Making a World Cup debut like that can be daunting – especially for an animal. Dressage rider Stefan Lehfellner had to accept that at the World Riding Championships in Herning, when his horse “Roberto Carlos” was visibly impressed by the new arena. “Unfortunately, Roberto Carlos was so afraid of the broadcast cameras that he couldn’t calmly walk past them,” said Diana Wunschek. Austria’s head of the team was nevertheless pleased with how the Upper Austrian rider led his horse through this tricky situation.
The seven judges rated this with an average of 69.068 percent, which put the duo ahead of Victoria Max-Theurer (68.680). The four-time Olympian was not able to repeat the performances she had previously shown in her first World Championship appearance on “Topas”. As a reminder: When the duo first started in mid-June, the result was 76.34 percent.
Austria had nothing to do with the decision in the dressage team decision, which ended after this issue had been printed.
Source: Nachrichten
