Sovereign, strong and surprise - Danish national Championships 2022

Three ladies with lots of experience at the podium

Danish national championships 2022 became in many ways predictable when speaking about the sovereignty Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos showed over the last two days. They came to the championships as big favorites, and they showed why they recently went directly at the podium for the World Cup final. They show the dressage in a way we all admire. Lightness, power, quality and control all in one package. The overall picture has improved significantly as Cathrine now manage to show Vamos in a super nice frame all the way, and from the “side line” you get the feeling that she is able to let go from first step, as they trust each other 100% in the arena.

Yesterday with a very strong Grand Prix with two technical errors, but still so much improvement and a picture of “less is more” which is positively reflected at the scoreboard. Today with a highly motivated Vamos from the beginning, but as the test progresses he just seems enjoy the mood together with Cathrine and they shine to the final halt.

Silver medal for 18 year old Blue Hors Zack with Nanna Merrald

Nanna also came into the championships as favorites for the silver position. When talking about an 18 year old international dressage horse it´s pretty much like a horse been “at the war”, but said that Zack was really shining, looked motivated and not least very fit and supple - big complement to Nanna and her team showing Zack in both tests with super strong performances.

Lone Bang Larsen and Thranegaardens Rostov this years fighter surprise bronze medal

Lone and Rostov came from 6th position in the Grand Prix moving up to the podium with the bronze medal. The Grand Prix yesterday with some tensions, while they well deserved danced into the bronze position today. Lone was able to show Rostov without any mistakes today, and when they have the go and flow, their freestyle is just a pleasure to watch combined with very nice choice of music with a pretty high degree of difficulty.

This was for sure the reward but also bit of a surprise for Lone and Rostov. They have been very active at the international circuit lately and gained a lit of valuable experience. They just moved one step closer to the team for the World Championships in August, and now secured their ticket for the CDIO5 team competition in Aachen this year.

Super performances

Anna Kasprzak and Addict de Massa showed their best performances ever. Less tensions and much better flow and relaxation in the body - both days placed 4th.

Anna Zibrandtsen showed two horses Quel Filou OLD with whom she recently made her national Grand Prix debut. Quel Filou brings the full package and they make such a beautiful couple the arena. Anna also brought Detroit for the championships and he looked both fit and motivated. Anna was placed 6 and 7 in the Grand Prix and rode Detroit in todays freestyle where they finished at 6th position.

Joachim Thomsen also brought two horses for the championships Aarøe´s Ghandi and Vichy Pax. Joachim showed good performances with both horses and finished 12 and 13 in the Grand Prix. Today’s freestyle with Ghandi where they showed a really well performed test with confidence and power and finishing as no 9, while Joachim also won the Grand Prix Special consolation together with Vichy Pax.