Mads Hendeliowitz Puts His Best Foot Forward with Weihenstephaner and Jimmie Choo

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2013 CDI Vidauban

A double runner-up in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix kur at the 2013 CDI Vidauban, Sweden's Mads Hendeliowitz and his equine partner Weihenstephaner raised the bar in week two of the competition, finishing close behind training partner Jeanna Hogberg. He feels that given the results the training must be paying off.

"The first week we were 7th in the Grand Prix as, unfortunately, Weihenstephaner had the worst muscle-ache in his shoulders and it took four days of massage before I could work him again," Mads told Eurodressage. "However, by week two he was fit for the fight and I did my best to catch my team mate and training buddy Jeanna and I was happy to be in second place in both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix freestyle."

Having been with Weihenstephaner formost of the horse’s life, Mads was lucky that the horse was owned by his former trainer and so was granted the opportunity to ride him from an early age. "Maria and I bought him when we started our relationship and he was just 8 at the time and not in full training due to an injury."

Arranged by Lee Onselius, Mad's kur is based on Coppola’s The Godfather and the whole freestyle revolves around the mafia theme with intrinsic musical elements. "The reason for this was Weihenstephaner’s character: he is a true gangster and it was not until this past year that I have been able to trust him in competition," Mads confessed. "Prior to this year he had his own ideas of what was expected of him and why he was in the arena."

Mads Hendeliowitz on Weihenstephaner Working mainly on the piaffe, passage and pirouettes, Mads feels the horse has changed much since he started training with Sweden's top rider Patrik Kittel. "Before we started with Patrik our piaffe and passage felt difficult and now we are finally getting it to where it’s supposed to be," he said.

With three percentages over 70%, Mads other horse Jimmy Choo also produced some outstanding results: taking first place in both the Prix St Georges and the Inter I kur in addition to his second place in the Inter 1.

"Jimmy Choo is by Sandro Hit x Don Schufro and we bought him and after seeing him loose for two minutes in Johan Iverssen and Birgitta Kjellin’s riding arena in the south of Sweden. They got him through a trade when they sold Tellwell to Laura Bechtolsheimer," Hendeliowitz expmained.

A great horse right from the very beginning, the Oldenburg licensed stallion Jimmy Choo was originally named Schufro. With Hendeliowitz he won the championships for 6 year olds in their first year together and he was the highest ranked 7 and 8 year old dressage horse in Sweden.

Mads Hendeliowitz on Jimmie Choo SEQ "Jimmy competed in the Prix St Georges and Inter 1 for 7-9 year olds in the first week and won both of them with around 73%," said Mads proudly. "The second week he again won the Prix St Georges, but was second in the Inter I as he was a little tired and without enough collection. Also, for the inter 1 we warmed up in the indoor arena, since the warm-up arena outside was under water."

Enjoying the fun factor of the kur, Mads reckons they rarely have freestyle tests in Sweden and the pair had only done this routine once before. "Jimmy was in his best mood. This horse loves attention and knows exactly what's to come when his groom Frida gets him ready. He won with almost 74% and received very nice complements from the judges."

With one of the horse's best features being his mind, Mads knows Jimmy loves to show off and confirmed that the dark bay grows about 10 cm when entering the ring. "I can still hear Patrik's voice from the week before competitions ringing in my ears: “Do at least 100 halts a day- when you think you've done enough, do some more. He also prevented me from competing in the smaller tours with him since Jimmy’s piaffe and passage are ready to be put together. We still have some work with the one-time tempies but we hope to start Grand Prix by the end of this year, or maybe for Vidauban 2014."

Mads and Jimmie Choo With their first outdoor competition in Sweden not until May, Mads is glad to already have one successful outdoor outing under his belt. "We were in Vidauban last year as well and we have loved both the competitions," mentioned Mads. "It´s great to be able to start the outdoor season so early in the year and when we arrived back at Segersta in Sweden it was minus 15 degrees with lots of snow."

In Vidauban Mads felt the weather was not behaving as they had hoped. Gusting winds and terrible rain lasted nearly the entire week not being conducive to optimum competition conditions. "The staff working on the show-ground had a lot to do trying to keep the arenas acceptable," he said. "Overall though we were really happy about the running of the competition and it's always nice to meet the same organisers again, plus the area itself is always nice to visit."

Dedicated to his dressage goals Mads not only captured the eye of the judges but also, unfortunately, seems to catch the ears of the public during his warm-ups as well. "People around me in the warm up must think that I'm terribly strange but there is not much I can do," said Mads. Suffering from some sort of air blockage, Mads believes that mucoviscidosis (cystic fibrosis) might be the cause of his oral outbursts but so far the doctors have been unable to make a concrete diagnosis. "For a while I had asthma medicine and it helped a little. My problem affects in strange ways. I can never eat within 2 hours before riding and this is difficult when I compete with many horses the same day. I also have problems getting enough air at times, it feels like an asthma attack but it never goes all the way," he admitted.

Mads on Candy Man Training alongside Jeanna, the pair spent three days at Patrik Kittel's place on the way down to Vidauban and they hope to stay with him all the way to 2016. "We have worked with him for a little over a year and he is an amazing person, both in training and as a mentor. When Patrik agreed to come along on our Segersta team in our efforts to reach Rio we were more than happy, it's a great help to have such an experienced rider to help us reach our goals."

Just finishing their plan for the year, Mads hopes that he and Jeanna will first be able to journey to Horst (depending on if they are chosen) and then make their way through a jam-packed competition calendar. "Our hopes are Horst, Norrköping, Mannheim or Radzionkow then Falsterbo. If it's possible we might try to go to London towards the end of July," he added.

by Sarah Warne for Eurodressage
Photos © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction Allowed

Astrid Appels was photographing in Vidauban the second week of competition. If you are interested in prints of your photos, please send us an email.