After her excellent performance in the Grand Prix, Emmelie Scholtens from Onnen was able to ride her Indian Rock into the dressage arena at the CH in Rotterdam for the Grand Prix Special. She transferred that open-mindedness to the impressive stallion, with which she won the victory.
Scholtens has had a difficult period. At the KWPN stallion selection in February, she wanted to step on a stallion that reacted incorrectly. On landing, she landed on her feet so wrong that not only was her cruciate ligament torn, but her meniscus also suffered a few tears.
Revalidation
This was followed by surgery and intensive rehabilitation. “The nice thing is that in the interest of my rehabilitation I have been allowed to ride horses again since the beginning of this month. That went pretty well from the start and that’s why I immediately started hoping that a start in Rotterdam would be possible”, said Scholtens. ,,I succeeded with a result with which I should not be satisfied, but with which I am satisfied for the moment. That’s because I know we can just do a lot better, because I think I’m still driving at half power now.”
Indian Rock is an impressive stallion, partly thanks to his strong canter. In the changes every two in the Grand Prix, things went horribly wrong, which cost her the victory. “Indian Rock has an enormously large gallop and, due to his relatively young age, does not yet have all the power at his disposal. If he is then driven into the changes with just too little control, they become just too big, resulting in a loss of balance and errors. In the Special I had full control and I managed to keep the canter jumps small, so that my horse remained balanced. As a result, we now remained error-free. Okay, in the last line we had a little miscommunication, but that didn’t jeopardize my victory.”
Is EK coming too early?
Whether the European Championship in September is too early for her, the rider cannot say much about that yet. “I should not underestimate my rehabilitation and keep all options open. If all goes well, I will certainly do my best to start there. It can also go wrong and if that is the case, I will let this European Championship run. I don’t feel like forcing myself. On the other hand, and it might be stupid to say, having this injury has made me enjoy riding more than ever before.”
Jur Vrieling sixth in Grand Prix among show jumping riders
The Grand Prix of the showjumpers went to Willem Greve (Markelo) with the stallion Highway M TN. As the last starter in the jump-off, Greve had seen last year’s winner, the Irishman Daniel Coyle, ride an apparently impossible twist to the double jump. However, it turned out to be possible.
That put Coyle in the lead. Greve rode the same turn, but just a little sharper and in the long line diagonally across the arena demanded all the speed the stallion could develop, with the result that he was almost a second faster.
Jur Vrieling from Holwierde also qualified for the jump-off with Fiumicino van de Kalevallei. He also rode the turn to the double clear, but the brown went just a little too far to the right in the final turn, giving them a mistake and finishing sixth.