Western European League 2018/2019 (dressage riding)

The Western European League of the FEI Dressage World Cup 2018/2019 (FEI Dressage World Cup ™ 2018 to 2019, Western European League) was the 34th 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

For the 2018/2019 season, the Western European League received two new stages: The Madrid Horse Week, which had already held a CDI 5 * tournament in the previous year, received World Cup status for its dressage tests. The indoor tournament in Mechelen, which takes place at the turn of the year, got its World Cup status back after several years of abstinence. Gothenburg will host the World Cup finals in 2019 and was therefore not a normal stage in the Western European League this season. Thus the number of stages increased to ten.

All tournaments of the Western European League were advertised as CDI . They were marked with the addition -W (i.e. CDI-W) in order to identify them as World Cup tournaments.

The season started with the first special test on October 21, 2018, the last test of the season was carried out on March 17, 2019. Qualified for the 2019 World Cup finals were the nine best riders in the Western European League as well as any additional participants (“extra competitors”). The “Analytics Sponsor” of the Dressage World Cup was the software manufacturer SAP .

The mode of the stages remained unchanged: A Grand Prix de Dressage served as the warm-up test for the Grand Prix Freestyle . The number of participants in the Grand Prix was not determined by the World Cup regulations. The 15 best placed participants were qualified from the Grand Prix for the Grand Prix Freestyle. Only the Grand Prix Freestyle counted as a special test for the Western European League.

The exams

Herning

For the second time, the World Cup Herning was the World Cup tournament and the start of the dressage World Cup season in the Western European League. The in Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning oriented tournament was held from Oct. 17 to 21 2018th

Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén and Don Auriello were the first couple to make the jump over the 80 percent mark. For the 16-year-old gelding, the Herning freestyle was the first World Cup start since the 2016 World Cup finals, which he and his rider finished in second place. Helen Langehanenberg and the 16-year-old stallion Damsey FRH had won the Grand Prix of the World Cup Tour the day before with a 1.5 percent lead. In the Freestyle World Cup she came to over 81 percent. But the day's victory went to the second-placed Grand Prix: Daniel Bachmann Andersen won in front of a home crowd with the KWPN stallion Zack .

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Daniel Bachmann Andersen	Zack	83.375%	20th
2	Helen Langehanenberg	Damsey FRH	81.405%	17th
3	Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	Don Auriello	80.900%	15th

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

Lyon

France's stage of the Dressage World Cup took place in Lyon from October 31 to November 4, 2018 . Dressage was already on the program at the Equitá Lyon in Eurexpo on the first three days of the tournament, the World Cup Freestyle was held on Friday afternoon (November 2nd).

In the Grand Prix de Dressage, the ratings of the top group were tight: Isabell Werth, Dorothee Schneider and Patrik Kittel were each ranked first by one or two judges; overall, Werth and Emilio were victorious by less than one percent.

In the Grand Prix Freestyle, Isabell Werths Wallach was much more self-confident than in the Grand Prix. In a new freestyle, the couple achieved a result of 84.410 percent. Behind them, Patrik Kittel came in second. There was also a premiere for Kittel: Lyon was the first tournament for him with the 14-year-old Hanoverian Delatio , whom Emile Faurie had previously presented in tournament sport. The riders also made a debut among the top three: Kittel's student Antonia Ramel took her first World Cup test in Lyon. The 33-year-old Swede rode the KWPN gelding Brother de Jeu . After she had achieved results below 75 percent with this so far, she cracked the 80 percent mark in the Lyon World Cup. Dorothee Schneider came with Sammy Davis Jr. to 79.365 percent and thus in fourth place.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Emilio	84.410%	-
2	Patrik Kittel	Delatio	80.980%	20th
3	Antonia Ramel	Brother de Jeu	80.060%	17th

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

Stuttgart

The first German stage of the Dressage World Cup was held in mid-November 2018: the Stuttgart German Masters took place from November 14th to 18th, 2018 in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle .

The big duel announced in advance did not take place: While Isabell Werth started with several horses in Stuttgart and dominated the dressage tests, Charlotte Dujardin withdrew her participation with her mare Freestyle .

