WELLINGTON, Fla.--Jennifer Williams on Joppe K won the championship of the Future Challenge Young Horse Grand Prix Series, which Joppe K won with 70.052% at Global Dressage on March 27.
Joppe K previously had won both the six- and seven-year-old young horse finals at Wellington in 2020 and 2021.
These classes aim to identify and nurture talented, up-and-coming young FEI horses, giving them exposure to benefit their development with the biggest of world stages in mind.
Williams and the 8-year-old KWPN gelding by Harmony’s Rousseau had only qualified a week earlier for the final.,
Australian Olympian Kelly Layne on Fernando, who qualified with a win in week 3, placed second with 68.815%, and Alice Tarjan was third on her own8-year-old mare Jane, by Desperado NOP.
Jane and Joppe K were the youngest horses in the class.
“BECAUSE the I-2 was the warm-up and the day before the class, and there’s the halt at X, instead of at G, as in the Grand Prix, on the final center line, I decided that wasn’t wise for him, because we did his first grand prix on Thursday and I learned that he wanted to halt at X,” said Williams. “We had to talk about that, and today he was not thinking halt."
“We only got our first line of 15 one-time changes a week and a half ago, so I was pretty proud of him to get those,” said Williams. “I wanted to go in and make it as confidence building as possible for him. He’s a very young horse, he’s very kind, very willing, and loves his job. My priority is to keep that in place. I was pretty happy that it was mistake free for the most part, and I was able to let the judges see what I feel at home, which is that quality for the future.”
“It’s so exciting," said Williams of the series. "It gives us such a great experience to work towards those higher levels and getting in front of those judges in a relatively low-pressure environment, versus a CDI. It gave me something really fun and exciting to shoot for, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity to get to showcase my youngster out there.”
Williams, who is from Olympia, Washington, has been riding Joppe K since he was 4, after finding him in The Netherlands.
A huge score of 75.029% won the Future Challenge Young Horse Prix St. Georges Series final for Charlotte Jorst on Zhaplin Langholt,.
Bianca Berktold on Imperial, who scored 74.117%,placed second, and Shannon Dueck of Canada was third with 70.911%, riding the youngest horse in the class, the 7-year-old Angelika M.
“Today’s test felt really great,” saud Jorst. “I had no idea that I had a competitor that had a 74%. I’m so competitive that I would’ve had a nervous breakdown had I known. But I didn’t know, so I just went in there today to do my best and so did he. Zhaplin has come along incredibly. I came with a relatively inexperienced horse, so to be able to bring him here with this goal in mind has been very satisfying and fun.
“Talking of mistakes and green things, I had no pirouettes when I came. I don’t even think I knew how to ride a pirouette. But I’ve learned, because I’ve really had to train it,” said Jorst, who trains with Charlotte Bredahl. “Then I saw my pirouettes were actually highlighted in a story that was posted. And I’m like, ‘Wow, there’s a pirouette.’ You can go in with kind of not a great pirouette and still do well. Then you can work on those things over the season and get a pirouette in the end. For Zaplin, this series has given him so much confidence going in that big ring several times in a row.”
Luuk Mourits, a Dutch rider who works for Harmony’s Sporthorses in Colorado, had five wins from five starts in the three-star small tour classes.
On Sunday, he won the Intermediate I Freestyle CDI3* on Harmony’s Sarotti OLD with 76.415% and the Intermediate II CDI3* riding Harmony’s Don’t Stop The Feeling (68.823%).
The Intermediate II was only Mourits’s second CDI test at the level with Harmony’s Don’t Stop The Feeling.
Tiago Ernesto of Portugal was second on Hobbit Interagro with 67.147%, and Ecuador’s Julio Cesar Mendoza Loor was third riding Baylen Dream TWF, 65.823%.
In the Intermediate I Freestyle, Katrina Sadis finished second with Belloona on 69.47%, and Susan Jaccoma was third, riding Dinozzo Nexen to 67.865%.