U.S. Six-Year-Olds Perform Commendably at First Day of Competition in Verden

Sabine Schut-Kery and Alice Homble's Sanceo (San Remo x Rivera by Ramiro's Son II) Photo: Genia Ply Photography

Verden, Germany - Two promising U.S. young dressage horses went toe-to-toe with their European counter-parts today in the Prize of Mrs. Madeleine Winter-Schulze at the FEI World Dressage Championships for Young Horses in Verden, Germany. Competing in the six-year-old championships, Florentinus V and Sanceo produced admirable work on Friday but were unable to crack the top 12 in order to automatically move onto Sunday's final. However, both horses will get a second chance to earn a spot in the final when they compete in Saturday's Small Field Final; the Prize of the company ZEDAN.

Florentinus V (Florestan-Lady in Red by Londonderry) barely missed making the final, finishing the day in 13th place with a score of 8.18. The impressive Westphalian stallion was once again ridden by his owner Jennifer Hoffman (San Diego, CA). The pair has recently been training in Germany and know very well the high standard they are up against, they return to the ring Saturday eyeing a place in the final.
 
Ridden by Sabine Schut-Kery, Sanceo (San Remo- St. Pr. Hauptstutbuch by Ramiro's Son II) was competing outside the U.S. for the first time. The Hanoverian stallion owned by Alice Womble earned an overall score of 7.6. Schut-Kery (Thousand Oaks, CA) rode a solid test for which Sanceo earned high marks in the trot and canter, 8.4 and 8.3 respectively.
 
USEF Young Horse Dressage Coach Scott Hassler was pleased with the effort of the two U.S. entries Friday and knows they will fight for a place in the final.
 
"Both Jennifer and Sabine presented their horses well, earning many scores in the mid-8 range, but a couple lower scores knocked their overall score down. They compete tomorrow for another chance to get into the final. I was very proud of our two combinations and we will give it our best effort tomorrow."
 
Competition begins in the Prize of the company ZEDAN at 9:30am local time.