Western European League 2013/2014 (dressage riding)

The Western European League of the FEI World Cup Dressage 2013/2014 (Reem Acra FEI World Cup ™ Dressage 2013-2014, Western European League) was the 29th season of the Western and Central European League of the FEI World Cup Dressage . The World Cup is the most important tournament series in the indoor season in the Western European League.

Course of the tournament series

Largely identical to last season, the 2013/2014 season of the Western European League comprised eight stations. Not there was Lyon, where the World Cup final took place in April 2014; Gothenburg was back in the program, where the 2013 World Cup final was held. The tournaments in which the Western European League took place were advertised as CDI . They were marked with the suffix -W (i.e. CDI-W) to identify them as World Cup tournaments.

In the 2013/2014 season, the series covered the period from October 16 to March 23. The best nine riders in the Western European League as well as any additional participants (“extra competitors”) qualified for the 2014 World Cup final . The main sponsor of the Western European League and the World Cup final is for the fourth time the fashion designer Reem Acra .

The World Cup tournaments each consisted of two dressage tests : First, all riders must compete in a Grand Prix de Dressage . From this the best 15 horse-rider pairs qualified for the Grand Prix Freestyle . This was always the World Cup special test of the tournament.

media

The FEI broadcast the World Cup competitions of the Western European League for a fee via its Internet portal FEI TV. Some of the exams were broadcast in the host country on television or via an internet stream.

The exams

1st test: Odense

As in previous years, the first World Cup of the Western European League took place in Odense, Denmark. The tournament took place from October 16-20, 2013. The World Cup freestyle was held on October 20th from 2:00 p.m. and formed the end of the tournament.

One year after her first World Cup start, Anna Kasprzak won her first World Cup test in Odense. In the Grand Prix Freestyle she won with Donnperignon with a half percent advantage over Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén . The examination was endowed with 40,000 euros.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Denmark Anna Kasprzak	Donnperignon	80.575%	20th
2	Sweden Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	Don Auriello	80.075%	17th
3	Germany Isabell Werth	Don Johnson FRH	79.400%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 15 participants)

2nd exam: Stuttgart

In 2013, a valuation test of the Western European League of Dressage Riders was held for the second time in Stuttgart. The Stuttgart German Masters tournament , which took place in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle and was part of this test, was held from November 13th to 17th, 2013.

The starting field for the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle had already been reduced to 14 participants before the start of the tests: Ingrid Klimke's horse Dresden Mann , who was later awarded the Otto Lörke Prize during the tournament , had represented himself and was represented at the morning training withdrawn.

In the freestyle, twelve starter pairs achieved results of over 70 percent, the best three of them even over 80 percent. At the end of the test, Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW were just past 90 percent and thus clear victory . This result was the personal best at international tournaments for this couple and it was also the best dressage result in the history of the Stuttgart German Masters.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Germany Helen Langehanenberg	Damon Hill NRW	89.775%	-
2	Germany Isabell Werth	El Santo NRW	83.125%	20th
3	Sweden Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	Don Auriello	82.325%	17th

(Places one to three out of a total of 14 participants)

3rd test: Stockholm

The second Scandinavian stage of the Western European League took place from November 29th to December 1st, 2013 as part of the Stockholm International Horse Show in Stockholm .

With a clear lead of over two percent, Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén and Don Auriello won the freestyle in front of the home crowd. She was the only starter to get an overall result of over 80 percent. Four other couples achieved a result of over 75 percent.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Sweden Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	Don Auriello	81.950%	20th
2	Netherlands Edward Gal	Voice	79.275%	17th
3	Netherlands Hans Peter Minderhoud	Romanov	78.850%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 15 participants)

4th test: London

Shortly before Christmas, the Olympia London International Horse Show took place in London from December 17th to 23rd, 2013 . In contrast to the other tournaments of the Western European League, the dressage world cup competitions are held here at the beginning of the week, from Monday to Tuesday (December 16 and 17). The World Cup freestyle rounds off the tournament Tuesday.

As in the previous year, the dominant couple in the freestyle was Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro . In the A grade, the five judges gave them a rating of 10.0 20 times, while the artistic B grade gave them a 10.0 grade 13 times. The overall grade was 93.975 percent. Dujardin and Valegro thus took over the world record in the Grand Prix Freestyle, which had previously been held by Edward Gal and Totilas for four years .

Gal followed in second place with Undercover , with 87.425 percent they also performed very well. The 26-year-old Dutch girl Danielle Heijkoop also achieved over 80 percent with her gelding Siro .

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	United Kingdom Charlotte Dujardin	Valegro	93.975%	20th
2	Netherlands Edward Gal	Undercover	87.425%	17th
3	Netherlands Danielle Heijkoop	Romanov	80.625%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 15 participants)

5th exam: Amsterdam

In the new year the Western European League continued at the tournament in Amsterdam called Jumping Amsterdam. The date for this was the period from January 24th to 26th, 2014, the Grand Prix Freestyle took place on the afternoon of January 25th.

