CSI5* Jumping Verona (ITA): SOME THE STAGE IS SET AT JUMPING VERONA

07^th Nov 2014

Course designer Uliano Vezzani says the arena is “horse-friendly”, three-time FEI World Cup™ champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum from Germany says it is “big” and young British star, William Whitaker, describes it as “class”. There’s no doubting that facilities at Jumping Verona are excellent, and that’s why so many of the world’s top riders return to the top Italian fixture every year.

Vezzani says one of the key elements of the show is that “the atmosphere is so relaxed”. He continues, “that’s important because life is full of stress these days, so it’s nice to come to a show where you can take things a little more easily”. He says the jumping arena is extra-nice for the horses because of its generous size – 40 x 75 metres – and because the spectators don’t sit too close to the ringside. “That helps the horses to relax more so they can concentrate on their job which is jumping the fences!” he insists.

He takes the welfare of the horses into account in everything he does. “When I’m building a track the first thing I say to myself is that it must be fair to the horses, and only after that I think about the riders”. At this year’s Jumping Verona he has a group of riders with a wide variety of experience “so the first day of competition tomorrow will let me know what to expect from them” he explains. “When you have an arena this big you don’t have a problem with the oxers. The way I design my courses I like to see horses only make a fault at the front pole of an oxer, not at the back, so the mistake is a simple rub of the pole on the way up over the fence. That doesn’t worry the horse. I like to test the rider with the technical questions, about distances for example, but I like the horses to leave the arena feeling proud of themselves, and feeling happy!” he points out.

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum thinks her latest star ride, the very handsome grey Fibonacci, will be very happy over the next few days. “I love coming to this show, it gets better every year and it’s lovely for the horses because we have a lot of rings to ride in and a lot of space and great stabling – yet everything is close together” she says. Riders have the choice of four warm-up areas including a large ring close to the main arena. 

Meredith has been attracting a lot of attention with Fibonacci which she got when the horse has just turned 9 years old last April. “He came from near Falsterbo in Sweden and he’d been doing 1.45m classes with a young rider. I saw a video of him and I fell in love with him, then I tried him and I fell in love all over again!” she said of the horse which is by the stallion For Feeling.

“There was no question in my mind but that I wanted him, and he’s come such a long way in such a short space of time. I thought I’d only be jumping 1.60m on him around this time, but he went to Aachen in June and jumped clear every day, he‘s unbelievable! He has an amazing mind, he’s really positive and very kind and sweet yet has incredible scope, and I feel really comfortable on him. I can hardly believe how quickly he has matured, and yet I feel we are still only getting to know each another” she says.

Meredith will be aiming Fibonacci at Sunday’s Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping qualifier, in which Britain’s William Whitaker hopes to compete with Fandango.  William lives at Hurst Farm in Yorkshire, England where his legendary showjumping uncles John and Michael Whitaker grew up, and it seems the 25-year-old rider has inherited the same showjumping genes and a similarly stoic attitude to life. Asked today about his chances of picking up those maximum World Cup points on Sunday, William said he would be “giving it a good try”. His uncle Michael, who trained William from an early age, will also be competing with Viking however, and he looked across at his nephew and said quietly “and so will I!”.

Source: Jumping Verona