A Walk in the Park for Kruth and Heiline's Danciera in the 2023 CDIO Compiegne 5* Grand Prix

Danish Carina Cassoe Kruth returned to the CDIO Compiegne for the second time in her career after her debut in 2021 and clinched the victory in the 5* Grand Prix aboard World Championship team gold medal winning horse, Heiline's Danciera.  Her top scoring ride put Denmark in a comfortable position to take the win in the second 2023 FEI Nations Cup leg, which concludes on Sunday 7 April 2023.

Grand Atmosphere in the Grand Parc

After a rainy start on the first day of competition in "Le Stade Equestre du Grand Parc" in the historic French town of Compiègne, weather conditions were more favourable on Saturday 6 May 2023 and blessed the show grounds with mild temperatures and dry weather, even though dark clouds loomed in the late afternoon. 

The atmosphere was a buzzing one as this show always attracts plenty of spectators, including the layman locals who come to be entertained on the weekend and watch dressage. They cheer for riders they have never heard of and soak up the excitement of high performance dressage sport. Even members of the local photography club showed up with their cameras and big lenses and took pictures of horses instead of zooming in on people and wildlife.

Colleague riders and fans gather on the covered grand stand and cheered for each in a field of thirty-two 5* riders, giving this show a real "championship" atmosphere with an inspired French announcer, who clearly is more used to the thrill of show jumping instead of the placid reactions of the dressage in-crowd. He certainly was amusing, dictating the audience to clap louder and harder after each test was finished. He unintentionally brought amusement to the aficionados as he struggled to pronounce Anna Kasprzak's last name and give no less than five different renditions of her last name in one minute time. 

At the back end near the 10 minute ring a big "orangerie" style bar was installed with high seats, lounge chairs and tables inviting everyone for a glass of champagne, aperol spritz and nibbles from the local cheese and foie gras man. This is Compiegne pure! This is why French dressage shows can be counted amongst the best in the world!

Enough singing Compiegne's praises despite this year's annoying weather. Let's talk about the action in the 5* arena.

Team Challenge

The 5* Grand Prix as first part of the Nations Cup leg was a high quality dressage class in which more than half the riders scored over 70%, even though the "really" big names (at least with their number one horses) were not there.

The Brits are saving their energy for Windsor next week, the Germans seem to have a historically in grown dislike to sending a full team of their best to France, in Denmark a CDI in Aalborg took place the same weekend, Spain sent a team of younger horses, and Dutch dressage has been in crisis over a year with Edward Gal having lost his appetite for showing and the CDI Exloo also on the same weekend as Compiegne.

Nonetheless, the entry list for the 5* was more than delectable and provided a fabulous afternoon of sport.

Alors On Danse 

Denmark fielded a team of experience bringing one of their best riders to spearhead their campaign in France: the 38-year old Carina Cassoe Kruth on her number one, Poul and Ingrid Thogersen's Danish warmblood mare Heiline's Danciera (by Furstenball x De Niro).

Kruth underlined once again the importance of having a horse with three extraordinary basic gaits if one wants to play with the big boys in premier league. Danciera is such a fabulous mover: a stellar extended walk, a mega bouncy extended trot, and a very high quality canter. Her natural elasticity and cadence make her a fabulous mover and that scores points. The trot half passes cover huge ground, the passage has so much airtime and the tempi changes are ground covering and straight. However the movement that is the touchstone of collection - the piaffe - remains an issue for this forward going mare. She gets tense, heavily leans on the forehand and crosses the legs in front and behind, revealing her lack of balance and sit. The judges still reward that type of piaffe with a 7.2 and assumingly are convinced by the rhythm. 

Judges Isobel Wessels, Raphael Saleh, Ulrike Nivelle, Eduard De Wolff Van Westerrode, and Kurt Christensen rewarded the test with a winning 78.674%. Three of them had her first, two second. The individual marks ranged from 77.717% to 80.000%.

Denmark's two other Nations' Cup riders were Anna Kasprzak on the 13-year old Luso-warmblood Addict de Massa (by San Amour x Maestro JGB) who showed a fair bit of improvement in presenting the horse in a stable way from movement to movement. Although the canter is a bit tight in the back the one tempi changes and zig zag were very secure and the pirouettes small. They scored 71.717% for 10th place.

Lone Bang Zindorff and her 13-year old Danish bred Thranegaardens Rostov (by Romanov x Diamond) placed 11th with 71.630%. Her lanky long legged dark bay gelding has big gaits and a hind leg that is really moving towards the point of gravity in passage, but today  the horse gave the impression that the length of his strides was not always identical: in front in the extended trot and behind in the passage. The trot half passes were very regular and scopey, just like the well ridden zig zag. 

Fry Leads the Brits

Reigning World Champion Charlotte Fry surprised by turning up with her 2021 Olympic mount Everdale, while the masterlist said she had entered her 2018 European Under 25 Champion Dark Legend.

