Horses & Dreams for Ellesse Tziberg

July 15, 2004

Ellesse Tzinberg of Riders Lodge and Hanna Kaisa Vikkula of Royal Selangor Polo and Riding Club both of Malaysia represented the Southeast Asia Group 8 FEI Zone at 2004 Children's Dressage Challenge held during Horses & Dreams International Reiterfestival Hagen 2004 in Hagen, Germany on 28 June - 4 July 2004.

First place was Brigette Learmounth of NZ with total 200 points, 2nd place Giuliana Gasparin-Lucchesi of Brazil with 191 points, Ellesse Tzinberg of Malaysia and Chara Pouli of Greece tied 3rd place with 186 points.

Ellesse, 12 years of age was the youngest rider in the FEI World Challenge. Ellesse on borrowed horse, Ratina did very well on the first qualifying day but not quite as lucky on the second test with the excitable 4 year old, Korven. Nevertheless, Ellesse' total points earned her third position - well worth it! Hanna came 18th place.

The FEI Children's World Dressage Challenge was very tough. The young riders were all good and for a few it was their second time Finals (both Brigitte of NZ and Giuliana of Brazil). Competitors are 12-14 yrs of age at the time of qualification and are the two top scorers of their respective FEI Region. For 2004, the 20 riders came from 16 countries - NZ, Brazil, Greece, Russia, Argentina, Czech Republic, Israel, Peru, Costa Rica, Kenya, Lithuania, Zambia, Ecuador, Bermuda, Jamaica and of course, Malaysia.

At the opening ceremonies, Hanna and Ellesse poured a liter of water brought all the way from Malaysia into the fountain of all nations to the tune of "Negara Ku," our national anthem. And at the closing ceremonies, Ellesse carried the flag with pride at the Farewell of the Nations parade. She came home to Malaysia with great memories and a souvenir bottle of the international water that was taken from the fountain of all nations, quite a novelty! (Shown on national television in Germany- pls. View attached photos).

At the end of the show all the riders are friends and have extended warm invitations to their countries - we expect to see a few at the KL Grand Prix.

The "Horses & Dreams' Internationales Reiterfestival Hagen 2004 was exhilarating to see over 500 horses competing from over 35 countries. It was a treat to watch the Grand Prix Dressage with the US riders still qualifying for the 4th member USA Olympics Team. Lisa Wilcox and her Royal Diamond looked stunning but as the experts said, the dapple grey stallion was only half Lisa's Relevant in power - Leslie Morse and Kingston were the Grand Prix winners. The Korean Team was also competing to qualify in the Olympic show jumping. The Young Riders, the junior riders and the FEI Show jumping Finals, team competitions from all over Europe were jumping, rain or shine.

And for the shopping enthusiast there were 120 exhibitors of Equine, House & Garden Exhibition in the midst of all the excitement. The weather was cold and wet but the "Horses and Dreams 2004" went on like a dream!