The victory in the Freestyle World Cup went to Isabell Werth and her Westphalian mare Bella Rose . At Bella Rose's first tournament since the World Equestrian Games, mistakes were made in the two-man substitutions, but the overall performance was convincing. Four of the five judges awarded the A grade over 80 percent, the overall result from the A and B grades was 85.660 percent.

Behind them were the other winners : Daniel Bachmann Andersen with the 10-year-old scepter , Helen Langehanenberg with Damsey FRH and Dorothee Schneider with Sammy Davis jr. were placed second by at least one of the judges. When adding up the judges' results, all three got overall marks in the 81 percent range. Benjamin Werndl came in fifth, who was also seen by one of the judges in second place with the 14-year-old Daily Mirror . In the overall result, however, it was slightly behind the aforementioned group of three and came to 80.340 percent.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Bella Rose	85.660%	-
2	Dorothee Schneider	Sammy Davis Jr.	81.840%	20th
3	Helen Langehanenberg	Damsey FRH	81.470%	17th

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

Madrid

The new southernmost stage of the Western European League is Madrid . After the show jumpers have been hosting a World Cup station here since 2014, the Madrid Horse Week from November 22nd to 25th 2018 was part of the Dressage World Cup for the first time. As part of the indoor tournament held in the Feria de Madrid , international dressage tests have been held since 2014, and in 2017 for the first time at CDI 5 * level.

Due to the long travel distances in the pre-Christmas period with a large number of high-class dressage tournaments, only a few dressage riders from Central Europe made their way to Madrid. The best result of a rider who does not come from the Iberian Peninsula was achieved by Hans Peter Minderhoud. With 14-year-old Schimmel Zanardi , he got 76.110 percent. As expected at the CDI 5 * premiere last year, the victory went to Beatriz Ferrer-Salat and her now 17-year-old chestnut gelding Delgado .

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Beatriz Ferrer Salad	Delgado	81.285%	20th
2	Claudio Castilla Ruiz	Alcaide	78.915%	17th
3	Maria Caetano	Coroado	77.655%	15th

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

Salzburg

Austria's stage of the dressage world cup was part of the Amadeus Horse Indoors in Salzburg . The event was held from December 5 to 9, 2018 in the Salzburgarena .

The result of the Grand Prix de Dressage already showed that the competition in Salzburg was very close in terms of performance: Benjamin Werndl won with his black gelding Daily Mirror with 74.783%. In second and third place followed Dorothee Schneider and Patrik Kittel with their horses, tied with 74.609% each.

In the World Cup Freestyle, Dorothee Schneider and her Hanoverian Faustus , who had just been awarded the Otto Lörke Prize , achieved 79.730%. In the end, this earned her third place. Kristy Oatley with Du Soleil and Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier with Fabregaz (places four and five) were also among the top group in this test with a final result of over 79 percent .

In their second joint World Cup, Patrik Kittel and Delatio achieved just over 80 percent, as they did in Lyon, which also brought them second in Salzburg. The victory went to Benjamin Werndl and Daily Mirror with 80.790%. The second weekend in December 2018 was very successful for the Werndl family, Benjamin Werndl's sister Jessica von Bredow-Werndl won the Grand Prix Freestyle there with TSF Dalera BB at the CDI 5 * in Geneva, which was taking place at the same time .

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Benjamin Werndl	Daily Mirror	80.790%	20th
2	Patrik Kittel	Delatio	80.010%	17th
3	Dorothee Schneider	Faustus	79.730%	15th

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

London

Nine days after the World Cup in Salzburg, the only special stage of the Western European League was held on the British Isles. On the first two days of the Olympia London International Horse Show , December 17th and 18th, 2018, the dressage tests were held in London's Olympia Grand Hall .