The 14-year old Everdale (by Lord Leatherdale x Negro) last competed in Mechelen in December 2022 where he finished second and third in the World Cup qualifier. In Compiegne the temperamental  black stallion placed second with 77.413%. This big, imposing horse seems literally a handful to ride as Lottie rides him with a "holding" or "backwards" working hand, whereas the contact on Glamourdale is much more steady and still. The stallion grinds his teeth and often gets too tight and compressed in the neck. In the trot extensions the overstep could be greater, but overall the horse did show improvement since his last show and there is a fraction more "ease'" in the horse's overall composure and performance. Especially in the piaffe he shows improvement as Everdale tries to bend the hocks more to sit, even though the back stays hollow and sometimes gets wide in front. The one tempi changes were superb and the rein back well ridden. 

The judges were a bit divided as two of them had Fry first, two second and one third. The low score was 75.109%, the high score came from the British judge, 80.109%.

Joining Fry on the British team for the Nations' Cup was 18-year old young rider Annabella Pidgley, who made her senior team debut on the 11-year old Westfalian gelding Vamos Amigos (by Vitalis x Hotline). Danish Cathrine Dufour trained the gelding to Grand Prix level for Pidgley and won team gold and double silver at the 2022 World Championships with him. The horse moved to Great Britain in the autumn of 2022 for Annabella to ride alongside another Ferrari, the 2021 Olympic bronze medal winning Gio (Charlotte Dujardin). Interestingly it was Dujardin on the ground in Compiegne coaching Annabella on Vamos and not Dufour.  Pidgley carries the weight of the world on her shoulders as she has been privileged with amazing, medal winning horses and trainers of the highest eschelon so expectations of her to deliver are (unrealistically) high. Vamos Amigos is a fabulous horse, but got many goodwill points when Dufour competed him because overall the combination was so pleasant, soft and elegant to watch. With Pidgley it's a fresh start and the judges now seem to have their realistic glasses on, instead of pink ones when Dufour rode him. Annabella does a super job piloting this horse and a clear change in the style of presentation has taken place: while Dufour rode him with an almost unexisting contact (often behind the bit), Pidgley now does the opposite and has the curb as the leading bit/rein, trying  to ride him more into the bridle. The trot extensions were nice but there needed to be more overtrack. The extended canter and flying change were polished, the piaffe and passage had plenty of rhythm and energy and were like a metronome, albeit unbalanced, wide in front and swaying (so not really according to the textbook). The biggest issues in the test were the walk (extended not ideal in rhythm and the collected very edgy, close to ambling) and in the final piaffe at X he stalled.  They finished on 71.957% for 9th place with 70.761% as low score and 73.261% as high score. 

The third Brit was Nations' Cup team newcomer Andrew Gould on Tatiana Skillman's 10-year old KWPN stallion Indigro (by Negro x Jazz), who landed 26th place with 68.978%. The trot extensions were a bit hurried but the half passes had good crossing and the passage was elegant. In piaffe the horse still leaned much in the forehand but the second piaffe-passage was well executed. A mistake in the one tempi changes pushed the score down.

Full Focus

German Matthias Rath and Gestut Schafhof's 10-year old Hanoverian stallion Destacado (by Desperados x Londonderry) made their international Grand Prix debut in August 2021 and this year are pushing for team selection for the 2023 European Championships. The horse has been pulled from stud duty to focus on sport and in Compiegne they were third with 74.870%. The chestnut gelding has three outstanding basic gaits and just like with Danciera that gets a rider very far, but also this stallion struggles with the piaffe. He just pulls the hocks up instead of sitting and has a hard time finding the rhythm. On the other hand, the trot extensions were huge, there was very good crossing of the legs in the half passes, the extended walk was fabulous, the extended canter big and the left pirouette was the better one of the two. Destacado is fidgety in the contact though and at times tilted to the right. 

Germany was further represented by Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock aboard Elisabeth von Wulffen's 11-year old Oldenburg mare Florine (by Foundation x Lauries Crusador xx). They had a clean, tidy ride with a steady bridle contact. The well muscled chestnut mare rushed in the trot extensions though and in piaffe needs more suspension, but the one tempi changes were very straight. They scored 71.543% (13th).  Hof Kasselmann's Evelyn Eger rode professor Westminster, an 18-year old Oldenburg gelding by Weltissimo x Davignon, for Team Germany and placed 14th with 71.500%.

Return Guests

The Swedes are loyal attendants of the CDIO Compiegne and won last year's Nations Cup. They returned this year with a strong equipe of three.

Patrik Kittel and his assistant rider Malin Wahlkamp-Nilsson landed fourth and fifth place in the Grand Prix. Kittel brought his number one, Touchdown (by Quaterback x Sack), while Nilsson rode the 10-year old Swedish bred Bergsjoholms Valbonne (by Zack x Epson). Both riders put in very neat tests. Touchdown excelled in the trot extensions and half passes, but could carry more from behind in passage. Also this time the rider swung heavily in the saddle in the tempi changes. The extended walk was lovely. He scored 74.043%  Nilsson and Valbonne produced a carefully ridden test with nice trot extensions and a very ground covering zig zag. In the extended walk the rhythm could have been better and overall the horse could have been more engaged from behind in passage. They got 73.174%.

Tinne Vilhelmson's assistant Caroline Darcourt got the honours to ride on the Nations Cup team with Antonia Ax:son Johnson's 13-year old Hanoverian gelding Lord Django (by Stalypso x Londonderry). The canter work was very consistent but the collected walk was not that convincing. The left pirouette was the better one. They finished 24th with 69.696% 

- Text and Photos © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition).

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