Western European League 2015/2016 (dressage riding)

The Western European League of the FEI World Cup Dressage 2015/2016 (Reem Acra FEI World Cup ™ Dressage 2015 to 2016, Western European League) was the 31st 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

Like the previous season, the 2015/2016 season comprised nine stages. A new feature was a valuation test at the Amadeus Horse Indoors in Salzburg, while the World Cup final took place in Gothenburg instead of a station in the Western European League. All tournaments of the Western European League were advertised as CDI . They were marked with the suffix -W (i.e. CDI-W) to identify them as World Cup tournaments.

The season began with its first special stage on October 18, the final stage was held on March 13. The best nine riders in the Western European League as well as any additional participants (“extra competitors”) qualified for the 2016 World Cup finals . The fashion designer Reem Acra was the main sponsor of the Western European League and the World Cup final for the sixth time .

The structure of the special stages was unchanged compared to previous years, a Grand Prix de Dressage served as the warm-up test for the Grand Prix Freestyle . While in previous years only 15 participants were allowed to start at the Grand Prix and all of them qualified for the freestyle as far as they completed the test, the field of participants was expanded: More than 15 riders were allowed to compete at the Grand Prix, who qualified the 15 best-placed participants in this test for the Grand Prix Freestyle.

media

The FEI broadcast the World Cup competitions of the Western European League for a fee via its Internet portal FEI TV. Throughout Europe, Eurosport 1 showed half-hour summaries of several special stages.

The exams

1st test: Odense

Once again, the World Cup in Odense, Denmark, marked the start of the Western European League. The tournament, which ran over two weekends, took place from October 8th to 18th, 2015.

20 pairs of starters took part in the Grand Prix. With a result of over 66 percent, the riders qualified for the Grand Prix Freestyle of the best 15 participants. The World Cup Freestyle was held on the afternoon of October 18th. None of the riders achieved a result of 80 percent in the freestyle. As in the previous year, Edward Gal won, with the 13-year-old stallion Voice he achieved a result of 78.8 percent.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Edward Gal	Voice	78.800%	20th
2	Anna Kasprzak	Donnperignon	77.100%	17th
3	Agnete Kirk Thinggaard	Yo-yo	76.250%	15th

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

2nd test: Lyon

The Lyon World Cup, the Equitá, took place in 2015 from October 28th to November 1st at Eurexpo .

15 riders took part in the Grand Prix, so that all starters also qualified for the World Cup. At their first tournament since the European Championships , Beatriz Ferrer-Salat and Delgado dominated , they won both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle. Just like Ferrer-Salat, Patrik Kittel also got a result of 80 percent, with Deja he came second. The freestyle examination in Lyon was endowed with € 50,000.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Beatriz Ferrer Salad	Delgado	82.875%	20th
2	Patrik Kittel	Deja	81.175%	17th
3	Fabienne Lütkemeier	D'Agostino FRH	79.850%	15th

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

3rd exam: Stuttgart

As part of the Stuttgart German Masters tournament , the first of two German assessment tests of the Western European League was held again. The tournament was held from November 18-22, 2015.

In the Grand Prix on Friday morning (November 22nd) 19 pairs were at the start, riders with a result of over 69 percent moved into the Grand Prix Freestyle of the best 15 participants. In this test on Saturday afternoon, victory went to Beatriz Ferrer-Salat and Delgado, as in Lyon . Close on her heels and even placed first by a judge, Isabell Werth and Don Johnson FRH followed in second place. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl started a new freestyle with Unee . Their ride did not show the final harmony with the music, but still got a good grade in the final evaluation. Last year's winners, Fabienne Lütkemeier and D'Agostino FRH , just missed a result of 80 percent with 79.900 percent in fourth place.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Beatriz Ferrer Salad	Delgado	83.300%	20th
2	Isabell Werth	Don Johnson FRH	82.975%	17th
3	Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	Unee BB	80.150%	15th

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

4th test: Stockholm

The second Scandinavian World Cup of the Western European League, the Sweden International Horse Show, was held in the Friends Arena in Stockholm from November 27th to 29th, 2015.

In the Grand Prix in Stockholm, 20 riders started with their horses. With a result of over 66.5 percent, the 15 best participants qualified for the Grand Prix Freestyle, which was held on the afternoon of November 29th. With a lead of almost two percent in the freestyle, Hans Peter Minderhoud won with 14-year-old Fuchs Flirt , who was made available to him by Gaston Glock . The Swede Patrik Kittel, who lives in Germany, came second with the 16-year-old stallion Scandic .