As for Stuttgart, Charlotte Dujardin was not available for her top horse Freestyle either. For the most important dressage tournament in Great Britain, Dujardin received the Olympic horse Delicato from her trainer . She had already ridden the gelding in smaller tests as a young horse. As fourth from last rider in the freestyle in London, Charlotte Dujardin showed a ride without any real weaknesses. However, she did not risk too much and therefore chose a level of difficulty that was not too high for the freestyle. The judges awarded 80.030 percent for the ride.

The second best British couple went to Hayley Watson-Greaves and the black gelding Rubins Nite , who came in fourth (77.705%). After her, Frederic Wandres came into the square. The rider from the Kasselmann stable in Hagen am Teutoburg Forest contested his first World Cup season in 2018, his Grand Prix horse was the Hanoverian gelding Duke of Britain , who was bred in Great Britain . With this he showed an extremely demanding freestyle (scores of the judges for the degree of difficulty: 9.0 to 9.9). Wandres' horse was not unsettled by the atmosphere in the Olympiahalle and only had slight weaknesses in the canter pirouettes. His final score was 80.030 percent - he was exactly tied with Charlotte Dujardin. Due to the higher B grade, however, Frederic Wandres took the lead.

As the last couple, Hans Peter Minderhoud went into the arena with the black stallion Dream Boy . The couple who won the Grand Prix the day before failed to switch two and only received average grades for the step tour. Thus, Minderhoud clearly missed the 80 percent range and came in third.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Frederic Wandres	Duke of Britain	80.030%	20th
2	Charlotte Dujardin	Delicato	80.030%	17th
3	Hans Peter Minderhoud	Dream boy	77.990%	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 12 participants)

Mechelen

Return to the Western European League: After the last World Cup for dressage riders in 2011, Jumping Mechelen - Vlaanderens Kerstjumping returned to the World Cup calendar. As always from December 26th to 30th, Mechelen was the location of the last international dressage tournament of the year.

The World Cup freestyle was on the program in the early afternoon of December 29th. Maria Caetano delivered the first result over 80 percent. The Portuguese, who was trained by Ton de Ridder , was able to significantly improve her results from Madrid with her Lusitano gray stallion Coroado and achieved a new personal best with 80.160 percent. Helen Langehanenberg achieved 82.880 percent with her stallion Damsey FRH and has since taken the lead.

Ireland's best dressage rider Judy Reynolds had her first international competition appearance since the World Equestrian Games with her KWPN gelding Vancouver K. She was also able to achieve one of her best results so far, with 78.570 percent it was enough for her to finish fifth.

The penultimate starter pair were Therese Nilshagen and the black stallion Dante Weltino OLD . Despite a result of 80.090 percent, she just missed a top three placement. The win was won by Hans Peter Minderhoud, who was the last starter with Dream Boy like in London. Again mistakes were made in the exchange tour, this time in the single changes. But overall, the couple was able to present themselves better, which the judges rewarded with 83.665 percent.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Hans Peter Minderhoud	Dream boy	83.665%	20th
2	Helen Langehanenberg	Damsey FRH	82.880%	17th
3	Maria Caetano	Coroado	80.160%	15th

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

Amsterdam

The first stage of the Western European League in the new year only took place at the end of January. The first of two Dutch dressage world cup competitions was held from January 24th to 27th, 2019 as part of the indoor equestrian tournament in Amsterdam , called Jumping Amsterdam.

In the Grand Prix de Dressage, Helen Langehanenberg and Damsey FRH from Hanover only finished seventh. This made her one of the first half of the starters in the freestyle. Here, however, she was the dominant starter with a result of over 82 percent.

In the second half of the starting field, an above-average number of participants achieved results of over 80 percent, a total of seven out of 15 riders with their horses. In the meantime Dorothee Schneider took the lead, but the victory went to Isabell Werth and her black mare Weihegold OLD with a clear margin . The first three places thus corresponded exactly to the order that the riders had already achieved in Stuttgart.

