Carl Hester and Fame produced yet another consistent performance in the freestyle at the European Dressage Championships to score 81.03%. This slotted him in just 0.1% behind Patrik Kittel and Touchdown, who posted their best performance of this championship, with six left to go.
This freestyle, which Carl used in Paris, is a lot of fun to watch – they had the crowd singing and dancing as they waltzed down the final line.
This wasn’t Fame’s very best freestyle score, but it’s a floorplan full of difficult lines, and a couple of mistakes crept in despite the overall harmonious and dynamic picture. The judges are strict at this championships and personal bests are hard to come by.
The pair were performing copybook two-time changes until an unscheduled one-time popped in, but he repeated the line as permitted. And they carried off their party piece, the double pirouettes, beautifully.
“I made a few old-man mistakes, he felt fantastic! My error completely,” said Carl. “I’m so annoyed with myself at the end of those two-time changes, it was only my fault.
“The horse is so clever and in tune with me. He felt great to ride, and I thought ‘I’m running out of room but I have to do another two twos [tempi changes]’. Because I was wondering, thinking ‘I won’t, I will’ and just as I thought ‘I will’ he went boom, and did it without me asking. I thought, and he did it.”
The 15-year-old stallion, owned by Carl, Fiona Bigwood and Mette Dahl, was again without his bonnet but this time under sunny skies. But Carl explained that Fame has matured over the past few years.
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“Three years ago I couldn’t touch him,” he said. “Paris he started to come of age. This championship he’s done three relaxed, reliable tests. This year he’s been so trustworthy.”
Carl Hester at the European Dressage Championships: “I’ve not heard music this loud”
And this despite the fact the music was turned up to a surprisingly high volume, which has been causing a few problems as some horses react to the noise.
“It’s so loud in there – I’ve not heard music this loud in a long time,” Carl said. “I suppose it’s sound-checked when there’s no one in the stands, and now it’s completely enclosed and it’s holding in the noise. You can see a few horses are getting scared, and Fame just got a bit scared. I wanted to do my passage next to the speaker, but he didn’t want to go near the speaker because it was so loud.”
But overall, Carl Hester was thoroughly content with his performance at the European Dressage Championships, in what he called “a beautiful day, in a beautiful mountain setting”.
“It’s a great way to finish another championships, in the 80s,” he said. “I would have liked to have gone for more, but marks are changing, judges are changing, riding’s having to change. Maybe that’s a good score for where Fame is now. I’m going home very happy.
“My 13th championships might be unlucky for some, but it’s been lucky for me. It’s been an absolute joy to be here this week, it’s been a happy week, a great team and support team, being part of a family. Everyone is so supportive. Anyone wanting to get on the British team should really be looking forward to it.”
Touchdown on the up at the European Dressage Championships
Patrik Kittel produced an eye-catching test from his Olympic partner Touchdown to score 81.14%, with music – such as Out of Touch, Touchdown and I Can’t Get No Satisfaction – that ideally suited this Quaterback stallion. It certainly appealed to the the crowd, who were tapping their feet and nodding their heads to the beat.
The pair were harmonious and expressive, going for a few risks as well as presenting correct movements, to eke out the high marks and take a comfortable early lead from fifth into the ring.
“It really felt like I nailed it,” said Patrik. “Yesterday I was passive, the first day I was sick, so I decided today I would ride like there’s no tomorrow.
“Touchdown loves this atmosphere. It’s quite intimate, but a cool intimacy. The people are so enthusiastic, and there were a lot of happy Swedish fans.
“Touchdown will now go out in the field for a week, then walk for a bit and have the vet check him before we start building up for the winter season. He’s strong in his body and he’s been very fit here – he loves doing the shows.”
Only the top 18; a maximum of three from each nation, from the grand prix special come forward to the freestyle, and the highest placed riders are drawn towards the end.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
