2005 CHIO Aachen

History Written in Aachen: The Netherlands Wins Nations' Cup Dressage

August 25, 2005 - Text and Photos copyrighted Astrid Appels/Eurodressage and phelpsphotos.com

History was written today at the CDIO Aachen in Germany. For the first time ever, the Dutch dressage team beat its arch rival Germany in a Grand Prix team competition. Just like at the 2005 European Dressage Championships, the difference between the first and second place was minimal, but this time the Team L'Orange prevailed. The Dutch riders led the team ranking with a 0.334 percentage point difference to Germany. The United States team finished in bronze medal position.

Anchor rider for Holland was, of course, Anky van Grunsven who won the CDIO Grand Prix class on the Hanoverian gelding Salinero (Salieri x Lungau). Van Grunsven's feel for riding her horse is beyond comparison and she can accentuate her horse's strengths as well as she can cover up its weaknesses. The end result was the piaffe which was brilliantly off the ground in superb self carriage, giving her the high scores needed to build her average over the clear mistakes made in the test.

The horse did not halt at the beginning nor end of the test nervously piaffing, although the judges scored a 4 for the movement. There was an error in the flying changes every single stride. Nevertheless, Anky earned 74.500% for her ride, took the lead and led her team to its first Nations' Cup victory at Aachen.