In front of the home crowd in Amsterdam it became clear that the Dutch riders at the beginning of 2019 could not match their previous successes in terms of performance: Behind Patrik Kittel in fifth place, Hans Peter Minderhoud with Dream Boy was the best Dutch rider (81.380%). The other Dutch representatives came in eighth, eleven and twelve.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Weihegold OLD	86.810%	-
2	Dorothee Schneider	Sammy Davis Jr.	82.675%	20th
3	Helen Langehanenberg	Damsey FRH	82.440%	17th

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

Neumunster

From February 14th to 17th, 2018, some of the best dressage riders met in Schleswig-Holstein. As part of the VR Classics in the Holstenhallen in Neumünster , the Western European League made a stop.

In the World Cup Freestyle held on Sunday morning, the dominance of the German participants in 2019 was overwhelming: Six of the 15 riders represented Germany, all six came in the top seven with over 78 percent. As the only foreign guest among the top seven, Judy Reynolds placed third. Reynolds, the only Irish dressage rider among the top 100 in the world rankings, joined with the now 17-year-old Vancouver K to. The gelding, at the height of his tournament career, again achieved an individual best result with his rider a few weeks after Amsterdam. In Amsterdam both came over 80 percent for the first time. In Neumünster they increased to 82.750 percent.

On her 50th birthday, Dorothee Schneider and Sammy Davis Jr. remained among her best results of this World Cup season . Errors in the gallop changes and in the pirouettes pushed the result to just under 80 percent, which was only enough for fifth place on that day and cost Schneider the lead in the overall standings. Benjamin Werndl and his Westfale Daily mirror achieved just over 80 percent in Neumünster (fourth place).

Helen Langehanenberg was the new overall leader before the last stop in the Western European League. As in the previous year, she was particularly convincing in Neumünster with her stallion Damsey FRH and achieved almost 84 percent. A judge even rated Langehanenberg's ride as the best of the day. But in the overall result of all five judges, the victory was clear: With a lead of almost three percent, the victory went to Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD again .

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Isabell Werth	Weihegold OLD	86.810%	-
2	Helen Langehanenberg	Damsey FRH	83.825%	20th
3	Judy Reynolds	Vancouver K	82.750%	17th

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

's-Hertogenbosch

The last stage of the Western European League was also held in 's-Hertogenbosch in 2019 . As part of the tournament The Dutch Masters - Indoor Brabant , which was held from March 14th to 17th, 2019, the dressage riders had one last opportunity to collect points for the World Cup finals.

The Grand Prix Freestyle of the World Cup Tour on Saturday afternoon marked the end of a dressage morning. A freestyle for dressage riders up to the age of 25 and the Grand Prix freestyle of the CDI 3 * tour had already been carried out beforehand. In the latter, Daniel Bachmann Andersen and his 11-year-old chestnut stallion Don Olymbrio won with a score of 84.195 percent. In the World Cup Freestyle, the Dane brought the stallion Zack to the start and with him also showed a performance that the judges consistently rewarded with good grades (84.890%). Helen Langehanenberg and her 17-year-old Damsey FRH were equally good that day . According to Langehanenberg's own statement, this was the couple's best test, the judges awarded 84.875 percent.

In the Grand Prix de Dressage, Isabell Werth and Emilio had won by one percent. In the World Cup Freestyle, the couple exhibited weaknesses, especially in the step lessons, so that it was only just under 83 percent and thus reached third place. After Dorothee Schneider's horse Sammy Davis jr. Was not in good health in terms of health and was therefore withdrawn, Benjamin Werndl still had a chance to secure the last of the maximum three German starting places for the World Cup final. In the Grand Prix he was third. In the Grand Prix Freestyle, however, with Daily mirror it was only enough for fifth place, 0.005 percentage points behind fourth-placed Hans Peter Minderhoud.

	equestrian	horse	percent	scoring points
1	Daniel Bachmann Andersen	Zack	84.890%	20th
2	Helen Langehanenberg	Damsey FRH	84.875%	17th
3	Isabell Werth	Emilio	82.930%	-

(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 World Cup finals. The four best placements per rider counted for the overall ranking.

Other riders from other countries could qualify for the World Cup finals via the Western European League, provided they lived in the Western European League.

The riders also 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). As the World Cup final winner of the previous season, Isabell Werth was already pre-qualified for the final. She was therefore unable to collect any rating points this season.

