Kelly Houtappels-Bruder, from Ariss, ON, who currently resides in The Netherlands, rode her way to an overall seventh place finish in the ninth edition of the FEI World Single Driving Championships at the Lipizzaner Stud Farm in Piber-Köflach, Austria, held August 3-7, 2016.
With her esteemed partner, Flip (Fidertanz x Carprilli), an eight-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by H. Hoogers, Houtappels-Bruder finished seventh overall, out of 75 competitors, representing 23 nations.
For the dressage phase, Houtappels-Bruder performed well, scoring 57.18, placing her comfortably in 18th place. Her score was a mere 8.5 penalty points behind first place Marlen Fallak of Germany, who finished with 48.70.
“The show was great, and Flip exceeded all of our expectations,” Houtappels-Bruder said. I was happy with our dressage test, Flip still needs another year to get stronger and more solid, but for the short amount of time we have been together he did everything that was asked of him and didn’t react at all to the busy arena.”
Despite inclement weather on the second day, the competition forged ahead. Heavy rains soaked the grounds and the competition was stopped for two hours to allow the arena sufficient time to dry out so the remaining three drivers could complete their tests.
Due to the heavy rain on Friday, one obstacle was removed from the marathon phase on Saturday morning. The course, designed by Hungarian World Championship course designer, Gábor Fintha, was challenging and precise and tested the grit of all competitors. Houtappels-Bruder drove a strong marathon with her groom, Ad van Gestel, and finished in an impressive 9th place with 85.78, moving up in the combined results to 11th place.
“The marathon was extremely heavy and even after they took out obstacle 5 there were still a lot of horses who were having a hard time,” Houtappels-Bruder said. “Flip was extremely fit and was still quicker than I was in obstacle 8. A steering fault in obstacle 6 resulted in a knockdown which was extremely unfortunate.”
The technical cones course was challenging, but, as evidenced by the nine clear rounds, doable. The difference in points between the top drivers was minute, making it a tough final race. Houtappels-Bruder and Flip drove a clear course, recording just .27 penalty points for being half a second over the allotted time. Finishing in tenth place in the cones, she closed the Piber World Single Driving Championships with a final, three-day score of 143.23, just 5.73 penalties behind the gold medalist, earning a well-deserved seventh place.
“The coolest part of the weekend was warming up for the cones in between all of these drivers who I admire,” Houtappels-Bruder said. “It was such an amazing show and the atmosphere was incredible.”
Saskia Siebers, (NED), and Axel, finished their first World Championships with a score of 141.36, claiming the Individual Bronze medal. Poland’s Weronika Kwiatek and Bartnik got the silver medal on a score of 139.68, and Germany’s Dieter Lauterbach and Dirigent 47 went home with the gold on a score of 137.50.
More from Horse Sport:
