Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Times Kismet Win the Grand Prix at Gut Ising

The most recent competition appearances by Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and her 11-year-old Ampere daughter, Times Kismet, were less than ideal. In Balve, they placed tenth but had increasing trouble finding the right rhythm in the piaffes. After that, the mare took a break for a while. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl made her next competitive appearance in July in Görlitz, but withdrew from the Grand Prix there. After weeks of training at home, they made another attempt today at Gut Ising.

It went quite well. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl was able to ride through the test largely without any issues. Only during the second piaffe did the mare take a big leap forward once during the transition to the passage, but she immediately returned to her rider. Overall, however, the ride still lacked confidence and composure. Added to this were details such as the right-hand half-pass at a trot, in which von Bredow-Werndl could only get the mare to the correct spot with great effort, an anticipated change when switching to the zigzag half-passes—which, overall, one would have liked to see executed more smoothly—and occasional evasion with the hindquarters during the individual changes. On the other hand, the single changes were perfectly straight—but, like so much else, they lacked the necessary composure to exude grandeur. The national panel of judges awarded the local favorite—a four-time Olympic gold medalist—a score of 74.067 percent. That was enough for the victory.

Lisa Müller

Takes

Second

Place

Lisa

Müller

secured a strong

second

-place finish riding Gut Wettlkam’s Dantiamo, a highly talented son of Dante Weltino. The bay has three well above-average basic gaits and all the talent in the world for piaffe and passage, where he really shines. If Lisa Müller manages to ride him more evenly and with greater suppleness from hind to fore, bringing him into self-carriage, she will have a horse of international caliber. Today, despite some inconsistencies—primarily due to moments of tension and a hind leg that is not yet always securely bearing weight—they received a score of 73.60 percent.

A Lesson for Vita di Lusso

World Team Champion Raphael Netz has been riding the 11-year-old Rhineland-bred son of Vitalis, Vita di Lusso, since the start of this season. The horse had been introduced to competitive riding by Dinja van Liere, and under her, he gave the impression that one had to hold him back rather than motivate him. Following a very successful performance by the pair, the Söder family—who had invested in the Dutch team at the CHIO Aachen—acquired the gelding as an U25 horse for Selina Söder, Raphael Netz’s life and business partner. She had also enjoyed some success with the bay, but had recently encountered some problems as well. So Raphael Netz took the reins.

Their first tournament together was at Gut Eicherloh, where they won both the Grand Prix and the Special with scores of over 74 percent each. They were also among the leaders in Schäftlarn, winning the Grand Prix with 73.940 percent and placing second in the Special. This was followed by the Chiemsee Horse Festival, which also takes place at Gut Ising. Here, after many strong moments in the first half of the test, Vita di Lusso ultimately decided he could actually skip the final piaffe. Netz had to energetically remind him that in the Grand Prix, the test ends at “G,” and a piaffe is still required at “X.”

So today was the next performance at Gut Ising, this time indoors. Vita di Lusso was “on,” and his rider was on his toes. Netz, with his outstanding seat, kept the gelding perfectly framed between his aids every single second, leaving him no chance to think about anything other than his job—not harshly, just consistently. We’ve seen Netz ride with more ease before—but only a few times has his riding skill been so clearly evident. With a score of 72.20 percent, the pair took second place.

Dancier Gold Finishes Fourth

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl had two irons in the fire at the Ising Grand Prix. The second was the Hanoverian stallion Dancier Gold, with whom she had already competed in the Intermédiaire II yesterday was able to win. It seemed that Jessica von Bredow-Werndl has since become better at maintaining the flow of movement and the connection from the hindquarters to the forehand via the back. That wasn’t quite as consistent today, so that uneven strides repeatedly crept in, especially in the piaffe and passage, but also in the half-passes. In the pirouettes, the stallion still tends to lift and turn rather than diligently jumping in time around his inside hind leg. A score of 71.657 percent earned him fourth place ahead of Benjamin Werndl with Quick Decision, who had opened the Grand Prix with a score of 71.267 percent.

Pony Power Among the Stars of Tomorrow

Today’s program also included the qualifying round for the Southern Final of the DERBY Stars of Tomorrow, the Intermédiaire II. Here, Ann-Cathrin Rieg’s 12-year-old riding pony stallion Steendieks Derrick —bred in Holstein by Peter Böge—proved once again that a well-ridden, talented pony can hold its own against any full-sized horse: She won with 73.904 percent, ahead of the duo Franz Trischberger and Henriettenhof’s Kinshasa (72.588), who qualified for the Louisdor Prize. Third place went to Rudolf Widmann riding the Oldenburg stallion Romantic Prinz OLD by Rock Forever (71.623).

Embolo Wins S

The S*-level dressage competition also featured a prominent winner: the seven-year-old Escamillo son Embolo, who was once sold to Aubenhausen for a record price at the Westphalian Riding Horse Auction and was trained by Benjamin Werndl. With many highlights in the trot and canter sequences, the pair scored 72.976 percent, thereby prevailing over Svenja Holzmayr on Equador, a son of Escolar also registered in Westphalia (72.063) and Franz Trischberger on Henriettenhof’s Kenia. Incidentally, the similarity in the names of the two Trischberger mares is no coincidence. They share the same dam, Kelia by Sir Donnerhall–Quattro B, and were both bred by Dr. Alexandra Montkowski.

All the results from Ising are available here.