The World Championship final for seven-year-old dressage horses, presented by Helgstrand Dressage, has been decided: With 81.650 percentage points, the Quaterhit daughter Quinn G won under the saddle of her owner Fiona Bigwood. The big chestnut mare received a 9.2 in the quality three timesfor her trot, canter and perspecitve, 8.8 for her walk and 8.5 for her submission. The commenting judge, Dr Sven-Günter Rothenberger, raved about her light-footedness, her good hind legs and her potential, which could not be better. ‘The flying changes were superb and we were really impressed by how the mare took the weight off in the canter.’ After the half pirouette, Quinn jumped once. This affected the score for submission, as did the slightly stiff contact in the trot. Overall: ‘We are certain that this horse has a great future ahead of it.’ The technical score ranged between 73.143 and 73.857 percent.

‘I didn't sleep much last night,’ admits the rider and owner of the triple world champion, Briton Fiona Bigwood, with a laugh. ‘I was really nervous. She gives so much and I just wanted to show what a great horse she is.’ Quinn felt super confident again in today's test and the flying changes were a particular highlight. ‘She has so much energy and yet you can still bring her back to a walk, keep the reins long and she goes straight into a superb walk through her body. She just has a great attitude to life,’ and after a short pause, Fiona Bigwood adds with a smile: ‘She's not a typical chestnut mare, she's a great chestnut mare.’

Breeder Helene Geervliet was almost speechless: ‘It's almost too much to really comprehend – world champion for the third time!’ She is so happy to be part of this and to know that the mare is being so well cared for. ‘Fiona obviously loves her – that's wonderful and makes me happy.’ She had a very good breeding advisor at the time. ‘He persuaded me to buy Quinn's dam, the Fassbinder daughter Fyrstin Laura – because of Fassbinder. Fassbinder was sold to England and castrated before anyone realised how good this stallion was.’

A slight detour to World Championship silver

Last but not least, courage and chance ensured today's silver medallist: Most Wanted Nero von Bellin (Morricone x Donnerball). At the Dutch trials for the World Championships, the Morricone son was placed as first reserve. He slipped into the World Championship field due to the withdrawal of a younger rider who was not allowed to compete in the World Championships. Why? Because a new FEI rule states that all young riders may only compete in one championship per year. This means that anyone who has competed in the U25 European Championships, for example, is not allowed to compete in the World Championships for young dressage horses. This meant that one horse was dropped from the Dutch team and Leonie Richter and Most Wanted Nero travelled to Verden. ‘That was quite brave of the Dutch selection committee,’ smiled Leonie Richter. "At the time of the trials, Nero was still quite green. Of course, you could see his quality, but he was still lagging behind in terms of training. I am really grateful that I was given this opportunity." This horse has developed enormously over the past year, but also again during the course of the World Championships week. The stallion, bred by C.J. Bruin and owned by MJS Gestüt von Bellin in Verden, made his way from the small to the big final – all the way to World Championship silver. ‘He gained more confidence every day and became more and more relaxed. That made it really easy for me today,’ enthused Leonie Richter, and the score for submission in particular underscores this statement: at 9.2, it was by far the highest score for suppleness in this World Championship final. Other individual scores were 9.3 for the trot, 7.2 for the still not quite relaxed walk and 9.0 for the canter and perspective. Combined with 70.571 and 71.857 percentage points in the technical evaluation, this resulted in an overall score of 79.307 percent for Leonie Richter and Most Wanted Nero.

Bronze for Ilegro

‘I knew I was sitting on a great horse with a lot of talent for Grand Prix sport,’ said Charlotte Fry, referring to World Championship bronze medallist Ilegro (Inclusive x Negro). ‘However, I wasn't sure if this World Championships had come a little too early. But he was sensational. In today's test, I had an incredible feeling, especially in the trot.’ The judges confirmed this with the highest score of the field for the trot: 9.5. ‘He became more relaxed overall, but he is still a little green. Nevertheless, I am very much looking forward to the future with him.’ ‘Lottie’ Fry rode her sire Inclusive in Grand Prix sport, and her dam Jalegrofleur is a full sister to Olympic champion Valegro, so a future in Grand Prix competition seems as certain as it can be for a horse. The dark bay was bred by Mr and Mrs van Olst and also grew up at the van Olst stable in the Netherlands.

World Championship honour

The chief judge of the competition, Henning Lehrmann, summed it up: ‘Of course, everyone could see that we had some superb horses in the final, but they were also very different, which made it even more interesting. We had the winner with incredible shoulder freedom, the very elegant silver medallist and the bronze medallist, who is a real power horse. It was an honour to judge this final.’

At a glance:

The final field of seven-year-olds consisted of seven stallions, five geldings and three mares. With four horses, the Royal Warmblood Breeding Association of the Netherlands was the most represented, followed by three Hanoverians, two Westphalians, two Danes and two Swedes, one Oldenburg, one Trakehner and one horse from the Warmblood Breeding Association in Austria.

With three direct offspring, dressage sire Secret left a clear hoofprint at the World Championships final for seven-year-olds. Secret himself was Vice World Champion of the five-year-olds, and his sire Sezuan famously secured World Championship gold three times, twice of which were in Verden.

World Championships highlights:

57,200 euros for the ‘In Memory’ charity campaign

Between the two World Championship final tests on Sunday, an unusual charity campaign in aid of German Cancer Aid took place in Verden's Horse24 Arena. “In Memory” – a colt by Iowa Gold, bred from the Sandro Hit dam Sancara – found a new owner, the Haase family from the Bremen area, in a bidding process. In this auction, it was not the person with the highest bid who won, but the last bidder. The minimum bid was 200 euros, and each bidder paid only the amount of their bid. A total of 57,200 euros was raised for German Cancer Aid, with the new owners, the Haase family, contributing 10,000 euros to this sum.

The story behind it: Lara lost her battle with cancer at the age of 37. Her source of strength was her beloved mare Sancara, “In Memory's” dam. Lara's last wish was for her to be bred to a specific stallion, Iowa Gold. With “In Memory”, a dream has come true. A dream that culminated today in Verden in fantastic support for German Cancer Aid.