Dutch four-in-hand driver Koos de Ronde Victorious in Vecses, Hungary.

 

Heat hit Hungary

The temperature in Vecsés, the home base of the sympathetic Hungarian four-in-hand driver József Dobrovitz and his family, rose to around 30 degrees Celsius throughout the weekend. The organising committee had taken the necessary precautions to ensure the welfare of the horses and shortened the A-section of the marathon to 1,2 kilometres and lowered the pace of the walk section. All competitors got fifteen minutes instead the usual ten minutes rest at the obligatory halt in the marathon before the obstacle phase. This turned out to be a wise decision and none of the competing horses had any problems at the finish of the marathon.

 

First CAIO-win

After his second place at the CAIO in Vecsés 2009 and the second place at the CAIO in Breda 2009, Koos de Ronde won a CAIO competition for the first time in his career. De Ronde, who just returned from the USA last Sunday where he trained the US single drivers, has seven top horses at his disposal, which he can choose from. He used two different horses in his four-in-hand team compared to his last competition in Zelhem.

 

After his fourth place in the dressage, De Ronde proofed his fantastic marathon skills in the seven obstacles, designed by Hungarian O-course designer Gábor Fintha. The obstacles were very tight and demanded much of the four-in-hand competitors and their horses. The obstacles all carried balls and De Ronde was one of the very few drivers who managed not to knock any balls down. De Ronde set the fastest times in four obstacles and won the marathon ahead of Werner Ulrich.

 

After the dressage and the marathon, De Ronde took the lead in the standings ahead of former pair and four-in-hand World Champion Zoltán Lázár. Lázár drove one of the two double clear rounds of the day, and put a little pressure on De Ronde. The 33-year old professional horseman decided to drive safely and drove a clear round, but did not make the time allowed which resulted in a breathtaking moment. Luckily, his advantage to Lázár was big enough and Koos de Ronde was honoured as the winner.

 

Lusitano power

Werner Ulrich drove his team of Lusitano horses to the third place in the individual standings. Ulrich will, as well as his compatriot Daniel Würgler, compete for Switzerland at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky at the start of October. After the sixth place in the dressage, Ulrich drove the Lusitano’s, which are used to the hot weather conditions, to the second place in the marathon. His lead to Jozsef Dobrovitz was four penalty points, but ‘Dobro’ knocked two balls down. Ulrich however did the same, but secured his third place. Ulrich’s next start will be at the CAI-A in Altenfelden, Austria next weekend. The former Pair and Four-in-Hand World Champion will not start in Austria as usual with his four-in-hand, but with a single horse.

 

Ulrich competes with the horse Felino of Swiss driver Lilian Luggen. Luggen got injured several weeks ago in an accident in Bern and hereby lost her chances to a starting place at the World Singles in Pratoni at the end of July.

 

(Source: FEI)