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Hans Peter Minderhoud	flirt	80.950%	20th
2	Patrik Kittel	Scandic	79.100%	17th
3	Adelinde Cornelissen	Parzival	78.775%	15th

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

5th exam: Salzburg

With the 2015/2016 season, Austria also got a stage in the Western European League. After a CDI 5 * had been announced as part of the Amadeus Horse Indoors since 2012 , the Salzburg tournament was a dressage world cup tournament for the first time in 2015 for the tenth anniversary of the tournament. The event was held from December 3rd to 6th, 2015 in the Salzburgarena .

In the Grand Prix on the morning of December 5th, the starting field comprised 15 riders, who thus all qualified for the Grand Prix Freestyle on the following day. After Isabell Werth and Don Johnson FRH won the Grand Prix just ahead of Edward Gal and Voice , she won the freestyle with a lead of over three percent. For Don Johnson FRH , the result of 84.125 percent was the best result in his career so far in international tests. The best Austrian participant was Victoria Max-Theurer , who came in fifth place with the 13-year-old mare Blind Date (78.350 percent). The prize money for the test was 50,000 euros.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Don Johnson FRH	84.125%	20th
2	Edward Gal	Voice	80.900%	17th
3	Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	Unee BB	80.075%	15th

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

6th test: London

The end of the year for the Western European League was the Olympia London International Horse Show shortly before Christmas . The tournament was held from December 15 to 21, 2015, the dressage tests traditionally took place on the first two days of the tournament. In the Grand Prix on December 15, 16 riders were at the start, a result of 64 percent was enough for the entry into the freestyle of the best 15 participants. In the Grand Prix Freestyle, after three years of dominance, Charlotte Dujardin started not with Valegro , but with Uthopia . With these, too, she achieved a result of over 82 percent and thus in second place. The victory, however, went to her teacher and former rider from Uthopia , Carl Hester, who received the best rating from three of the five judges with the 11-year-old Nip Tuck and clearly won with 83.750 percent. The 27-year-old Briton Lara Griffith came fourth with Rubin Al Asad , with 78.025 percent being her best international result to date.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Carl Hester	Nip tuck	83.750%	20th
2	Charlotte Dujardin	Uthopia	82.550%	-
3	Hans Peter Minderhoud	flirt	80.975%	17th

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

7. Exam: Amsterdam

The first World Cup of the Western European League in 2016 was the indoor equestrian tournament in Amsterdam , called Jumping Amsterdam. The event took place from January 29th to 31st, 2016, the Grand Prix Freestyle took place in the afternoon of January 30th.

In the Grand Prix the day before, the decision about victory was extremely close, with only one percent of the final result between first and fourth place. The starting field in this test comprised 22 riders and was thus the largest of the season so far. The requirements for entering the Grand Prix Freestyle were correspondingly high, only riders with a result of over 70 percent made it into the freestyle of the best 15 participants.

The 11-year-old mare Weihegold OLD competed in her very first Grand Prix Freestyle in Amsterdam. In order to give the horse security for this task, she was ridden by the world cup experienced Isabell Werth (instead of Weihegold's regular rider, Werth's rider Beatrice Buchwald). After they came fifth in the Grand Prix, the couple was given a score of nine several times in the freestyle by the judges in the individual lessons and achieved 83.450 percent in the final result of all judges. This result brought them victory in the test. This lead was close, with just 0.1 percent gap followed by Jessica von Bredow-Werndl with the 15-year-old stallion Unee . The best Dutchman was Diederik van Silfhout on Arlando in third place, ahead of last year's winner Charlotte Dujardin , who rode Uthopia here as in London (fourth place with 82.375 percent).

The Grand Prix Freestyle was top-class, and rides came in fifth and sixth with over 80 percent. The winning couple of the Grand Prix, Edward Gal and Voice , came in sixth with 82.100 percent.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Weihegold OLD	83.450%	20th
2	Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	Unee BB	83.350%	17th
3	Diederik van Silfhout	Arlando	82.750%	15th

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

8th exam: Neumünster

The second German stage of the Western European League took place as part of the VR Classics . The tournament, organized in Neumünster , was held from February 18 to 21, 2016 in the Holstenhallen .

The starting field in the Grand Prix outnumbered Amsterdam again, 28 riders competed with their horses. The best 15 participants all came to a result of over 68 percent. In the Grand Prix Freestyle, which took place on the morning of the last day of the tournament, Isabell Werth competed again with Weihegold OLD . After the couple had already won the Grand Prix by almost five percent, they also achieved a clear victory in the freestyle. Second place was also occupied by the same couple as in Amsterdam: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Unee BB came in at 80.900 percent. With her now 19-year-old successful horse Parzival , Adelinde Cornelissen got 78.775 percent, which brought her third place.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Weihegold OLD	84,600%	20th
2	Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	Unee BB	80.900%	17th
3	Diederik van Silfhout	Arlando	78.775%	15th

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

9th test: 's-Hertogenbosch

The Indoor Brabant tournament marked the end of the 2015/2016 season for the Western European League. The equestrian event was held in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands from March 10th to 13th, 2016.

