Britain’s Carl Hester rode a stunning test to rocket into the lead in the European Dressage Championships grand prix.
With his ride of just eight months, the Bigwood-Dahl family’s 13-year-old Bordeaux stallion Fame, Carl produced a sublime performance in the Riesenbeck arena to return a score of 78.54% – his best international grand prix mark with this horse to date.
It has put Britain in the gold medal position overnight, ahead of Germany in silver and Denmark in bronze. Individually, Carl holds the lead ahead of Germany’s Isabell Werth and Matthias Rath in second and third.
Carl has been highly enthusiastic about Fame, ever since taking over the ride on him at the very end of last year. The tall, elegant stallion presents a lovely picture in the arena – he has a tendency to become a little short in the neck, partly due to his conformation, but he remains soft and attentive.
Today they produced fluent, balanced lateral work – including a very pleasing zig-zag – as well crisp, expressive passage and high-quality piaffe, all of which helped them pick up plenty of marks. Their last line in particular was beautiful, with seamless transitions in and out of piaffe, and a broad grin broke out across Carl’s face as he saluted.
“If I never ride another test again, that would be a nice note to finish on,” said a beaming Carl afterwards. “It’s so nice when a horse goes his best, and of course it can be better – otherwise we would get 100% – but he has delivered for us today.
“I absolutely love this horse, I worship him, and I look forward to riding him every day. He can be both very explosive and quiet – he can go both ways – but he was the perfect mix today.”
Carl Hester on Fame: ‘He’s spicy, goey, hot and wonderful’
Carl, here competing at his 22nd major championship, explained he has to ride very carefully to keep Fame in a more open frame throughout the test.
“I have to ride the whole test with a very light contact, which is difficult when they’re hot as he is,” he said.
“I have to be very careful; if I ride too forward at the beginning I pay the price as then he gets nervous. It’s about getting his confidence and keeping him rideable, and he was so rideable in there. If I can let go earlier in the test, the score will be even better and I will do that when he is ready.
“There’s lots of things Fame can get better at, like the self-carriage, but that’s what’s so exciting about him,” added Carl, explaining that he had a “big plan” for Fame this year, and has stayed mostly in the UK – rather than venturing over to compete a lot in Europe – in order to get Fame out to regular shows and give him enough education.
“He is a full-time job, a horse like this. He lives out in the field all day long, and he is a stallion, so we have to really manage him. He’s spicy, goey, hot and wonderful. It was love at first ride for me and I am so grateful to Fiona for letting me ride him.”
With Gareth Hughes and Carl Hester riding today at the European Dressage Championships, the final two riders from each team will perform their grand prix test tomorrow. Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep are on for Britain at 12.24pm (11.24am UK time), and Lottie Fry and Glamourdale in action at 4.15pm (3.15pm UK time).
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