Carl Hester on the World Dressage Championships: ‘A mind-blowing competition’
*Opinion*
Top British dressage trainer and rider Carl Hester on the strength of British dressage, owners and training
THE legacy of medals carries on. What a mind-blowing competition the World Championships turned out to be for Britain.
The myth of having to go and compete against the best in the world before a championship was blown out of the water. Our three high-scoring combinations had done two competitions each this season and for Gareth Hughes’ Classic Briolinca, an older horse, this was good management, saving an experienced horse for the big day.
Charlotte Dujardin and Lottie Fry showed huge potential at the shows they did, but the improvement and problem solving is delivered at home. Competition is the icing on the cake.
Along with stalwart Richard Davison and the ever-useful Bubblingh (who literally was!), the team arrived with fresh, sound, eager horses. There was no doubt to me they could rival the home team Denmark. The competition was closely fought and showed Britain has a strong chance of gold at Paris 2024.
My vastly different role at these championships included commentating. I enjoyed the chance to give a rider’s point of view. We see the best tests in the grand prix special. Once riders have exposed horses to the main arena and atmosphere in the grand prix, they become braver in riding forward for individual honours. Even the first group of seven went up a notch. There were some impressive performances from Spain and Portugal, with some excellent riding.
“Huge shoes to fill”
DURING the final 10, the pressure and atmosphere mounted quickly, and it was a rare sight for Germany to be missing from the top of the pecking order. Germany’s Benjamin Werndl impressed with his correct and classical techniques on Famoso. Would they have been higher if drawn later in the class?
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My own and Coral Inghams’ Imhotep has some pretty huge shoes to fill. “Pete” is an incredibly hot horse who really missed his regular turnout, but Charlotte again showed she’s one of the best with a young, inexperienced horse. The future will see a podium finish.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour is one of the lightest riders and, under pressure, she produced some highlight moments in the special, but for gold she needed forward riding and to take some risks I felt were missing.
Lottie’s ride Glamourdale oozed spine-tingling presence and power, and her riding has come of age both in technique and the risks she felt able to take to go for gold.
“Edge of my seat”
THE atmosphere for the freestyle was more pop concert than dressage. It was evening dressage at its best, with tension and an outcome impossible to foresee. Cathrine and Lottie both rode their best tests, albeit with a few little blips.
In the end, it was the sheer quality of horse that won, with a range of collection and extension rarely seen. As Lottie’s music lyrics sang out at the beginning, her freestyle had me on the edge of my seat. There were oohs and aahs from the crowd at the sheer brilliance of Glamourdale’s movement – it was breathtaking.
With bronze medallist Dinja van Liere – on Hermes, another quality stallion on the way up – we saw three exciting young horses win medals. Benjamin fought back with a brilliant ride; his Olympic gold medal-winning sibling Jessica’s brilliance rubbed off on his performance. And Jessica gave birth to a baby girl the next day!
Gareth Hughes rode at his best, giving an example of what accomplished riding can produce. It was lovely to watch him guide Briolinca so precisely, making the most of every movement, and they showed the best pirouettes of the championships.
The freestyle baton handed from one top Brit to another, since Charlotte’s 2014 win stood while Tryon’s 2018 freestyle was blown away by Hurricane Florence, and it wasn’t so much a case of dreams coming true, but rather who’d dared to dream this? None of us could have wished for a better week.
As Gertjan van Olst, owner of Glamourdale, said, the podium was a synergy of Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands. His wife Anne was a five-time Olympian for Denmark, they are Dutch-based and their horse is ridden by a Brit. Thank God and how lucky we are to have the van Olsts as honorary Brits when they have so many options.
- This exclusive column will also be available to read in Horse & Hound magazine, on sale Thursday 18 August
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