Photo Report: Rude Hare and Van Loon in Winner's Circle at 2022 CDI Sint-Truiden

Danish junior rider Thilde Rude Hare and German young rider Emely van Loon wielded the axe of power in their respective divisions at the 2022 CDI Sint-Truiden on 15 - 17 April 2022. 

The CDI Sint Truiden at Stable Gravenhof is the second spring international dressage competition in Belgium in two weeks twice. With the majority of Belgian youth riders opting for the CDI in Opglabbeek at the start of the month, the field lay open to visiting youth riders to stake their claim in Sint-Truiden 

Juniors: Thilde Rude Hare

Sint-Truiden was Danish junior Thilde Rude Hare's second trip to Belgium this month as she had also competed her two horses Fred the Red and Zidan DN in Opglabbeek a fortnight ago. There the highest spot she captured was a fifth place, but in Sint-Truiden she climbed the ladder even more to the highest rung. 

Aboard the 10-year old Westfalian gelding Fred the Red (by Franziskus x Florestan) she scored a double, winning the team test with 71.212% and the individual test with 71.588%. For the freestyle she saddled her second horse, the 8-year old Danish warmblood Zidan-DN (by Romanov x Don Romantic) and placed second in the Kur with 74.970%. She stayed behind team mate Annabelle Rehn aboard the 10-year old Danish bred Vestervangs Garson (by De Noir x Ragazzo), who captured the trophy with 76.565%.

"Freddie is one of a kind. He is my once in a lifetime horse," Thilde took to Instagram. "He always saves me." In the past Thilde trained with Cathrine Dufour through whom she found Fred the Red, but she is now closely working together with Danish team coach Dennis Fisker as well as with Bjarne Nielsen. 

The junior division was highly Danish dominated as Johanne Kofod Jensen and the 14-year old Oldenburg mare Frida Gold (by Fidertanz x De Niro) was always in hot pursuit. The pair placed second in the team test with 69.909% and in the individual test with 70.824%, and they were third in the Kur with 73.690%.

Young Riders: Trifecta for Van Loon

German young rider Emely van Loon has good fortune in Sint-Truiden. In 2021 she swept the board with her now 13-year old Baden Wurttemberger bred FBW Despereaux (by Don Diamond x Abanos) and although doing only one more CDI that year in September, she did not arrive in Belgium ring-rusty.

Emely returned to Sint-Truiden, a small Belgian town known for its apple growing, and achieved another trifecta on her liver chestnut gelding. She won the team test with 70.794%, the individual with 71.971%, and the Kur to music with 78.110%.  The 20-year old Emely decided that a student life is not hers. Raised on her parents Arjan and Sandra van Loon's yard Gut Hartungshof in Bliesransbach, she has gone pro last year, first working 8 months for Jeanna Hogberg in Denmark before joining Katrin Burger's stable as an assistant rider in the autumn of 2021. 

Van Loon's greatest rival at this show was Danish Amalie Skov Christensen on her powerful 16-year old Danish gelding Sandbaek's Wonder Hitt (by Sandro Hit x World Class). The pair was second three times in a row, scoring 70.559%, 70.441%, and 73.630%%.

The battle for third place was between Danish Sophia Ludvigsen on and the 8-year old Hanoverian mare Blue Hors Quintana (by Quantensprung x Desperados) and Belgian Karoline Sofie Vestergaard on the 13-year old Belgian warmblood Junior Hit (by Sandro Hit x Calvini). 

Text and Photos © Astrid Appels  - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED - If you are interested in using our photos, email us FIRST

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