POINT OF VIEW
By Amber Heintzberger
Young Horse Championships – A German Perspective
With the popularity of competition for young dressage horses gaining ground in North America, more and more people are on the lookout for those ‘diamonds in the rough.’ For some riders the young horse classes are a goal in and of themselves, while for others they are a stepping stone in the horse’s career.
Meet the Expert
German dressage rider Laura Blackert (nee Stigler) lives in Mönchen- gladbach, Germany, near the Dutch border. She has successfully cam- paigned several of her developing FEI horses in the Young Horse classes. In 2013 Laura and the Hanoverian gelding Doubleyou W (Don Ro-
mantic x Rohdiamant), owned by Lena Charlotte Walterscheidt, cel- ebrated victory in the six-year-old World Young Horse Championship qualifier in Verden, Germany. They also finished fourth at the Bundes- championate (German National Championship) in Warendorf that year. In 2016 Laura won the Bundeschampionate for six-year-old horses
riding the Rheinlander mare Deluxe 23 (Don Primus x Wolkentanz), owned in partnership with Anja Walterscheidt. They finished fifth at the World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo, the Netherlands. In July of 2017, Laura and Deluxe were selected to represent Germa- ny in the Longines/FEI WBFSH World Breeding Dressage Champion- ship for seven-year-old horses in Ermelo. Laura also competes at the Grand Prix level and in May 2017 finished second in the both the Grand Prix and Grand
Laura and the Rheinlander mare Deluxe 23 won the famous Bundeschampionate in the six-year-old di- vision in 2016.
Prix Special at the German Professional Riders Championship riding the Walterscheidt family’s 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding Rasputin W (Rooney x Donnerhall). Success runs in the family. Laura’s sister Silva Martin is also a dressage rider and trainer. Now a U.S. citizen, Silva
owns and operates Windurra USA in Cochranville, Pennsylvania with her husband Boyd, a member of the US Event- ing Team. Here Laura shares her thoughts on successfully competing young horses.
Goals and Advantages The Young Horse competitions are not the end goal for her horses, Laura explains, but rather a tool in her training program. “My main goal is to train my horses up to Grand Prix,” she says. “I think Young Horse shows are a great way to give the horses experience and expose them to differ- ent environments, and I see it more as a stepping stone. I will only do shows with a young horse when I feel he is ready for the level, and I won’t over push him in order to get ready for a show. I think if the horses are ready for
these shows it can be great for them. But training them too hard and pushing them just so I can get good marks in Young Horse shows is bad for the future of the horses and doesn’t benefit their training.” While some people may aim simply to do well in
Young Horse competition, one of the goals of these class- es is producing the Grand Prix horses of the future. In se- lecting a dressage horse that she hopes will reach the in- ternational levels, Laura says good conformation is very important to her.
Warmbloods Today 39
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