2012 FEI World Cup Finals (show jumping and dressage)

The 2012 FEI World Cup Finals in 's-Hertogenbosch was held from April 19 to April 22, 2012. It was the final of the Show jumping and Dressage World Cup series. This finals was held in the Brabanthallen. Because of the close date of the 2012 Summer Olympics, many riders did not compete in these competitions.

Overview
Each year the horse show Indoor Brabant is held in the Brabanthallen in 's-Hertogenbosch. A World cup competition in dressage and also one in show jumping are held here. Several times World Cup Finals are held as part of Indoor Brabant: 1994 in show jumping; 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008 and 2010 in dressage.

The horse show are held regularly at the end of March. In 2012 the event was postponed to April because of the World Cup Finals.

Unexpectedly, the German dressage team coach Holger Schmezer died April 19, 2012 in the afternoon in his hotel room. The German dressage riders wore a black armband on their riding jackets as a sign of mourning in the Grand Prix de Dressage. After the Grand Prix de Dressage, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Holger Schmezer.

Dressage Grand Prix
At April 20, 2012 (12:00 noon) the Grand Prix de Dressage was held. It was the first competition of the Dressage World Cup final, but it did not count for the final ranking.

Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle (Final)
The second competition of the Dressage World Cup final was the Grand Prix Freestyle, held at the afternoon of Saturday, April 21. Started as favourite, Adelinde Cornelissen won with her gelding Parzival this competition with 86.250% She defended her title, so she is again the World Cup Champion.

Show jumping final I
The first competition of the Show Jumping World Cup Final, a speed and handiness competition, was held at Thursday afternoon (April 19, 2012). The result of this competition was converted into faults for the World Cup Final standings.

The previous year's final winner Christian Ahlmann had three obstacle faults in the speed and handiness competition, so he had a time of 76.09 seconds. Because of this result he had no chance to defend his title, so he did not start in the further final competitions.

Show jumping final II
On the afternoon of April 20th the second competition of the Show Jumping World Cup Final, a show jumping competition with one jump-off, was held. After the second round, the World Cup Points were converted in Penalties for the Final III.

Show jumping final III
The third competition of this final will be held at April 22, 2012 at 2:00 pm. It will be a competition over two different rounds, both not against the clock. Here only the 25 best placed riders have the chance to start in this competition, in the second round of the Final III only 19 riders start with their horses.

Show jumping final standings
The decision about the title "World Cup Champion 2011-2012" took place in a jump-off. Two riders, Steve Guerdat from Switzerland and Rich Fellers from the US had only one point after four rounds in three competitions in this World Cup Final. First rider in the jump-off was Guerdat with his gelding Nino des Buissonnets. He ride very fast and had a time of 26.61 seconds. After him Fellers start with his Flexible: His time was nearly equal to Guerdats time most time of the jump-off. But one turn Rich Fellers ride much faster than Guerdat, so he was 64 hundredths of a second faster than the time of Steve Guerdat.

With this victory Rich Fellers is the first rider from the United States, who win the Show jumping World Cup since 25 years (in 1987 won Katharine Burdsall from the US).

Show jumping Grand Prix (CSI 3*)
Also a CSI 3* is held at the “Indoor Brabant“ 2012. The Grand Prix of this show jumping horse show was held at Saturday, April 21, 2012 (9:30 pm). It was a show jumping competition with one jump-off, the fences will be up to 1.55 meters. The competition was endowed with € 100.000, the sponsor was the Rabobank.