Traditionally around New Year's Eve the international student rider community gathers for the AIEC Student Riding World Finals. A total of 45 riders from 15 different countries competed in the disciplines dressage and showjumping at the beautiful venue of Recreatiecentrum Het Zwarte Water in De Mortel, the Netherlands, accompanied by approximately a hundred supporters. According to a knock-out system the riders had to compete on horses that they have never ridden before and the best rider per horse qualified for the next, more difficult round. In the finals the riders were facing a 1.30m course, a small grand prix test and freestyle in the two disciplines, yet again on unknown horses. In the Silver League team Austria took home the title as overall champion and secured gold in the dressage ranking. Katharina Wilding, Anna Reitetschläger and Fiona Hönigschnabl, who also won the individual dressage ranking, represented the victorious team. The teams from Poland (Tatiana Elzanowska, Joanna Pawlak and Sara Snioch) and Finland (Lotta Sinisalo, Valtteri Reilin and Mariko Harju) ranked on the team combined silver and bronze positions. In the dressage ranking the three riders from Great Britain, Lauren Innes, Alicia Wilkinson and Cameron Beer, rode to a second place, followed by Spain (Alfonso de los Santos, Juan Astolfi and Antonio Laiz). The show jumping category was headed by team USA with an all-women team consiting of Clara Plestis, Isabella Pitts and Courtney Allegra Welch that stayed ahead of Poland and Finland. In the individual ranking Alfonso de los Santos claimed the combined victory, ending third in the show jumping and dressage rankings. He was followed by the individual show jumping champion Valtteri Reilin (FIN) on the second step and Fiona Hönigschnabl (AUT) on the third step of the podium. The individual silver medal was claimed by US-rider Clara Plestis in show jumping and by Tatiana Elzanowska (POL) in dressage. This years Gold League, in which the six best countries from the past season were eligible to compete, was entirely dominated by the Irish. Following their slogan "You'll never beat the Irish" the team consisting of Alyssa O'Neill, Kelley Hutchinson and Ian Cassells became dressage, show jumping and overall team champion of the 2016/2017 World Finals. Followed by last years winner Germany (Elena Otto-Erley, Justus Ohde and Felix Stein) and Belgium (Marijke Bax, Kirsten Prevot and Robin Moors) in the combined ranking, they defeated Sweden (Rebekka Nyhlen, Ida Nordström and Daniel Bell) and Switzerland (Sonja Kulka, Yelis Aksoy and Yolanda Palmer) in the dressage ranking and Switzerland and the Netherlands (Annelous Groenwold, Alexandra van Randwijk and Rosemarijn Strijder) in the show jumping catergory. Also in the individual ranking the new overall champion was represented by Ireland. Placing third in show jumping and dressage Alyssa O'Neill claimed overal gold, and was accompanied by Sonja Kulka (SUI) and Marijke Bax (BEL) on silver and bronze positions. During the dressage finals German Felix Stein reached out for gold with an impressive freestyle test, closely followed by Sonja Kulka taking home individual silver. With Justus Ohde another German rider claimed an individual gold medal by staying ahead of Kirsten Prevot from Belgium in the show jumping final.
