Paris was initially selected as the event location, but the French project fell apart and a few months later the second-placed bidders from The Netherlands eagerly took on the task. Despite their enormous enthusiasm and the country’s excellent reputation for show management and sponsorship acquisition, a series of major issues arose including problems with site management and ticketing, and the 1994 edition ended in financial bankruptcy. It took place at an interesting time in terms of world history however as the major political changes that had taken part in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s were very noticeable. The USSR had ceased to exist and so riders from new countries such as Russia, Belarus and Ukraine participated. Croatia, having achieved independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, was also essentially a new country; in 1993 Czechoslovakia had dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, both of which were represented. And of course, FRG and GDR had now been united to form one country, Germany.
Germany claimed the World Championship team title for the first time at the second edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games™ in The Hague where Franke Sloothaak (San Patrignano Weiheiwej) and Ludger Beerbaum (Ratina Z) also took individual gold and silver. A total of 20 teams lined out, and the German side that also included Dirk Hafmeister (PS Priamos) and Soren von Ronne (Taggi) enjoyed a clear victory over France in silver medal spot and Switzerland in bronze.
From a startlist of 83 horse-and-rider combinations, there were three German contenders in the four-rider change-horse final for the individual medals and it was a memorable battle of the giants. All four of the horses were mares, and Sloothaak was already in the lead after the five previous rounds with his “blue-eyed lady” Weihaiwej who was right at the top of her game. He was the only one to get all four horses around the final track without mistake, fellow-countryman and reigning Olympic champion Beerbaum taking the silver and Frenchman Michel Robert (Miss San Patrignano) taking the bronze while Soren von Ronne missed out on the podium in the final analysis.
Beerbaum’s brilliant Ratina Z rode the best of all the horses in the final, producing four clear rounds.
1994 at The Hague saw the introduction of a new format for Dressage. A Grand Prix was introduced for the team medals and there were two separate individual championships, the Grand Prix Special and the Kür to Music, or Freestyle as it is now better known.
Isabell Werth and Gigolo FRH won the Grand Prix Special ahead of fellow-German Nicole Uphoff-Becker and Rembrandt while Sven Rothenberger (Dondolo), competing in his first championships as a Dutch citizen, took the bronze. Dutch star, Anky van Grunsven, turned the tables in the Kür/Freestyle when reigning supreme with Olympic Bonfire, leaving German contenders Klaus Balkenhol (Goldstern) and Karen Rehbein (Donnerhall) behind her in silver and bronze.
The team competition was a gripping affair, and although the four-strong German side won through for gold they encountered the biggest threat to their supremacy since beaten by the Soviet Union at the Olympic Games in Munich 22 years earlier. The three-member Dutch team of Rothenberger and Van Grunsven joined by Ellen Bontje (Heuriger N) finished close behind in silver while the USA’s Robert Dover (Devereaux), Kathleen Raine (Avontur), Gary Rockwell (Suna) and Carol Lavell (Gifted) lifted the bronze ahead of France.
Despite high expectations, the defending champions from New Zealand picked up only a single medal at The Hague, but it was that all-important individual gold. As one by one his team-mates parted company with their horses on cross-country day, Vaughn Jefferis sat tight on Bounce to win through ahead of America’s Dorothy Trapp with Molokai in silver and Britain’s Karen Dixon-Straker and Get Smart in bronze.
The British team put an end to a long, lean period since taking the World title in 1986 with a runaway victory for the all-female side of Dixon-Straker, Mary Thomson (King William), Charlotte Bathe (The Cool Customer) and Tina Gifford (General Jock). Their success wasn’t expected but it was no fluke, coming about following a major overhaul of the management of this particular discipline by the British Equestrian Federation.
They went out in front after the Dressage phase staged in The Hague’s soccer stadium, but with only a small advantage over the USA in second and the Kiwis in third as cross-country day got underway at the Dutch Army training base at Vlassakkers in very hot conditions. However when Bruce Davidson’s Eagle Lion didn’t present for the final veterinary inspection and Jim Graham’s Easter Parade was withdrawn, the US team dropped out of contention so it was the French that stalked the British going into the final showjumping phase. And despite a few nervous moments they held on to win, the French taking silver and Germany claiming bronze.
Michael Freund of Germany finally won his long-awaited world title, pegging George Bowman of Great Britain into silver and Ijsbrand Chardon of the Netherlands into bronze. Felix Brasseur of Belgium and Switzerland’s Werner Ulrich, two future World champions, finished fourth and eighth in the individual rankings. There were two new female competitors, Angelika Popp of Austria and Karen Bassett of Great Britain.
A total of 44 teams competed, and the marathon phase was held at the same venue as Eventing cross-country, the tank training base at Vlasakkers about 80 kilometers outside The Hague.
Freund joined Christoph Sandmann and Hansjoerg Hammann to also bring the team title home to Germany. Silver went to Belgium’s Felix Brasseur, Eddy van Dijck and Valere Standaert and The Netherlands’ Ad Aarts, Ijsbrand Chardon and Harry de Ruyter took the bronze. The camaraderie of the athletes in this sport was evident at a press conference where British individual silver medallist, George Bowman, vowed to continue his career, telling the German team members that “I have already competed against your fathers, and I shall still be driving against your sons!”
The second FEI World Equestrian Games™ brought the reign of America’s Becky Hart and the brilliant RO Grand Sultan to an end, but the USA still claimed individual gold thanks to a great performance from Valerie Kanavy and Pieraz. Everything else was about the French who filled all the individual placings from second to sixth and were untouchable for team gold.
Hart and Sultan won consecutive individual world titles at Fort Royal (USA) in 1988 and the first WEG in Stockholm in 1990, and arrived for the second Games at The Hague on the back of World Championship glory in Barcelona (ESP) two years earlier. But when, in sweltering heat and on ground conditions that didn’t suit them they pulled up at the third vet-gate, it fell to the 12-year-old Arabian Pieraz and his 48-year-old rider Kanavy to step into the breach and ensure the USA would continue to hold the individual title they had claimed ever since the first FEI World Endurance Championships in 1986.
However the Americans hardly played a role in the team event after losing two team members and the French victory was emphatic. Dennis Pesce (Melfenik) and Stephane Fleury (Roc’H) claimed individual silver and bronze, and joined by Jacques David (Nelson 1) and Benedicte Atger (Sunday d’Aurabelle) employed superb team tactics to bring home the win ahead of Spain in silver medal spot and Australia in bronze.
Denmark’s Thomas Fisbaek broke the German strangle-hold of the individual world titles at The Hague where the Swiss were crowned team world champions in Vaulting once again.
Fiskbaek pinned Germany’s Christoph Lensing and Thomas Föcking into silver and bronze positions in the Male Championships, but it was the German flag that flew highest in the Female contest won by Tanja Benedetto. The USA’s Kerith Lemon earned silver here and Germany’s Mieke Lorentz took the bronze.
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