Nanna Skodborg Merrald Sweeps the Board at 2021 CDI Le Mans, Takes Five out of Five

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2021 CDI Le Mans

For Danish Nanna Skodborg Merrald the 1,350 km trip through five snowed-in European countries was worth the effort as the Danish B-squad rider swept the board and captured five throphies out of five at the CDI Le Mans in France on 12 - 14 February 2021.

Blue Hors Team Rider

The 27-year old Merrald began working as a full-time rider at Blue Hors stud in September 2018 and proved her worth to the team in the stable.

Her perseverance and talent were rewarded with the allocation of some of the most seasoned Grand Prix horses in the barn: Danish team horse Blue Hors Zack (by Rousseau x Jazz) and Agnete Kirk Thinggaard's Atterupgaards Orthilia (by Gribaldi x Donnerschlag), who competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Fiona Bigwood.

Nanna has also been developing rising stars Blue Hors Farrell (by Furstenball x Dacaprio) and Blue Hors St. Schufro (by St Moritz Junior x Don Schufro), in addition to briging along her own horse, Gørklintgaards Quater Boy (by Quaterback x Don Schufro).

Double Debut

For Nanna the 2021 show year kicked off with a bang as she made her show debut on her two top Grand Prix rides, for which she used the 2020 corona year to get to know them better, while staying at home with the majority of competitions cancelled.

She made her premier on Atterupgaards Orthilia at the CDI Salzburg on 21 - 22 January 2021 and placed third and fourth in the Grand Prix and Special with promising scores of 73.413% and 72.851%.

One month later it was debut time in Le Mans with Zack, Blue Hors stud's premier breeding stallion who competed for Denmark at the 2018 World Cup Finals in Paris (7th), 2018 World Equestrian Games (17th) and 2019 European Championships (7th) under Daniel Bachmann Andersen.

After a good rest from competition in 2020, the 17-year old KWPN bred Zack signalled to his rider he has more miles in his hooves left and a renewed appetite and pleasure for showing again in 2021.

Five out of Five

After a 20-hour drive Merrald and her precious cargo of four horses arrived in Le Mans, France to win all five tests out of five she rode.

She swept the big tour with Blue Hors Zack, convincing the judges of their skill and potential, by winning the Grand Prix with 74.174% in a field of 25 strong, and went on to win the Special with 74.362%.

"It felt a bit of a pressure to go in and debut a legend such as Zack, so I'm relieved that it went so well," Nanna admitted. "I tried to what we have been able to do at home and not over ask. I think we succeeded really well. There were some misunderstandings, but I was really happy with the flow."

She continued, "Zack is just like a good red wine that gets better with age. He was just on fire for the job today (in the Special)."

The 10-year old Blue Hors St. Schufro also made his CDI Grand Prix debut, but the inexperienced black got a bit nervous in the electric indoor atmosphere and did not stay faultfree in his eagerness to overachieve for his rider.

St. Schufro ended up doing just one test in Le Mans because there was some confusion about the entry. Nanna had hoped to ride him in the Special as well, but when she heard one horse can move on to the Special and the other to the freestyle, she withdrew young St. Schufro from the Kur as she had not prepared for that.

"St. Schufro was in really good shape, but there were some costly mistakes," Merrald explained. "There were also many good things. We are just a little inexperienced at this level and need to go out and practice more."

In the Flow

The 10-year old Hanoverian Blue Hors Farrell competed in his second international in his career, making his debut in the small tour in October 2020 in Aarhus.

In Le Mans, Merrald and the handsome Farrell won the Prix St. Georges with 72.794% and stayed a full 4% ahead of the competition. They did not compete in the Intermediaire I as the horse knocked himself in the warm-up.

"I had a super good ride on Farrell in the Prix St Georges," said Nanna. "He was faultfree and we had a really good flow."

Her own 12-year old Danish warmblood Gørklintgaards Quater Boy she rode in the medium tour as she was only allowed to ride two horses in the big tour. Her choice to present the chestnut Quater Boy in the Intermediaire B and Intermediaire II paid off as she collected two more trophies to her set of five. Quater Boy won the tests with 70.540% and 72.588% proving his worth as a professionally trained Grand Prix horse which Nanna is now offering for sale.

Worth the Drive

"It has really been a great trip and worth the whole drive down here," said Nanna. "It has been very educational to be away from home and really great to have such super trips down our belt. Now I look forward to coming home with all my horses and continue training them, especially with St. Schufro who just has so much potential."