Henk van der Weerd with NWR twosome Hippiadekampion skill champion

At 66 years old, Henk van der Weerd from Oldebroek was certainly no longer the youngest competitor at the 2021 Hippiade men's event last month, but that did not stop him from taking home one of the coveted championship ribbons.

Henk grabbed the title with his NWR ponies Blakt's Django (Vlagberg's Carway x Vita Nova's Celesto, bred by Mr. Vullings from Melderslo) and Bloklands Hoeve's Romanticus (De Goede Ree Now or Never x Orchard Boginov, bred by Fam. Loopers from Hoogeveen) in the skill of the combined classes L/M/Z/Z. That was quite a challenge, because he had just switched from the L class to the M class, in which everything is just a little tighter and has to be faster.

The course at the Hippiade was certainly not easy, because there were a few strange twists in it. In the first round some riders were still clear, but in the jump-off not many of them remained. In that jump-off all balls stayed down during his ride and he also had the fastest time.

There are no E-ponies in driving. Therefore Henk had to start with his 1.54 m ponies at the horses. Only one pair was 0.05 sec. faster but had thrown two balls off, so Henk became Dutch Champion.

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