Victory of a Lifetime for Schürmann and Life Time at 2024 World Young Horse Championships

- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)  
-- Photos © Astrid Appels/Eurodressage - No reproduction allowed - NO SCREENSHOTS!

For Charlott-Maria Schürmann winning the 7-year old finals at the 2024 World Championships for young dressage horses aboard Life Time FRH was a victory of a "lifetime".  The German rider and the Luxembourg owned horse topped the board in the finals on Sunday 8 September 2024. 

Victory of a Lifetime

For the sympathetic duo it certainly was third time's a charm as the duo was a nominated for Team Germany three years in a row for these World Young Horse Championships and finished 13th in 2022 and 9th in 2023. This year they struck gold as a developing Prix St Georges horse combination.  After winning the preliminary round with 81.175% they bested the field in the finals test with 84.129%.

The judges got carried away by the handsome liver chestnut stallion by the late Livaldon out of fipsy (by Furstenball x Sandro Hit). Bred by Johannes Hesselink and owned by Claude Niedner's Domus Equus in Luxembourg, the stallion impression with his uphill way of going in the trot work, nicely in control of the balance and self carriage also in the lateral movements. Maybe there could have been a fraction more spring in the gait and in the giving and taking the reins, the stallion curled himself instead of truly stretching into the contact. He got a bit slow in the collected walk. Life Time showed good ability to collect in the half pirouettes and executes lovely flying changes, but they were not very straight. The three tempi changes were lovely and they finished the test with a good halt. Life Time was never stressed in the work and always working with his rider. 

The judges panel, which included Maarten Van der Heijden, Ulrike Nivelle, Thomas Lang, Juan Carlos Campos Escribano, and Maria Colliander, rewarded the stallion with 9.5 for walk, 9 for trot, 9.2 for canter, 9.5 for submission and perspective. The technical marks were 75.857% and 73.857%. He finished on a total of 84.129% for the champion's sash .

Schurmann beamed with pride and happiness. 

"He was amazing in the warm-up, so I thought maybe today we can give everything what he can do," said Charlott. "I tried my best and he gave everything. It's amazing. He's very secure in the test. He doesn't want to make a mistake. I tried to show everyone he's an amazing stallion. I trust him and knew we could win."

Life Time is licensed for the Hanoverian, Oldenburg and Westfalian Verband and is kept with Charlott in Germany while owner Niedner operates his own dressage stable in Contern, Luxembourgh, where French rider Justine Ludot heads the team.

"He's a real performer," Charlott praised the stallion. "This year we stopped breeding. We only have frozen semen. He has lovely offspring and the oldest are three now. We start riding them and they are completely the same. They have a big canter and a big walk."

For Schurmann and Life Time this was their third appearance in Ermelo. 

"He got more confident, a bit more power over the years," she explained. " As a 5-year old he was really young. Now he's more impressive and powerful and he can show you what he can do." When asked what the future has in store for them, Charlotte replied, "I'm not thinking of the future for the moment."

Third Silver for Vitalos

As last pair to go in the class, German Leonie Richter and Andreas Helgstrand and Paul Schockemöhle's Hanoverian stallion Vitalos (by Vitalis x De Niro x Wanderbusch II) were considered Life Time's greatest rivals, but they ended up with their third, consecutive silver medal in three years time. 

Bred by Josef Bramlage, the tall and handsome chestnut has huge ground cover in trot and really picked up his feet with much scope and bounce. He stretched nicely into the given rein and the trot extensions was a proper lengthening. He was fluent in the voltes and traversal movements. The extended walk had good marching and was clear in the rhythm, but in the collected walk he goes into a Spanish walk and gets slow and at times short-long. The horse was always steady in the contact. The left half pirouette was slightly unbalanced but the stallion showed willingness to collect behind. Two flying changes were crooked and in the threes he got croup high, but all the changes worked. In the uberstreichen the contact was not truly let go of. 

Vitalos scored 7.9 (?) for walk, 10 for trot, 9.5 for canter, 9 for submission and 9.5 for perspective. His two technical scores were 74.286% and 75.000% to finish on a total of 83.222% for second place. 

"He was much better than on the first day. In the preliminary test I had two changes that weren't good, today one change. The canter was now in general better and I had a good feeling," said Richter at the press conference. "It's a very big achievement for a horse to get a medal every year. 

Richter admitted that she felt a little pressure going into the arena. 

