Team Germany were in a league of their own when winning the fourth leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage 2015 pilot series on home soil in Hagen today. With three scores in excess of 70 per cent and a massive 81.160 for last-line rider, Kristina Broring-Sprehe with Desperados FRH, they finished more than 15 points ahead of their nearest challengers from Denmark, while Spain slotted into third.

A total of eight nations lined out for this highly-competitive leg that gave Chefs d’Equipe a chance to test horse-and-rider combinations, and team spirit, ahead of next month’s all-important FEI European Championships in Aachen (GER). Russia lined up a close fourth ahead of Switzerland in fifth while the defending series champions from The Netherlands slotted into sixth ahead of the USA in seventh and Great Britain in eighth and last place.

Choice of formats
Organisers have a choice of formats to decide the results in this pilot series, and Hagen chose to run the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage over just a single competition, todays’ Grand Prix. First out for the German side, Hubertus Schmidt had an uncomfortable time when he and his 12-year-old stallion, Imperio 3, had to endure a heavy downpour as well as gusty winds. However they still managed to post a hefty 72.5 which, when it turned out to be the team discard, gave a strong indication of German superiority on the day.

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