A thrilling final day of the European Dressage Championships in Riesenbeck ended with a fantastic silver medal in the freestyle to music! It was warm in the sold-out stadium, there was not a breath of wind in the field, but this did not seem to bother the audience. Every combination was encouraged and received a round of applause at the end of the test. And the further the show progressed, the louder the crowd became…

To the music of the “Best of Britain” freestyle, Lottie and Glamourdale showed what they came for, an absolute top test. And the duo was in great form!
Fantastic trot half passes, a very good passage, piaffes like clockwork and then of course the canter! Once again 10’s were awarded for the extended canter and the tempi changes! The pirouettes were also perfect and during the last AC line Lottie and Glamourdale were loudly encouraged by the audience who reinforced the beat of the music with a deafening applause!
A score of 92.379%, was a new personal best an amazing second place!

The Grand Prix stallion Nespresso has been nominated for recognition. The General Board has now formalized the application for recognition of this Negro son. The Van Olst Horses stallion, bred by R. van Erp, recently made his international Grand Prix debut.
The fourteen-year-old Nespresso was recently competed by Charlotte Fry in Jardy, France, in the international Grand Prix, where the duo achieved 77.08% and a second place in the freestyle to music. As a young stallion, Nespresso was selected for the performance test.

Nespresso meets the radiological requirements set by the KWPN. The genome breeding value and the exterior do not create any concerns. Nespresso has a genomic breeding value of 100 (48% reliability). He is not a carrier of the WFFS gene.

During the Hippiade in Ermelo, Irvin, ridden by and owned by Lotje Schoots, managed to seize an excellent second place in the Z2 dressage during this National Championship. At 6 years old, Irvin was one of the younger competitors in this class, but that didn’t stop him from winning the reserve title.
Irvin is a stallion approved by the NRPS and was bred by Van Olst Horses out of the Negro mare Fresia. Fresia is also the dam of Everest s. Especial who won the PAVO Cup last week under Phoebe Peters!

What a result in the 5 year old class for Van Olst Horses in the Pavo Cup! In the 5-year-olds Everest managed to win and Nacho became 2nd!

During the semi-finals on Thursday, Everest managed to make the most impression as the last starter in the field. With an absolute top test he managed to convince the jury members of his qualities and received a total of 89.8 points! The NRPS approved gray stallion was bred by Van Olst Horses. His father is Especial, Everdale x Vivaldi, who made his debut in the international Grand Prix in Ermelo last week and his mother is the Negro mare Fresia. She is also the dam of 2 more NRPS approved stallions and also the full sister of the well-known dressage horse Elegance, who has participated in all major international championships under Beatric Ferrer Salat.
The impressive Nacho scored 86.8 points in the semi-finals, which was good for 4th place. Nacho s. Negro was bred by Sandra Makenschijn from Chaam out of the Krack C mare Benetton.
During this semi-final, Zandra Birkeland rode the NRPS-approved Ilegro s. Inclusive x Negro x Gershwin. This dark brown horse was bred by the Hanse family from Burgh Haamstede together with Van Olst Horses out of the full sister of the very famous Valegro. Ilegro therefore has the same dam as Nalegro, who is approved by the KWPN, and who took part in the finals of the World Championship for young dressage horses last week.

Secret Lover and O’Frederic competed in the four-year-olds on Thursday. These KWPN approved stallions left a very good impression and Secret Lover finished in 5th place with 85.6 points. Both stallions managed to qualify for the final on Saturday, just like the horses mentioned above.

On Saturday, O’Frederic was the first to start and once again managed to present himself very well. With a total of 83.2 points he managed to finish in a very creditable 10th place.
Immediately afterwards Lottie was allowed to take place in the saddle of Secret Lover. The black stallion ran very actively through the test in which the sharp use of the hind leg was very noticeable. the duo reached a score of 88.8 points, which was good for third place in this final! The scores of the semi-final and the final are added together and Secret Lover came in 4th place!

In the five-year-olds, Ilegro was the first to enter the track. Under the saddle of Zandra he impressed with his great trot and the total points came to 82.6. which was enough for a very creditable 8th place in this final and a nice 12th place in the final standings.
Then it was the turn of the black Nacho. With even more ease than Thursday and even more impressive in the trot and canter, he managed to score a total of 88.4 points and at that time good for first place in the standings. Everest was allowed to run his test immediately after Nacho. In the adjacent ring the final had started for the 6-year-olds and when the result was announced there was very understandable applause. This resulted in some tension at Everest, so that he galloped once in the test and later jumped away again. Nevertheless, he made a very good impression on the judges and with 88 points he was just behind Nacho. Until the end of the class they remained on 1 and 2 and they were both allowed to continue to the last part of this final day. Running over by guest judge Daniel Bachmann Andersen.
It was Nacho’s turn first and the Danish rider was full of praise: “This horse fits me well, also in terms of size”, is Bachmann Andersen’s first reaction. “He has been trained fantastically, my compliments to Lottie for that. Particularly in his canter, he can widen and close very easily, in this he is already comparable to a six or seven-year-old. This horse has a great future ahead of him and I give him 92 points.”
Then it was Everest’s turn: “This horse is fantastic to ride, Phoebe did a very good job with him. It is light in the hand and concentrates on its work. After his busy schedule of the past week, he is not tired either. His canter is really a highlight, he can switch fantastically. I give him 95 points.”

And with that, victory for Everest and second place for Nacho was a fact!

Last weekend Nalegro and Everest were allowed to go to the World Championships for young dressage horses in Ermelo. This prestigious event was once again organized in Ermelo and the creme de la creme of the young dressage horses was present here.
In the first round, Nalegro was the first of these two five-year-olds to start. Nalegro, ridden by Lottie and bred by the Hanse family from Burgh Haamstede and Van Olst Horses, had a good solid test in which unfortunately some tension was involved in the canter. With 8.26 points they eventually finished in twelfth place, which was good for direct placement in the final.
Everest was the next horses and ridden by Phoebe Peters. Everest was bred by Van Olst Horses out of Fresia s. Negro and his father is the gray Especial who made an incredibly good international debut in the CDI Tour in Ermelo. For Phoebe Peters it was her debut in international sport after she became European champion with the ponies. Everest showed himself with a lot of energy, showed his good qualities and impressed the jury. His point total was 8.02, which meant a 15th place and unfortunately not directly through to the final.
For the combinations that were not directly through to the final, a consolation final was scheduled on Friday, with the best three combinations going through to the final on Saturday. In ring 2, Everest and Phoebe once again showed their skills in this consolation final. Again he showed his good qualities but unfortunately he also had two small moments where his energy took over. Nevertheless, a very good test by this young stallion who was rewarded with 78.2%.

On Saturday it was Nalegro’s turn for the final of the five-year-olds. He seemed more at ease than on the first round and the quality oozed from it! With his characteristic powerful hind leg, he again showed that he had a lot of talent for heavy work. A score of 79.6% was the result.