Dorothee Schneider/Barcelo and Lisa Wernitznig/Majestic Taonga qualified for the Louisdor Prize

The windy, wet and cold weather on Saturday and the unrest in the grandstands, which were already very close to the dressage arena, obviously scared Barcelo in the warm-up test for the Louisdor Prize qualifier. Today the sun was shining – and Dorothee Schneider’s ten-year-old Bon Coeur son out of the Cassidy full sister was also beaming. With 72.851 percent and first place from all the judges, it was an undisputed triumph.

Everything on the right track

With the exception of one lapse in the single changes, Barcelo showed himself to be extremely sure-footed, consistent in the contact, secure in front of his rider’s driving aids and with highlights in the extensions, traversals, passages and pirouettes. In the series changes he was still a little stuck overall. The piaffe approach is just right – diagonally off the foot with clear suspension and enough work. Barcelo simply needs time to mature for even more expression. Dorothee Schneider therefore only ever asked for as much as Barcelo was prepared to give.

This was also praised by 5* judge Hans-Christian Matthiesen, who commented on the test: “That was super controlled, without too much pressure. It looks super good, a very nice picture,” summarized the Dane.

“My heart beats for this horse”

Dorothee Schneider was overjoyed, also because Barcelo was able to concentrate so much better today than yesterday: “He was so much more with me.” But what makes her happy above all is the big picture with Barcelo. “He’s such a wonderful horse! I’ve been training him since he was seven years old and it’s just a pleasure.”

At this point she explicitly thanked horse owner Maik Kanitzky, who entrusted her with the horse that was originally intended for Tessa Frank and with whom she also became national champion.

She has already won the Nuremberg Burg Cup with Dorothee Schneider. In the eyes of the riding champion, this is by no means the end of the story. “I have a feeling that this will be a really great Grand Prix horse. My heart beats for this horse, so keep your fingers crossed that it works out!”

Theo travels to Frankfurt

In Hagen, Lisa Wernitznig and the nine-year-old KWPN stallion Majestic Taonga by Toto Jr. (“Theo”) narrowly missed out on a ticket to Frankfurt. Today it worked out. And that was also undisputed. All five judges saw the impressive black stallion in second place.

Here, too, there was a clear improvement in concentration compared to yesterday. The black horse’s trot tour is characterized by a lot of expression and dynamics. He inherited his talent for piaffe, passage and pirouettes from his grandfather Totilas. However, he was not always relaxed and content in the contact. The judges awarded him 71.383 percent.

A sentence from Hans-Christian Matthiesen described Majestic Taonga pretty well: “When you are sitting as a judge at C and these front legs come at you, you have to give high marks.” Lisa Wernitznig said: “The atmosphere here is crazy for the horses, especially the young ones. But I’m getting more and more calm and I just try to concentrate from lesson to lesson. I think we managed that very well today. The horse has everything. He just needs time, has to grow and get used to this kind of setting. Then it can become really good.”

Fantastically elastic

Friederike Tebbel and her ten-year-old San Amour son Serious also put in a really great ride today. Yesterday, the gelding was visibly under a strong current, at times lifting his right hind leg almost like a rooster kick. This could only be seen once today. Overall, however, the gelding bred by Dr. Corinna Flothow was not only relaxed, but also expressive with a wonderful piaffe-passage tour, secure in the contact and with an extremely secure and light-footed piaffe-passage tour, which is very reminiscent of the young Dalera. A stumble in the pirouette and a delay in parrying through from canter to trot cost points. But she scored 69.150 percent. But there should be more to come. Five-star judge Matthiesen also spoke of a “Dalera vibe”. There are worse things.

You can find all the results here.