At the European Dressage Championships in Verden, Germany, August 8 – 12, 2001, Ulla Salzgeber captured her very first European Champion’s Title. Aboard the Latvian bred Rusty (by Rebuss), Salzgeber drugged the crowds with an absolutely flawless kur to music on the Carmina Burana theme. Scoring 84.50%, Salzgeber built up an 8% overall difference to silver medallist Arjen Teeuwissen.

Dutch Arjen Teeuwissen had a limited amount of show practice before the European Championships. His Dutch bred Gestion Goliath (by Zebulon) got injured right after the Olympics and underwent an eight-month recovery period. Teeuwissen’s re-entry on the European show scene occurred early July at the CDI Arnhem, The Netherlands. The European Championships was the combination’s second appearance on the scene. Teeuwissen scored 80.91% in his freestyle

Silver medal hopeful Nadine Capellmann had to be content with bronze. Capellmann’s hyper sensitive Westfalian Farbenfroh (by Freudentanzer) showed a superb level of training in the Grand Prix and Special but disappointed in the kur (which still scored 77.05%) and dropped to an overall bronze medal position. It was Nadine Capellmann’s first individual medal at a European Championship.

Complete scores, photos and articles from the 2001 European Dressage Championships and 2001 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses at Eurodressage.com

Text by Astrid Appels from eurodressage.comImage copyrighted: Dirk Caremans – No reproduction without permission/payment