was so sharp he threw in a couple of extra flying changes, which was not quite right. These little mistakes were the reason why we didn´t get the marks I had been hoping for.’
Nice comments from the jury
Apart from these little hitches the rider considered it a very fine test. ‘Later on I received some nice comments from the judges, they said the presentation of the test was very good and ridden with beautiful technique. I was a bit disappointed with the scores, but since scores for half pass count double little mistakes there make your scores plummet. The remarks from the judges are good feedback to help with my future training.’
Wirdmer fan e Boppelannen
Veenje rides the Friesian stallion with Studbook name Wirdmer fan e Boppelannen for Austrian Friesen Exklusiv owned by the Prexl family. ‘ He was trained to subtop level in Austria, after that he came to me to try and reach the highest levels. My aim is to keep scoring over 65% and finally start him at international level. Wirdmer hasn´t been with me for very long, he arrived in April 2018. Still, in the past few months we have always been in the top ribbons, usually first or second places.’
‘For the owner it´s also nice to see his horse being successful,’ the rider says. ‘He always tells me that he can see we are growing into a stronger combination and we´re getting him to perform to his maximum capacity. He is really pleased and simply loves the fact that Wirdmer is doing so well. That´s why he wants him to stay for now.’
Pas de Deux
On March 16th the combination is planning to take part in the Pas de Deux at Indoor Brabant. ‘Our main focus right now is to achieve more self-carriage in extended paces, he needs to develop more of a closed outline.’
His rider has great plans for the future. ‘I´m also riding another Friesian which I would like to start in Inter 1 at the end of March. He has already managed the one-time tempi changes as well as piaffe and passage so my aim is to reach Grand Prix level this summer. All the exercises are established so I reckon this is achievable.’
Source: Hoefslag / Copying without stating source and without authorisation from webredactie@mediaprimair.nl not allowed.
