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Friday August 10, 2007

No American Glory at the 2007 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses

Jessica Jo Tate and Donnermuth Best Performing U.S. Combination

Text and Photos copyrighted: Astrid Appels/Eurodressage

This year, no American owned and ridden horses were able to draw the spotlight on them in the individual finals at the 2007 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, Germany, August 2-5, 2007. All American combinations stranded in the consolation finals with Jessica Jo Tate and Donnermuth as the highest placed U.S. pair of the show.

Tate and Donnermuth, who is bred by Eberhard Schulte-Böcker and owned by Candace Tate, placed seventh in the consolations finals after finishing 17th in the qualification class with a score of 7.86. In the first round, the black Rhinelander gelding by Don Bedo out of Wonne (by Worldchamp) excelled in his light footed, lovely trot work that featured outstanding traversal movements. The walk had good overtrack but the horse was not through on the bit and this persisted in the canter which became short and lacked forwardness.

In the consolation finals the next day, Tate was able ride the same fantastic trot out of Donnermuth which was naturally uphill and well engaged. The walk was good in its overstep but could have been more relaxed. In the canter the horse was tense and hurried, lacking ground cover and throughness over the back. The judges awarded the combination 8.1 for trot, 8.0 for walk, 7.4 for canter, 7.3 for submission and 7.7 for general impression. This totaled into an overall score of 7.7 and a 7th place.

Tate and Donnermuth were in Europe since mid-July preparing for the Championships at Michael Klimke's place. The combination was absolutely lovely to watch and shows enormous potential for the future.