‘I’m just happy I finished the test!’: genius riding earns freestyle bronze for British rider at Europeans

Sophie Wells added yet another medal to Britain’s tally at the European Para Dressage Championships, winning a fabulous bronze in the grade V freestyle.

Sophie finished behind Belgium’s Michèle George (Best Of 8), who claimed her second individual gold of the week, and the Netherlands’ Frank Hosmar (Alphaville NOP) in silver.

Sophie’s ride for this championship – her 14th in para dressage – is the seven-year-old St Schufro x Gribaldi mare LJT Egebjerggards Samoa (Diana), who brims with talent and power but is also still green and hot. This week, though, Diana has truly come of age, getting visibly more settled with every test and showing just how excited everyone should be about her future prospects.

Having finished sixth in the grand prix A to start their Europeans campaign, Sophie and Diana were neck-and-neck with Germany’s Regine Mispelkamp (Highlander’s Delight) in the grand prix B, finishing equal third. And it was Regine who would prove their biggest competitor again today, as they battled it out for individual freestyle bronze. Ultimately, it was a big spook and subsequent resistance from Highlander’s Delight that cost Regine, as she finished fractionally behind Sophie.

As first drawn from the final block of four riders, Sophie earned 76.55% for her highly skilful, spine-tingling routine with this exquisite young mare.

The fact that Diana kept it together in this atmosphere was a huge win for Sophie, who has struggled to keep her settled in previous freestyle tests. And that they were able to show so much beautiful work is testament to how patient and refined Sophie is as a rider, able to guide Diana through her work, asking enough but never too much so as to lose the harmony and the connection.

“I’m so proud of her, and so happy that I finished the test – which was not a given!” said Sophie. “She was a bit tired today so before I went in I just walked her for a bit. She’s had a huge week.

“It’s definitely been a positive experience for her to end on today, and she will come away from here with a lot of confidence. The minute she is confident and balanced enough for me to push, she will be amazing.”

Sophie rode to entrancing music from Romeo and Juliet, put together by her friend, fellow top para dressage rider and live stream commentator for the Europeans, Erin Orford. This music was actually used by Sophie as background music for her team test with her former top para horse C Fatal Attraction (Jorge), and it was a late decision to swap out Diana’s previous high-energy music, and transform the Romeo and Juliet score into a slightly more serene score for her.

“I have a Titanium mix for Diana, which is amazing to ride to – we used it at Hartpury CPEDI – but it’s too much for her in the arena at the moment. But she is so elegant and bouncy that she enhances the Romeo and Juliet music; it suits her really well and doesn’t feel background-y. When I rode to it in the team test on Jorge I thought I must make it into a freestyle,” said Sophie, who rides wearing a bracelet containing strands of Jorge’s tail in a tribute to her 2018 world champion, at home but no longer competing after illness last year.

“As cheesy as it sounds, it is the end of his career but the start of something new,” added Sophie. “Jorge taught me so much – like how to ride a horse like Diana.”

European Para Dressage Championships freestyle: battle of the titans

Frank Hosmar’s ride, the highly experienced Alphaville NOP, made his team debut at the 2012 Paralympics and is more than two-and-a-half times Diana’s age, at 18 years old. And it showed in their dynamic floorplan which carried a high degree of difficulty, really boosting their choreography mark.

Frank and Alphaville’s score of 79.04% meant that Sophie’s stint at the top of the leaderboard was short-lived, but Frank’s lead too was far from confirmed. For yet to come was the Belgian big guns, Michèle and Best Of 8, the 13-year-old Bonifatius mare who was found for Michèle by her trainer, Isabell Werth.

Their freestyle was big, bold and full of difficulty and drama. It was rewarded with 81.27%, not quite a personal best for this pair, but nearly.

“I really love dancing and apparently she does as well. It felt great,” said Michèle of her technical programme, which underwent some recent tweaks to make it more complicated to reflect how their partnership has developed. “During training I try to detect what she loves most. A lot of riders do what they like [in a freestyle], but I try to listen to my horse about what she likes. We decided a few weeks ago to change some lines and this is the result.”

Charlotte Cundall rounded out her first European Para Dressage Championships in super style, with a high-energy freestyle aboard the 13-year-old Vivaldi gelding FJ Veyron. Having already helped Britain to team bronze this week, they finished in fifth with 74.91%.

The pair caught the eye from the very first move-off, starting their programme in canter to Queen’s foot-tapping I want it all. They showed bold extensions – starting bravely with extended canter towards the judge, into a pirouette – as well as obedient half-passes and plenty for fluency as they flowed from movement to movement. The scopey chestnut has a lovely ground-covering walk, which they showed off to Toto’s Africa, followed by smart, balanced trotwork to Michael Jackson’s Beat It.

“That was new music this year, I wanted something quite impactful and to make an entrance. Lottie Fry was the influence behind that; she comes in to Queen in her freetsyle, so I thought if one Charlotte could do it I would copy her,” joked Charlotte. “He’s a big horse, so I wanted something to match him.”

‘Riding her gives me goosebumps’

In the grade IV freestyle, it was Demi Haerkens who once again saw off the defending champion, her Dutch compatriot Sanne Voets. The pair battled it out in the individual competition earlier in the way, with Demi coming out on top with her expressive Jazz mare EHL Daula NOP. And the result was repeated in the freestyle, with Demi claiming gold on 82.07%, and Sanne settling for silver on 81.6%.

“It is still a little bit unreal for me, but we did it,” said Demi, who made her championship debut last year with this 15-year-old mare. “Daula did an amazing job in this heat, everyday pushing it, becoming better, more quality; the exercises were good. She can be hot sometimes, but this time she stayed with me. She is one of a kind.

“When you sit on her it is like you dance together and it is so light footed, and it feels amazing. It is really giving me goosebumps when I am riding her.”

Manon Claeys took grade IV bronze for Belgium riding Katharina Sollenburg to 78.03%.

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