As in the previous World Cup stage, Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro dominated the World Cup freestyle. Edward Gal and Undercover found themselves again in second place more than six percent behind . In third place came Anna Kasprzak with Donnperignon , followed by the German riders Isabell Werth , Fabienne Lütkemeier and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl with their horses in fourth to sixth place . The best four pairs in the test came to a result of over 80 percent.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	United Kingdom Charlotte Dujardin	Valegro	91.275%	20th
2	Netherlands Edward Gal	Undercover	85.125%	17th
3	Denmark Anna Kasprzak	Donnperignon	82,000%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 15 participants)

6. Exam: Neumünster

The VR Classics in Neumünster was the sixth World Cup of the Western European League in the 2013/2014 season. The tournament was held from February 14th to 17th, 2014 in the Holstenhallen .

The dressage world cup test was held on Sunday morning. For the third time in a row, Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW won the Grand Prix Freestyle in Neumünster. Helen Langehanenberg set her personal record here: For the first time ever, she came over 90 percent (90.375%) in the freestyle. Also with a personal record came Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who came third with Unee BB . Five of the 15 starter pairs achieved a result of 80 percent. In terms of placement, the Finn Terhi Stegars recorded the biggest jump compared to the previous day: with the Trakehner Axis TSF , she came 14th in the Grand Prix and eighth in the Freestyle World Cup.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Germany Helen Langehanenberg	Damon Hill NRW	90.375%	-
2	Denmark Anna Kasprzak	Donnperignon	83.575%	20th
3	Germany Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	Unee BB	82.425%	17th

(Places one to three out of a total of 15 participants)

7th test: Gothenburg

The seventh evaluation test of the Western European League took place at the venue for the 2013 World Cup final. The Gothenburg Horse Show was held from February 27th to March 2nd, 2014.

Mostly Scandinavian riders started in Gothenburg. Compared to the previous stages, the field of starters was not quite as high-quality here, only four starter pairs managed to achieve a result of over 75 percent in the Grand Prix Freestyle. One couple achieved a result of over 80 percent and thus victory: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl achieved 81.350 percent with Unee BB , for her this was the first victory in a World Cup test of her career.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Germany Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	Unee BB	81.350%	20th
2	Sweden Patrik Kittel	Toy story	79.025%	17th
3	Denmark Nanna Skodborg Merrald	millibar	77.950%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 13 participants)

8th test: 's-Hertogenbosch

In the 2013/2014 season, the Indoor Brabant tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands concluded the Western European Dressage League. The tournament took place from March 20-23, 2014.

The dominant rider in the 's-Hertogenbosch World Cup Freestyle was Edward Gal: in Undercover's saddle, he won the test with a lead of over seven percent over his compatriot Danielle Heijkoop.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Netherlands Edward Gal	Undercover	86.700%	20th
2	Netherlands Danielle Heijkoop	Siro	79.650%	17th
3	Italy Valentina Truppa	Eremo del Castegno	79.475%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 15 participants)

Overall rating

The overall ranking was used to determine which nine riders from the states in the Western European League qualify for the final. In addition, other riders from other countries could have qualified for the World Cup finals via the Western European League, provided they live in the Central / Western European League.

The riders were also able to collect points in the Central European League and in the North American League of the Dressage World Cup (see “others” in the table below). Helen Langehanenberg was pre-qualified for the final as the previous season's World Cup winner, so she couldn't collect any points this season.

Fabienne Lütkemeier would have qualified for the World Cup final as eighth placed rider in the overall ranking. However, since two other German riders were better placed in the overall ranking in addition to Helen Langehanenberg and only three riders per nation are allowed in the World Cup finals, Lütkemeier missed the qualification. For them, Danielle Heijkoop moves up as a finalist.

	equestrian	Odense	Stuttgart	Stockholm	London	Amsterdam	Neumunster	Gothenburg	's-Hertogenbosch	Further	scoring points
1	Sweden Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	17th	17th	20th	-	-	-	-	-	20th	74
2	Netherlands Edward Gal	-	-	17th	17th	17th	-	-	20th	-	71
3	Germany Isabell Werth	15th	20th	-	-	(13)	15th	-	13	-	63
4th	Germany Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	(9)	(11)	12	-	11	17th	20th	-	-	60
5	Denmark Anna Kasprzak	20th	-	-	-	15th	20th	-	-	-	55
6th	Netherlands Hans Peter Minderhoud	(11)	-	15th	12	(0)	(12)	13	12	-	52
6th	Denmark Nanna Skodborg Merrald	13	-	13	-	-	11	17th	-	-	52
8th	Germany Fabienne Lütkemeier	8th	15th	-	-	12	13	-	-	(0)	48
9	Switzerland Marcela Krinke Susmelj	-	10	-	-	-	9	-	(3)	27	46
10	Netherlands Danielle Heijkoop	10	-	-	15th	-	-	-	17th	-	42
11	United Kingdom Charlotte Dujardin	-	-	-	20th	20th	-	-	-	-	40