Team dressage judges WC Herning in Rotterdam
At the 73rd CHIO Rotterdam five out of seven judges who will judge the FEI World Championships in Herning next year will take place in our judge huts. These are Mariëtte Sanders (NED), Susanne Baarup (DEN), Peter Storr (GBR), Elke Ebert (GER) and Raphael Saleh (FRA). The Dutch Mariette Sanders is president of the jury, we asked her about next year.
#We have a great team of judges!" says Mariette. "Each of them are very experienced and have judged at a lot of international competitions. For Elke, Peter and Raphael 2022 will be the first year they will judge a major international championship for Senior riders. They will bring a fresh new look at things, that's wat I do like! Rotterdam will be a great oppportunity for us to work together, breath the atmosphere and concentrate together. Personally I need a certain routine but like to be surprised when judging by new horses, riders, tests, etc. That triggers me. I know that some colleagues prefer a certain rhythm to see combinations more often. Both approaches do work."
"Besides working with the WC team I look forward to watching combinations in Rotterdam who debuted this year. I think we can expect for example Dinja and Hermes in the arena. I'v watched them at the Worldcup in Herning this year and cannot wait to see them again. It was such a pity that they couldn't compete at the Olympics. I really hope that all the commotion about the passport of Hermes results in everyone taking the required paperwork more serious.
Mariette Sanders has been around the Rotterdam arena as a judge quite often. In 2020 that was for one time different. Then she was at home behind her laptop commenting on the tests by the riders in the Rotterdam Hickstead Grand Prix Challenge together with Stephen Clarke who was behind his laptop in the United Kingdom. How was that?
“The Challenge was a super initiative”, according to Mariëtte. “Although it was exciting too... not exactly knowing how this should work online. And of course my English is not as beautiful as Stephen Clarke's. It was great to do and to my opinion we should have learned and used more from this after lock down. For both the wellbeing of the horse as well as for our climate I'm in favor of having clinics this way. That will save a lot of transportation which are neither in the benefit of the horse and the environment. I appreciate that we can watch sports online now. This year I was not in Rotterdam, while it was the last competition before the Olympics, but I could follow all the tests online."
Thanks for this interview, Mariette. We know you don't like to be in the spotlights and prefer to do your work from the sideline. With you sport comes first and you're brave enough to step up when needed. That's exactly why we believe you're a great judge!