Blue Hors Fifty Cent & Nathalie zu Sayn Wittgenstein placed in both Prix St. Georg and Intermediate I
“I will be flying home today”
Yesterday with international small tour debut for former Danish team member Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein with her now 9 year old Danish Warmblood gelding Blue Hors Fifty Cent by Franziskus / Donnerball, bred by Linda Falensteen & Martin Strande.
Hagen is about 2,5 hours drive from Berleburg, and as Hagen is always well organised and very horse friendly in a good athmosphere Nathalie made a mark in her calendar to make international debut together with Fifty this weekend.
Nathalie tells that Fifty is an easy competition horse, he eats, drinks and sleep like a pro, but there is no hand walking when away from home as he still thinks he is a big stallion, so instead he will have his relaxed of-time either in the stable or under saddle, where he is a pure gentleman.
Nathalie told beforehand she was feeling prepared, “but you never know when entering a big arena like the main arena in Hagen, but so far Fifty has never been affected by the surroundings”. Thursday he showed himself exactly the way Nathalie was hoping for, only with a small hiccup into the 2nd canter half priouette and some minor tensions for the canter tour. They finished as no 3 in the Prix St. Georg with 70,441%.
Today with another debut as they actually never performed an Intermediate I test before.
As preparation Nathalie walked some of the lines the first 20 minutes and then warmed him up quietly, showing him some of the canter lines before entering the arena. Like yesterday Fifty Cent was with her all the way just waiting for the next signal only showing a few minor insecure things, but no technical issues. Highlights for the trot tour with well balanced extensions, nice supple half passes, super balanced voltes, good walk tour with clear active beat, canter tour with good quality pirouettes, bit tense for 3 times but clearly better balance for the 2 times, where Nathalie also tells that she is still has to support him more for 3 times to stay on the hind quaters than for the 2 times. Beautiful frame and steady contact all the way. Placed 2nd with 72,206% with Frederic Wandres and 11 year old Quizmaster as winner, today with error for the first extended trot tour into canter and also a couple of 1 times for the 3 times series. (73,206%)
“This was a really really special end of the outdoor season, I´m so happy and proud of Fifty, he is all I could dream about. Having such an honest, trainable and talented horse make me smile every day. There is still a lot to improve as we just started our international journey this weekend, but I can´t wait to see what the future brings,” says Nathalie.
“On home soil Fifty Cent is doing all the exercises for Grand Prix, but there is still some way before we are able to put it together in a full Grand Prix test, but it´s all in there. I´m pretty much like flying home from Hagen today,” tells a very proud Nathalie.