"You feel pressure as the two-time silver medallist. I tried to stay focus and don't have it in my mind. He always gives his best, so you can concentrate on your riding," Leonie explained. "I'm very happy to ride him. The more difficult it gets, he gets better. He makes it easy for me.  He's so sweet, but on fire when you need it. He's not looking, not spooking. He has the best character. He's hot enough for the Grand Prix and has a lot of talent for that. "

The pair is qualified to compete in the 2024 Nurnberger Burgpokal Finals in Frankfurt in December. They are the German Developing PSG horse Championships.

Bronze for Massimo

After winning gold with his 6-year old My Toto last year, Dutch Olympian Hans Peter Minderhoud settled for bronze this year aboard the 7-year old Massimo (by Toto Jr x Bretton Woods), bred by M. van Cortenberghe and owned by Glock Horse Performance Center. 

The pair placed third in the preliminary test and kept a firm hold on that bronze medal earning spot in the Finals test, in which they scored 80.993%. Although a stallion, the liver chestnut does not have that macho masculine look but more an elegant appearance. He looked very established in the PSG work and showed smooth trot extensions, fluent half passes, but the contact was a bit strong, which made the horse mouthy. He did not truly stretch the neck when given the rein. The extended walk was very nice and he got a little tight in the back in the collected walk before the right walk pirouette. Massimo was very secure in the flying changes and although he canters with a rather straight leg, he did show good ability to collect. He did toss his head in the canter pirouette. 

The judges rewarded this horse was 9.3 for walk, 8.8 for trot, 9 for canter, 8.3 for submission and 9.2 for perspective. The technical scores were 72.143% and 73.429%

"He's a super sweet horse, but very sensitive to noise," Hans Peter said at the press conference. "It was a bit windy today and on Friday we had a hectic prize giving.  On Friday it was super easy to ride him through the test, today I was more "stay with me, stay with me." So it was not as relaxed as Friday but I managed it." Minderhoud jokingly added, "he has very good ears."

Minderhoud will now focus on the future and producing him to Grand Prix.

"He's a beautiful horse and I really like that he's elegant and super to ride," he said. "He did a few small tour tests and we focused on the 7-year old tests. Now we can focus on the Grand Prix."

On Their Heels

Dutch Olympian Dinja van Liere was closely on Minderhoud's heels aboard Eugene Reesink and Turfhorst's KWPN licensed stallion Mauro (by Zonik x Negro). Bred by the Greve Family, the cute and compact stallion landed fourth place, just off the podium, with 80.436%

Mauro stood out with his well regulated and cadenced trot work with good balance on the voltes and in the traversal movements. He did curl the neck and dropped deep instead of stretching it when given the rein. The collected walk was very well ridden, with the right pirouette being the best one. In the canter half pass right he ran away a bit and on the extended canter line made two unscripted changes, but the 4 and 3 tempi's were good. In the counter canter he lost a little bit of suppleness, but they finished with a nice square halt. 

Mauro scored 8.7 for walk, 9 for trot, canter, submission and 9.2 for perspective. He got 70.714% and 71.429% for the technical marks. 

Mr Magnum Completes Top Five

There were three Dutch pairs and two German duos in the top five with 2022 World Championship Dutch team rider Thamar Zweistra fifth on the Dutch warmblood Mr Magnum (by Expression x Valdez). Bred by A. ter Haar and owned by Stable Hexagon in partnership with Perry Boogaard, the bright bay stallion scored 79.922%.

Mr Magnum was ridden with a lot of energy and power in the trot tour, but there needed to be more bending to the left. The rider lost valuable points when she went off course in the first medium trot. The stallion properly stretched with the given rein. He did not have the greatest overtrack in extended walk and could have been a bit more closed in the frame in the collected walk as he got a little slow in the right walk pirouette. The canter work had plenty of promise but it was obvious that the horse was not yet equally supple on both leads. The changes to the right were shorter and less straight, the one at E in two phases.  The horse is still a bit green in the pirouettes, shows plenty of willingness to collect and sit in the pirouettes but had the two hind legs together instead of maintaining canter stride. Mr Magnum showed plenty of promise for the future with more time. 

The ground jury scored the horse 8.3 for walk, 9.2 for trot, 9 for canter, 8.8 for submission and 9.3 for general impression. The technical marks were 72.571% and 70.714%.

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

Eurodressage took photos of (pretty much) all competitors in Ermelo. No reproduction allowed - NO SCREENSHOTS! If you are interested in buying photos, email us. 

Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses