Anders Dahl and young horse juggernaut, Selten HW (pictured) took the top prize in Friday night’s second annual Mount St John Future Elite Championship, held at the prestigious Horse of the Year show in Birmingham (10 October 2014).
Eight of Britain’s emerging equine stars, all aged seven to ten, came together for an inter I freestyle competition-come-battle to decide who became king (or queen) of the youngsters. An exciting event in itself but the inclusion of a head-to-head battle between two unbeaten dressage giants – American Young Horse Champion, Selten HW, and World Young Horse Champion, Woodlander Farouche – took the competition to another level.
The lights went down, the music started and the crowd held their breath as Sara Gallop entered the arena to start proceedings. Her ride, Richard Gallop’s ten year old Dutch gelding, Summerhouse Zelham, certainly felt the electric atmosphere during the beginning of their test but soon settled to score a solid 69.70%. Dan Watson followed with Nicola Naylor’s nine year old Sandro Hit gelding, Amadeus VI and, although a well performed test featuring music from will.i.am in the trot work (for you music lovers, the track was ‘Bang Bang’) the pair were unable to reach Sara and Zelham as they posted 68.70%.
Emile Faurie was the first to break the 70% barrier as he, equipped with his partner ten year old De Noir gelding, Bohemo Tinto – owned by Louise Hartnett and Robbie Carpenter, used the same music that secured them fourth in the Saracen Horse Feeds Inter I Freestyle at this year’s LeMieux National Championships. Judges noted highlights in the walk and canter, making a special mention to the tempi-changes, which helped them score 72.49%.
Charlie Hutton and Judy Peploe’s ten year old Dutch gelding, Super Blue pumped the volume and raised the roof with their music. Although there was a slight moment of confusion in the changes, the pair scored 68.91%.
One of the performances of the night, however, went to Matt Frost and Dedi Leech’s nine year old German gelding, AMD Don Rosso II. Light and delicate piano notes in the collected trot turned to crashing cymbals and heavy bass in the extended to build drama; emotional violins in the walk building up to a crescendo in the canter ensured that the duo had the crowd on the edge of their seats and their hearts racing. Combine that with a mistake-free and passionately ridden test and it resulted in Matt finishing his final halt and salute with a punch in the air and a roaring cheer from the crowd, scoring a well-deserved 73.70% to take the lead.
However, this was short lived as Danish rider, Anders Dahl and his own US-bred Sandro Hit gelding, Selten HW entered the arena and immediately demanded the attention of the crowd. Although Selten felt the intense atmosphere, making an early mistake as he energetically stepped into canter from the first halt instead of trot, he soon settled and the duo showed the HOYS audience why they have been unbeatable all season.
Their music, created by German composer Nicole Penzig, certainly gave the feeling that they were going to war. Dramatic, yet rhythmical, percussion combined with emotional string and brass segments encapsulated the gelding perfectly, showing he is a horse of sheer power.
Scoring a jaw-dropping 79.20%, the impressive duo took the lead away from Matt and Don Rosso. Speaking about his test, Anders stated, “He was fairly tense when I got into the arena, which took me a little bit by surprise because he normally doesn’t react on atmosphere – but it was his first time competing in an indoor arena, which is one of the main reasons why I wanted to take part in the competition because it’s a super learning opportunity to go in and see how they react before they start grand prix.”
“I could feel he was a little bit scared but he still listened to me, even though he was tense,” he continued. “He was afraid of the right hand corner, so one of the first half passes I did to the right, he was looking and looking, and growing and growing but even though he looked, he kept on going, so I was really pleased because he had the right attitude!”
Talking through the music, Anders explained: “The music makes me feel a little bit like I’m going to war when I ride it, when I’m in the extended walk and collect – there is such a build-up in the music and I really, really like that. Sometimes I get goosebumps when I’m riding to it because I think the music fits him so well as he’s so powerful and a bit like a war horse that’s giving his all.”
And the future? “There’s no point in doing any more small tour, we’re heading to grand prix,” Anders announced. “I used this year to make sure he’s okay in the arena, I had already said that Hickstead would be his last small tour but then I received this invitation so I thought - … just one more! It’s a brilliant opportunity for us as, usually, the small tour horses don’t get the chance to be in this sort of environment. I hope somehow that venues like Olympia can also offer something similar – but keep it small, like this, so that spectators find it interesting because here, you have some of the best small tour horses in the world. You wouldn’t find this competition anywhere and I think it’s absolutely brilliant; a super, super event.”
Soon after, the former World Young Horse champion – and crowd favourite - Woodlander Farouche entered the arena. Accompanied by international rider, Michael Eilberg, the eight year old British-bred mare was not only the youngest in the class, she was also the only mare and embarking on her first ever inter I. Her naivety at this level and lack of experience showed as she made a few baby-ish mistakes; a break in her first extended trot and confusion in her tempi-changes proved to be expensive. However, the sheer quality of her paces and the brilliance of her work outshone her slip-ups. She barely touched the floor as she floated in her second extended trot and her lateral work looked effortless as she zig-zagged with ease across the arena, which was highlighted by the delicate, piano-based music that flowed through the speakers.
Speaking about the music after the test, Michael explained: “The music was actually made for her mum, Rosie [Woodlander Donroeschen], which I’ve ridden to with her a few times. Farouche is very similar to Rosie, so I always knew it would suit her but I just needed to tweak it slightly to fit her as she covers a lot more ground than her mum. The music is absolutely perfect for that type of horse, very delicate. It’s all piano.”
Posting an impressive 76.45% to land in second place, the score marked an end to the duo’s unbeaten era – however, the competition proved to be an invaluable piece of training that will only help to brighten the mare’s already glowing future.
“I think Farouche shows quality in everything she does,” exclaimed Michael. “She made a couple of mistakes, which were a bit expensive but she also pulled out some really good things, the canter pirouette to the left was really good – especially as she only learnt the full canter pirouette in the last week. I’d not even attempted a whole canter pirouette until after the Nationals!”
“The biggest challenge for her is that she learns to organise that canter,” he continued. “That’s been the biggest challenge for me, the canter pirouette, because she has this massive canter and she does take a bit of time in organising it for the collection. But, based on tonight, it’s definitely going in the right direction – so we’ll just keep working on getting it right, building her strength up and giving her confidence - and she’ll eat up these kind of classes.”
“Next year will be the year to go international, I think she’ll be a little more confirmed, being PSG and inter I ready. Then she can go and do some big shows. It’ll be nice to take her to places like Aachen, or there’s a really nice show in Perl in Germany.”
Closing the class was Saracen Horse Feeds Inter I Supreme Champion, Spencer Wilton and Jayne Lancashire’s nine year old Dutch gelding, Alfons. Showing slight tension with a shout to the crowd from Alfons, the pair soon settled into their test and rocked out to an orchestral version of Bryan Adams’ Run to You to score 75.99% to take third.
“This competition is one that I’ve been really excited about coming to,” exclaimed Spencer. “And, even though we were coming straight from the Nationals [after being crowned Saracen Inter I Supreme Champion], I didn’t feel under pressure at all as Alf has done so much more this year than I’d ever thought he would, so this was just a fun cherry on the cake for the end of his season. I knew that I wouldn’t really be able to beat Selten and Farouche, my goal was to be third – and I’d accepted that was as high as I’d be able to go – so I’m really happy with the result, really chuffed!”
“I have to thank Andrew Gould for the music because it’s his – although I think he may have officially given it to me now,” he continued. “It suits him so well, it’s a nice floor pattern – maybe not the most difficult – but I think with a young horse in this sort of environment, I think it’s quite important that you don’t challenge them too much.”
“The arena, crowd and atmosphere at HOYS is such a shock to the system for these youngsters. I came here last year with a horse that I had, Goodmans Supernova, who went up to grand prix this year and he was absolutely petrified. It had a good effect on him eventually but in the beginning he was really, really scared. Some horses take to it really well, Alfons took to it completely and he was just amazing – I can’t imagine what must have been going through his head as he was going around, but he just got on with his job, which leaves us in good stead for the future – if the horses have a good experience here, then it becomes a very important part of their education. If they don’t have such a good experience then it can push them a couple of steps back – but the experience gained is invaluable nonetheless.”
Photo credit: E S Photography
For full results, click here.