In the run-up to the event, several highly successful riders, Edward Gal, Fabienne Lütkemeier (both due to a fall injury) and Isabell Werth (injury to the horse), had to forego participation. In the World Cup tour (Indoor Brabant included a CDI-W as well as a CDI 4 *, also with Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle) 15 riders were at the start. After Luis Principe withdrew his start shortly before the Grand Prix, there were only 14 participants in the World Cup freestyle. The victory with 81.775 percent went to Hans Peter Minderhoud and the 15-year-old Fuchs Flirt . The dark brown KWPN stallion Arlando achieved 80.150 percent with his rider Diederik van Silfhout. After their victories in Lyon and Stuttgart, Beatriz Ferrer-Salat and Delgado achieved third place in 's-Hertogenbosch.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Hans Peter Minderhoud	flirt	81.775%	20th
2	Diederik van Silfhout	Arlando	80.150%	17th
3	Beatriz Ferrer Salad	Delgado	79.325%	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. Only the best four placements of a rider counted for the overall ranking.

In addition, other riders from other countries could qualify for the World Cup finals via the Western European League, provided they live in Central / Western Europe.

The riders had the opportunity 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). Charlotte Dujardin was pre-qualified for the final as the previous season's World Cup winner, so she was unable to collect any points this season.

	equestrian	Odense	Lyon	Stuttgart	Stockholm	Salzburg	London	Amsterdam	Neumunster	's-Hertogen- Bosch	Further	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	-	-	17th	-	20th	-	20th	20th	-	-	77
2	Hans Peter Minderhoud	(11)	-	-	20th	(10)	17th	13	20th		-	70
3	Jessica von Bredow-Werndl	-	-	(15)	-	15th	-	17th	17th	-	17th	66
4th	Patrik Kittel	-	17th	-	17th	-	-	(11)	11	-	20th	65
5	Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	-	-	-	12	-	13	-	-	-	30th	55
	Beatriz Ferrer Salad	-	20th	20th	-	-	-	-	-	15th	-	55
7th	Marcela Krinke Susmelj	-	13	8th	-	11	-	-	(8th)	-	20th	52
8th	Agnete Kirk Thinggaard	15th	-	-	13	-	12	(4)	(4)	11	-	51
9	Diederik van Silfhout	-	-	12	-	-	6th	15th	-	17th	-	50
	Fabienne Lütkemeier	-	15th	13	10	-	-	-	12	-	-	50
11	Edward Gal	20th	-	-	-	17th	-	12	-	-	-	49
12	Inna Logutenkova	-	-	-	4th	-	5	-	(2)	-	30th	39
13	Judy Reynolds	12	12	-	-	-	9	-	5	-	-	38
14th	Gonçalo Carvalho	9	10	9	-	9	(8th)	-	-	-	-	37

(Places one to 14)

World Cup Finals

The venue for the World Cup finals for dressage riders is Gothenburg, Sweden . Once again, a joint final tournament will be held with the show jumpers, which will be held from March 23 to 28, 2016.

Web links

• Internet presence of the Dressage World Cup (English)
• FEI tournament calendar
• Tournament calendar Western European League

Individual evidence

1. ^ Result of the World Cup Freestyle Odense 2015
2. ↑ Result of the World Cup Freestyle Lyon 2015
3. ↑ Results of the World Cup in Stuttgart 2015
4. ^ Stuttgart: Vierecks-Siege for Emilio and Delgado, Superman in top form, Exell brilliant and more , St. Georg, November 21, 2015
5. ↑ Result of the Stockholm 2015 World Cup
6. ↑ Results of the World Cup in Salzburg 2015
7. ↑ Salzburg: Werth wins the World Cup freestyle with a superior score , St. Georg, December 6, 2015
8. ↑ Results of the 2015 World Cup in London
9. ↑ Results of the World Cup in Amsterdam 2016
10. ↑ Amsterdam: Grandiose performance by Isabell Werth, von Bredow-Werndl Second , St. Georg, January 30, 2016
11. ^ Result of the 2016 World Cup Freestyle in Neumünster
12. ↑ Results of the World Cup 's-Hertogenbosch 2016
13. ↑ s-Hertogenbosch: Isabell Werth and Fabienne Lütkemeier also cancel , St. Georg, March 10, 2016
14. ↑ Ramel and Minderhoud Dominate Grand Prix Day at 2016 CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch , eurodressage.com, March 12, 2016 (English)
15. ↑ Final result of the overall ranking (pdf)