Germany Wins Team Gold, Silver and Bronze for The Netherlands and Denmark

Germany wins Team Gold Picture Dominik Biss www.dressurstall-rothenberger.de

Last week German, Dutch and Danish juniors and Young Riders won all the medals at the EC for Juniors and Young Riders in Bern. Now the same three nations went for the team medals at the Pony European Championships in Fontainebleau in France.
After the first day of the team championship already Germany had taken the lead, allthough with the merest of a margin only. Today the gold team medal couldn't be missed after third rider Semmieke Rothenberger rode a very convincing test rewarded with 76,744% and taking the lead individually. Semmieke is no stranger around, as her sister Sanneke has a lot of gold medals under her belt already, the most recent being a gold team medal at the Young Riders last week. Her brother Sönke did celebrate ponymedals in dressage too, before he decided to change disciplines and go for the jumping.
The 12 year young Semmieke relies on golden medal pony Golden Girl, who was the winner of the individual gold in 2009 in Belgian Moorsele with cousin Antoinette ter Riele in the saddle.

Anna-Christina Abbelen with Dornik's Donovan, Nadine Krause with Danilo, Lena Charlotte Walterscheidt with Equestricons Lord Champion and Semmieke Rothenberger with Golden Girl repeated the gold team medal for Germany from last year. The last two pairs were also in the gold medal team of last year. The score for the Team-Gold was the average score of 74,744 %. The Netherlands came very close and took the team silver with an average score of 74,128 %, while Denmark averagely scored 72,752 for the bronze.
 German teamchef Cornelia Endres was too happy about the teamgold, especially because of the bad luck of last rider Lena Charlotte Walterscheidt (15). With her Pony Equestricons Lord Champion she relies on two silver medals of last year at the EC. But now she had to take care of the scratch result for her team. Her pony got very irritated and nervous because of flies which fell upon him when wind laid down at the end of the day and suddenly the atmosphere changed. „That's what can happen", Cornelia Endres said, „it will be better again tomorrow I'm sure!"


Dutch team chef Tineke Bartels was quite happy with the team silver too. „The Europrean top is strong and differences are small. All my riders performed to their best", she said.
Tomorrow and Saturday the individual medals are at stake, while the Freestyle to music on Suday will decide for the Freestyle medals for the best 15 pairs.

Watch the European Championships Ponies with the livestream from Fontainebleau at www.dressagedirect.com

You are also invited to take a look at the test of Semmieke Rothenberger and Golden Girl in Wiesbaden here.

RESULTS
1. Germany 74,7444%
2. The Netherlands 74,128%
3. Denmark 72,752%
4. Great Britain 70,333%
5. Belgium 69,393%
6. Switzerland 67,957%
7. France 66,906%
8. Norway 64,709%
9. Sweden 63,786%
10. Italy 63,453%
11. Austria 63,308%
12. Poland 62,521%
13. Hungary 59,0%

Find starting lists at the organiser's website at www.europoney2012.com

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