Cathrine Dufour and Atterupgaards Cassidy - photo credit: H2R
80,606% win for American Laura Graves with Verdades
Super strong start, supple half passes with lots of power, super nice halt with rein back, active piaffe tours with good transitions (it is of course the eyes watching but from H2R point view the piaffe/passage is more like a tense exercise than a supple over the back exercise). It is very much about control when watching a test like this, not many or no moments of relaxation today. Video below.
Unfortunately the streaming via Clipmyhorse just stopped right after Danish top combination Cathrine Dufour and Atterupgaards Cassidy entered their test. From the scoreboard there was just a small issue around the transition from collected walk to passage - the rest was spot on and even with a clear 10 from judge at M Australian Susan Hoevenaars for the canter pirouette to the right. 78,494% and 2nd place.
Both Emmelie Scholtens and Therese Nilshagen showed strong tests with their stallions.
It was not Isabell Werth and Emilio´s day today. Already from the first extended trot Emilio looked a bit against the rider hand at the end, and he was clearly not the the mood for the piaffe tours as use to be one of his highlights. Today with some resistance and a small levade for the first two piaffe tours, and for the final Isabell wisely chose to show a very cautious piaffe. 72,518%. (From H2R point of view it might look like an extraordinary selection of Bella Rose from the German Federation, as she was not competing at the German national championships in Balve for being Werth´s no 1 horse for WEG).