Larissa Pauluis: Flambeau and Valentin, Bright Lights after 2020 Annus Horribilis

Dressage

F.O.C.U.S.

For Belgian professional dressage rider Larissa Pauluis 2020 was an annus horribilis. Fortunately her rising Grand Prix horses Flambeau and Valentin have become the bright beacons of the new year and for her equestrian life, heralding light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Annus Horribilis

For many equestrian professionals the year 2020 has been a difficult one due to the corona pandemic. The majority of the competitions were cancelled, teaching students and traveling around was more burdensome due to lockdowns , and the sales of horses posed new challenges.

However that was nothing compared to the blow Larissa was dealt on 6 May 2020. Grégoire Naslin, her husband and the father of her two children Capucine and Joséphine, died unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest. He was 39 years old. Larissa was left alone with two kids to raise as a widow, a big equestrian yard to run, and horses to compete.

"I take all my energy from my daughters and my horses," Larissa told Eurodressage about coping with the gigantic loss and void that is now in her life. "It’s the best therapy, day after day, step by step. I want to try to be strong for Greg, for my family, I want to make my husband proud of me."

74.67% at 2021 CDN Turnhout

Larissa on Flambeau, joining her late husband Gregoire
on a beach ride in 2019

On Saturday 23 January 2021, Pauluis trailered her two home trained horses Flambeau and First Step Valentin to the first national dressage competition of 2021 in Belgium at Dena Stables in Turnhout.

Not only did she win the Grand Prix class as well as place second, she posted a whopping score of 74.674% for the victory on Flambeau; a score that opens eyes and raises high hopes for a future in the international arena and maybe even Tokyo (or Paris).

"Flambeau did a good job, but I have the feeling that he's not at his maximum," said Larissa. "It’s really nice because he has already high scores!"

Turnhout was not the Grand Prix debut venue for these two horses. In the autumn of 2020 they already made their premier, achieving their qualification score to compete internationally at the highest level. However in Turnhout they shattered the glass ceiling and scored in the direction of the mid seventies, a mark needed to be relevant at the highest echelons of the sport.

From Ponies to Grand Prix

Larissa on Dreamboy at the 2005
CDI Saumur

Pauluis developed as a dressage rider through the traditional system, starting on ponies. She was the 1996 Belgian Pony Champion on Emaly (this pony became the first Belgian European Pony Champion in 1993 with Judith Godefroid). In 1997 she was the Belgian Junior Riders Champion on Cass. She represented Belgium at the 1998 European Junior Riders Championships in Hickstead.

Mid 2000s Paros des 4 Chemins, Dreamboy and Scorpio van de Zuuthoeve gave her some international small tour success

When her first marriage to Alexis Chantrie dissolved in the late 200s it was a door that closed, but also a window that opened.

First Step

Larissa found true love and support in her second husband Gregoire Naslin. With the help and dedication of Naslin, Pauluis found a new gear in her professional life as a rider. They founded First Step Horses in 2007 and expanded their yard in 2009 with 7 hectares of land.

In 2011 Larissa won the Belgian Young Horse Championships on Hyrano (4-yo) and Don Massimo (6-yo). The latter, she took Don Massimo to the 2011 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden and then onwards to international small tour level after which the horse got sold to Norwegian junior rider Alexandra Andresen. Collaborating with stallion owner Joop van Uytert, Larissa competed Barroso (by Bordeaux x Saros xx) at the 2016 World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo and through the small tour until 2018. In 2012 she rode the Hanoverian Lully (by Likoto xx x Weltmeyer) at CDI small tour level, after which the horse sold to the German Nuscheler family.

With Valentin at the 2019 World Young Horse Championships

Naslin and Pauluis scouted the Westfalian stallion First Step Valentin (by Vitalis x Fidermark) in Germany and this horse was the beginning of a new chapter. The liver chestnut won the Belgian Young Horse Championships in 2015, silver in 2016 and 2018. He was the French Young horse Champion in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and twice reserve champion (2015, 2019).

Long-time coached by Eddy Swennen and Mariette Withages, Larissa and Valentin finished 8th in the finals of the 2017 World Young Horse Championships and 9th in the Finals of the 2019 World Young Horse Championships.

Flambeau and Valentin are Larissa's first two horses that arrived at Grand Prix level and have proven themselves at that level in the show ring

"I trained a few horses up to Grand Prix, like Lully, but the horses were always sold before I could really invest time enough to go to a competition," said Larissa. "Now I know I will keep both horses for the future."

Flambeau, a Horse with a History

Flambeau at the 2013 KWPN Stallion Licensing

While it was expected that Valentin would be the number one in the barn, wild child Flambeau seems to have overtaken him with top scores in the arena.

Flambeau is a horse with a history. Born in 2010 the KWPN bred gelding is by Ampere out of Lakarla (by Zeoliet x Cocktail). He is bred by J. Merx van Eijkelenburg.

The dark bay was approved at the 2013 KWPN Stallion Licensing and sold at auction for 44,000 euro to German horse dealer Kerstin Klieber. A month later he was approved at the 2013 Oldenburg Saddle Licensing.

Flambeau was then sold to Tinne Vilhelmson's sponsor Antonia Ax:son Johnson of Lovsta Stuteri and did his 30-day performance test in Redefin, scoring 8.39 for dressage and 7.13 for show jumping (total 7.69). At the end of 2013 he moved to Sweden, where he was Swedish warmblood approved in 2015. In 2016 he was in the top 10 of most used dressage breeding stallions in the country.

Heiko Klausing and Flambeau at the 2013 Oldenburg Saddle
Licensing

He stood up for stud, but as a sport horses stayed in the background. In Sweden he competed twice in dressage in 2014, did no shows in 2015, and returned to the arena in 2016 as a jumping horse with Rebecca Milton riding him in four classes.

Lovsta decided to send him to Helgstrand Dressage in Denmark to be sold, but after two years a sale never materialised. A new route was taken to sell Flambeau as a jumper to Belgium.

"The owner called a good friend of mine to sell the horse in Belgium, but maybe for jumping," Larissa told Eurodressage. "She called me, I saw videos and I said I have to try the horse for one or two weeks. To be honest it was my husband who was more motivated than I, because in my opinion the horse was really difficult. However I took the decision to buy him.

In December 2018 Flambeau moved to Belgium to First Step Horses, but it took a 1.5 years before Larissa truly gelled with the dark bay, who had been gelded to be focused on sport.

Caroline Darcourt and Flambeau at Lovsta Stuteri

"For me he's a top class horse but he still needs to be more relaxed in the work," Larissa explained. "I think he has no limit in his talent, but I need to continue working him to get more confidence. But he's improving well. He has a top piaffe-passage with lot of strength and suppleness. He has nice flying changes and pirouettes. I think there is no particular movement in which he has less quality."

With both Flambeau and Valentin having arrived at Grand Prix level, the 40-year old Larissa has much to look forward to in 2021. She has already been invited to several Belgian Grand Prix squad training sessions with Ton de Ridder and certainly peeked the interest of the selectors.