Four German riders made it into the top nine places in the overall ranking, three of them in the first three places. Due to the World Cup regulations, however, only three riders per nation are permitted at the World Cup finals. Since Isabell Werth already occupied one of these places, only Helen Langehanenberg and Dorothee Schneider from Germany could make it into the final. For Benjamin Werndl and Frederic Wandres, who qualified by points, Judy Reynolds and Morgan Barbançon Mestre moved up into the World Cup final.

	equestrian	Herning	Lyon	Stuttgart	Madrid	Salzburg	London	Mechelen	Amsterdam	Neumunster	's-Hertogen- Bosch	Further	scoring points
1	Helen Langehanenberg	(17)	-	(17)	-	-	-	17th	17th	20th	17th	-	71
2	Dorothee Schneider	-	15th	20th	-	15th	-	-	20th	(13)	-	(15)	70
3	Benjamin Werndl	(12)	-	(13)	-	20th	-	-	-	15th	13	20th	68
4th	Daniel Bachmann-Andersen	20th	-	15th	-	-	-	-	12	-	20th	-	67
5	Patrik Kittel	-	20th	-	-	17th	-	-	15th	-	12	-	64
6th	Hans Peter Minderhoud	-	(11)	-	(13)	-	15th	20th	13	-	15th	-	63
7th	Maria Caetano	-	-	-	15th	-	9	15th	-	-	(8th)	20th	59
8th	Frederic Wandres	-	-	10	-	-	20th	-	8th	-	-	20th	58
9	Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén	15th	-	12	-	-	-	-	-			25th	52
10	Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier	-	-	11	-	12	-	-	-	11	-	17th	51
11	Judy Reynolds	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	11	17th	9	-	51
12	Morgan Barbançon Mestre	-	9	(5)	(8th)	10	-	10	-	-	-	17th	46
13	Antonia Ramel	-	17th	-	-	11	-	-	9	-	5	-	42

(Places one to 13)

World Cup Finals

For the ninth time, Gothenburg was the location of the dressage world cup finals. The World Cup finals for dressage riders and show jumpers took place in the Scandinavium from April 3 to 7, 2019 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FEI Dressage World Cup Rules Season 2018-19, Approved 28.03.2018 (mark-up version)
2. ↑ Home Win for Daniel Bachmann Andersen at 2018 CDI-W Opening Leg in Herning , eurodressage.com, October 22, 2018
3. ↑ Result of the 2018 World Cup in Herning
4. ↑ Lyon: Werth and Emilio start fit for fun into the 2018/19 World Cup season , Dominique Wehrmann / St. Georg, November 3, 2018
5. ↑ Result of the World Cup Freestyle Lyon 2018
6. ^ Stuttgart: Bella Rose in world champion form , Gabriele Pochhammer / St. Georg, November 17, 2018
7. ↑ Results of the World Cup in Stuttgart 2018
8. ↑ Result of the World Cup Freestyle Madrid 2018
9. ^ Result of the World Cup Freestyle Salzburg 2018
10. ↑ Wandres pips Dujardin in incredibly tight contest at 2018 CDI-W London , eurodressage.com, December 19, 2018
11. ↑ London: Great World Cup victory for Frederic Wandres , Reiter Revue International, December 19, 2018
12. ^ Result of the World Cup Freestyle London 2018
13. ↑ Mechelen: Helen Langehanenberg second in the World Cup , press release of the German Equestrian Association, December 29, 2018
14. ↑ Result of the World Cup Mechelen 2018
15. ↑ Results of the Amsterdam World Cup 2019
16. ↑ World Cup Freestyle Neumünster: Isabell Werth unbeatable , Dominique Wehrmann / St. Georg, February 17, 2019
17. ↑ Results of the Neumünster World Cup 2019
18. ↑ s-Hertogenbosch: 2nd place for Helen Langehanenberg , press release of the German Equestrian Association, March 16, 2019
19. ↑ Results of the 's-Hertogenbosch 2019 World Cup
20. ↑ Final result of the overall ranking (PDF)