The 2011 FEI World Cup Finals in Leipzig, Germany begin today.
The FEI World Cup Finals are the Final of four World Cups in different Equestrian sports. They are held in the exhibition halls 1 and 3 at the new Leipzig Trade Fair beginning today April 27 and ending May 1, 2011.
The 2011 FEI World Cup Finals are notable, because for the first time ever four horse sport World Cup Finals will be held at the same place.
The four divisions to be held at the finals are:
Dressage – Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage 2010/2011
Show Jumping – Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping 2010/2011
Four-in-hand driving – FEI World Cup Driving 2010/2011
Vaulting – FEI World Cup Vaulting 2010/2011
Watch this excellent video of Dutch Dressage Star Adelinde Cornelissen Winning her 4th FEI Dressage World Cup qualifier in Goteborg Sweden.
As reported recently by horsesport.org, Adelinde Cornelissen once again dominated.
Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival recorded their fourth victory of the 2010/2011 Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage season at Gothenburg, Sweden tonight and jumped to the top of the Western European League leaderboard ahead of the final qualifier on their home turf at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands in three weeks’ time.
The 32 year old rider and her 14 year old horse produced a more harmonious test than ever before, and Cornelissen declared herself delighted with the result. Sweden’s Patrik Kittel finished a close second however with a personal-best result from his stallion Watermill Scandic HBC while Germany’s Isabell Werth and Warum Nicht FRH had to settle for third.
In a competition that was very much “a game of two halves”, many of the early riders produced low scores. Ground Jury President, The Netherlands’ Wim Ernes, said “tonight we saw some bad tests….but the top riders did a good job”. He added “we saw today in the first group, a lot of riders who did not have enough impulsion and so made a lot of mistakes”.
By tomorrow evening, Guilliani, my mother and I will be at the Gayla Driving Center in Lexington, Kentucky preparing to ride with Dutch Superstar Edward Gal. Early this season, Kelly Gage from Engage Clinics contacted my mother and I to see if we were interested in riding in this prestigious event. Unfortunately, my mothers horse was injured preventing her from taking advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity, so it would just be me and Guilliani attending. If you would have told me a few years ago that I would be chosen to ride with the top dressage rider in the world, I would never have believe it. This is such a honor to be able to ride in front of such an amazing competitor. Edward Gal needs no introduction to riders who follow the international dressage scene. He was wildly successful on the KWPN stallion Lingh and now holds every record imaginable on his newest sensation Totlias. This stunning young stallion is simply mind blowing to watch. Edward manages to get absolutely every ounce of brilliance and expression out of Totilas, while remaining relaxed and giving a look of ease that I never thought possible. Totilas is an extraordinary animal, but I dont think any of it would be possible without Edwards talent as a rider, trainer and competitor.
So after knowing all of this, the next few days feel a little nerve wracking to me to say the least! Tomorrow we will arrive at the Gayla Driving Center. I have never been to this venue, but I hear it is beautiful and bosts a 100′ by 200′ indoor arena with stadium seating. Hopefully, I will have time to lightly school Guilliani in the indoor tomorrow evening to get him comfortable in his new surroundings. Friday afternoon, all of the riders will be able to school in the indoor in preperation for Saturdays event. Our ride times have been posted and can be found on Truly Dancing Dressage’s FB Fanpage. Guilliani and I go at 11am. I am really looking forward to hearing Edwards thoughts and opinions on myself and my horse. One of the great things about taking advantage of a good clinic, is that before and after your ride, you can watch your fellow riders school their own horses. The more you watch…the more you learn. I think this will be an awesome learning experience for everyone attending.
I will give an update on how my first schooling session went… hopefully with pictures. The clinic will be recorded and photographed as well, so as soon as the media becomes available to me, I will post it on this blog. Pray for good weather, safe rides and a lot of fun!
