Helgstrand Dressage has been predominant in the preliminaries in the DSA finals. In the 6-year-old class last night, Andreas and the mare Tørveslettens Stamina won with 8.78 points, scoring e.g. 9.5 for trot, 9 for rideability and 9 for capacity. Runner-up in the class was also Andreas, this time with the stallion Sieger Hit. They received a total of 8.70 points, and were e.g. rewarded 9.5 for trot. Both horses will now enjoy some well-deserved resting days Wednesday and Thursday, before competing again on Friday, when the finals take place. Unfortunately, Marianne and the mare Sitana were right behind the top 8 equipages who are directly on to the finals as she placed 9th with a score of 8.02 points. Later on today, she will try to make it to the finals via the consolation final.

Today, another great performance from Anna in the class for 5-year-old horses was rewarded with a score of 8.72 points, resulting in a 1st place with the Swedish mare Dafne. Andreas and the gelding Star Agent placed 3rd with 8.68 points. Anne and Andreas are, therefore, on to the finals on Friday. Andreas and N.O.H's Daijoubo placed 9th with 8.08 points, the exact same number of points as Anette and Don Primeur. Thomas and Dark Knight were right behind with 8.04 points. Unfortunately, these 3 equipages did not go on to the finals. However, tomorrow morning, in the consolation final, the 2 riders with the most points will get a ticket to the finals on Friday. Naturally, everyone is crossing their fingers for a good result tomorrow.

Today, Anna and the stallion Bøgegårdens Boney M won the preliminaries for 4-year-old horses at the championship finals. The equipage obtained 8.90 points, scoring e.g. 9.5 for walk and 9.0 for canter. Anna also placed third with the mare Tørveslettens Snowflake, obtaining 8.68 points with good scores e.g. 9.2 for trot and 9.5 for canter and 9.0 for rideability. Maik and the gelding Skovvangs Barok placed 5th with 8.38. Marianne and the gelding Shakiro Pilekær placed 9th, scoring 8.10 points. Consequently, 4 horses are on to the finals on Friday so far. Tomorrow, Wednesday, the consolation final takes place and Maik will participate with Cyrano and Møllegårdens Pas Partout.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the DSA preliminaries take place at the JBK Horse shows in Odense. The 9 auction horses were transported down to Schou and Schouboe in Sommersted already on Sunday. Today, all the young horses participating in the DSA will be transported to Odense. It requires a lot of planning, when 22 horses need to change stable for a week. Today, the following caravan is leaving for Odense: 1 car with trailer, packed with equipment and hay, 2 cars with trailer and each 2 horses, a small truck with 2 horses, a large truck with 5 horses and a trailer with 2 horses. Team Helgstrand is looking forward to arriving with the horses in Odense, and getting started with the competitions tomorrow.

Saturday, Anna and Tørveslettens Snowflake participated in this year's last ability test. With a score of 900 points, they won the competition. A really great result and a good warm-up before this week's championship finals. Right now, 5 horses from Helgstrand Dressage have most likely qualified for the Young Horse Championship in Herning in 2012.

On Monday October 17 at 5 pm all auction horses will be presented at Schou & Schouboe, Tågerupvej 32, 6560 Sommersted. First, potential buyers will have the opportunity to see the jumping horses and afterwards the 13 dressage horses will be presented. The auction takes place at the JBK Horse Show on October 21 in Odense.

Maik Kohlschmidt and the 11-year-old gelding Akon Askelund participated in the 3-star CDI show in Oslo this week. Tuesday, the equipage won the Intermediare I with 69.816% and Thursday, they placed 2nd in Intermediare I Kür, scoring an impressive 71.450%.

During the weekend, Helgstrand Dressage participated in the ability tests in region 6 on Saturday and in region 7 on Sunday. Saturday, Maik Kohlschmidt rode the stallion Møllegårdens Pas Partout and the gelding Skovvangs Barok. Both horses did really well, and they obtained the exact same number of points: 880, and finished second.

At the ability test on Sunday, Marianne Helgstrand and Thomas Sigtenbjerggaard participated. They both did really well too, Marianne obtained an amazing score of 920 points, winning the class on the gelding Shakiro Pilekær, and Thomas placed 2nd with the mare Torino Melody, obtaining 850 points. Hopefully all 4 horses will make it to the Young Horse Championship in Herning in 2012.

Next weekend, Anna Blomgren will participate in the last ability test this year in Sdr. Hygum. She will be riding the mare Tørveslettens Snowflake, Team Helgstrand is hoping for a good result for Anna as well.