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Young Eventing Horse Worlds: Tara van het Leliehof Wins Again
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At the FEI young eventing horse world championships that ended in Le Lion d'Angers, France, on 18 October, Belgium's Tara van het Leliehof added the seven-year-old title to last year's six-year-old win, and Germany's Ann-Catrin Bierlein took the six-year-old title on a mare bred by her grandfather.
The FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships for Young Horses, the world championships for young eventing horses run by the FEI, ended in Le Lion d'Angers, France, on 18 October. In the seven-year-old class (CCI3*-L), Lara de Liedekerke-Meier of Belgium and the mare Tara van het Leliehof won on 28.6 penalties. The pair also won the six-year-old class last year, making them world champions two years running.
Eventing combines dressage, cross-country and show jumping, ridden in turn by the same horse and rider, and the lowest total of penalties wins. Tara finished on her dressage score of 28.6, adding no penalties in cross-country or show jumping. De Liedekerke-Meier was making her 14th appearance at the championships and said that, after last year's win, the pressure of everyone watching was greater.
Second place went to Hector Payne of Great Britain and the gelding Bueno (29.0), and third to Alexis Goury of France and the stallion Jeroboam Wal (29.4). Goury shared the lead with Tara after dressage but dropped back after 0.8 time penalties on cross-country. Less than one penalty separated the top three.
Six-year-olds: a win on a horse bred by her grandfather
In the six-year-old class (CCI2*-L), Ann-Catrin Bierlein of Germany and the Westphalian mare ACSI Daisy Dynamite won on 29.4 penalties. The mare was bred by Bierlein's grandfather, Dr Rolf Wilcken, and Bierlein has known her since birth and even helped choose her name.
Bierlein started from second place after dressage and went clear in both cross-country and show jumping. Her win was confirmed when the leaders going into the final show jumping, Patrick Verbakel of the Netherlands and Passoa, had two knockdowns and 1.2 time penalties and fell to 16th. Second place went to Robin Godel of Switzerland and Kosmic d'Elbe (31.3), and third to Kevin McNab of Australia and Monbeg Kobe (31.4). Bierlein won team silver at this year's FEI U25 Eventing World Championships.
A stage for the next generation of eventing horses
The championships are open only to six- and seven-year-old horses, and each horse's breeding and breeder are presented alongside its result. Bierlein said she has another five-year-old half-sister of Daisy Dynamite at home and hopes to return with her next year. She added that, whatever the results, the horses learn a great deal here about coping with crowds and a tense atmosphere.