Julia Mestern takes lead in CIC*** Meßmer Trophy
Germany’s Julia Mestern and Grand Prix IWEST went into the lead after first day of CIC3* dressage at Luhmühlen. Photo: Thomas Ix
Julia Mestern (GER) and Grand Prix IWEST (26.2) went into the lead of today’s first part of the three-star dressage. Second lies Josefa Sommer with Hamilton 24 (26.8) before Pietro Sandei (ITA) on Rubis de Prere (27.9). Julia Mestern, who is also a successful dressage rider, delivered an almost perfect dressage test today: “This was by far our best test! I was smiling the whole way through, which is a sure sign things were going well for us today. There were only a couple of things we could have done better – coming down the first centre line and two of the flying changes were not as good as they could have been. The rest was brilliant! The atmosphere is electric in the stadium but my horse kept his cool and listened to me throughout.”
Closely behind Julia is team colleague Josefa Sommer (GER), who could not be happier with her gelding ‘Hannes’ today: “He has improved from test to test this year and today he really gave it his all. The canter work still needs a little work but I really could not have asked for more. Even our changes were pretty good today, which I managed to improve after getting some useful tips from Ingrid Klimke.“
Thoughts on the CIC*** Cross Country
Hans Melzer: “This year’s course is definitely more difficult than last year’s. There are many questions for horses and riders, however, they are clear and fairly build with easier passages in between. Well-prepared horses should be able to make the time.”
