Dutch Olympian Marlies Van Baalen completed stand out performances at the 2015 CDI Le Mans on 23 - 25 October 2015, taking the arena on three horses to win all the small tour classes on the 7-year old Dion Johson DVB, all the Medium Tour classes on 11-year old Zinidi DVB and then rounded it off with a second in the Grand Prix and a victory in the GP Kur on the 11-year old Ratzinger.
“All three horses were great during the CDI," Marlies told Eurodressage. “It’s so nice to have such quality horses all with such good character. We have been working for years with these horses and it’s great to achieve the success we are now receiving. We have trained them from young horses all the way up to Grand Prix level and it’s been quite a journey.”
Van Baalen had to be a busy bee at the indoor show in Le Mans with three horses to compete.
“At home I ride a lot of horses everyday also and it was nice to stay in the same rhythm," Van Baalen explained. "We also had some very good weather and even though the tests were indoor, the boxes were outside and it was nice that we were able to walk the horses around in the fresh air. There was a lot of space for the competitions and the arenas had good footage. We can recommend this nice show."
Marlies has now headed home with her sights set on the future. With Zinidi DVB (by Gribaldi x Wisconsin) she will focus on the movements for the Grand Prix while with Ratzinger (by Ricardos x Rubirando) the goal will be to get more strength for the collected work.
“Of course we also always work to improve and consolidate the basics of all our horses," she added. "With Dion Johnson DVB (by Johnson x Ferro) we will give him some more time to develop as he’s only 7. Sometimes he’ll join us at an international show, and we hope to do the qualifiers for the Dutch Indoor Championships together. But before any of this the horses deserve a short holiday.”
Training at home at what she describes as “her beautiful yard”, Marlies travels once a week to Nicole Werner. Her daily training she does with the supervision of her home, Dutch Olympian Coby van Baalen.
“Wim Ernes (Dutch team trainer) also helps me with clinics and with setting out my competition schedule," she stated. "For 2016 our goal is to continue the development of each of my horses and of the family company, and of course to stay healthy. At Dressuurstal Van Baalen we have a team with four Grand Prix riders and in addition to this we train a lot of people from the Netherlands and abroad. We have a lot of students who started here as youngsters and who are now on the Under 25 level and we also have a lot of young horses in training, some from our own breed.”
Marlies is also chairman of the Dutch Athletes Commitee (KNHS) and in this role she works to improve sports on all levels.
by Sarah Warne
Related Links
Scores 2015 CDI Le Mans
Yoeki Bos In Command of Junior Classes at 2015 CDI Le Mans