14 May - The second selection competition for the young Riders Academy was arranged at the CSI 3* in Redefin, Germany. The young Riders Academy is a new program conceived for talented young show jumpers, under the patronage of the European Equestrian Federation (EEF), with the cooperation of the International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC) and the support of Rolex. Again, as in Arezzo, the organizers Bettina and Paul Schockemöhle had been great in hosting our competition. In spite of cold and rainy weather, all riders did get a very fair chance to show their best during three days of competitions. The candidates were evaluated in two classes, the 145 on Friday and the 150 cm on Saturday, both part of the “Big Tour”.
There were 12 participants in this selection, two from the host country Germany, three from Sweden, two from each Ireland and Poland and a representative from Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland.
"This second selection had shown indeed, as it happened in Arezzo, a very high quality of riding" stated Emile Hendrix who, together with Otto Becker, had the difficult task to evaluate all riders. To asses riding skills, a score had been assigned for riding position, focus, influence on horse, ability and reaction to situations.
The one to one interviews, on the other hand, had the goal to look at riders knowledge and awareness on equestrian environment as well as motivation and communication skills.
In the 145 class eight of our candidates finished with clear rounds and another two had only one rail down. In the 150 class on Saturday four riders had clear rounds and two had one down. The Young Rider Candidate Bertram Allen was the winner in both competitions, and in the 150 class “our” riders were also 3rd and 4th. An equally impressive result as in Arezzo.
Again we can only congratulate the National Federations in their choice of candidates, very good riders as seen by the results and also brilliant personalities as shown by the interviews that were made with all participants.
On Monday May 19th the Selection Panel will meet in Düsseldorf to make the five riders final selection. Immediately after this decision, together with Eleonora Moroni Ottaviani and Breido Graf zu Ranzau, members of Athenaeum board of directors, the Selection Panel will try to assign to the five riders the trainers according to their “whish-list”.
We look forward to a difficult, interesting and rewarding meeting!
source: www.ridersacademy.eu