It Was Carina Scholz' Weekend at 2024 CDI-W Wroclaw

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2024 CDI-W Wroclaw

-- by Agata Grosicka, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Team Lukasz Kowalski

On 25 - 27 October 2024 the city of Wrocław located in the south western part of Poland hosted a Central European League World Cup Qualifier with quite an interesting group of contestants. Acclaimed team rider Marieke van der Putten, as well as ambitious squad rider German Carina Scholz joined a few representatives of the Polish dressage team: Katarzyna Milczarek, Polish Olympian from Paris 2024, Susanne Krohn and Aleksandra Popławska.

The ground jury was headed by Malgorzata Pawłowska (POL) 4* and she officiated alongside Austrian 5* judge Elizabeth Max-Theurer, Lars Andersson, Kurt Christensen, Knut Danzberg, Evi Eisenhardt, and Trond Asmyr.

Scholz' Weekend

A person who can claim it was her weekend by taking the lead in the Western European League Rankings for next year's World Cup Finals in Basel, Switzerland is German Carina Scholz. She competed in Wrocław the beautiful black mare Soiree D’Amour OLD (by San Amour x Furst Heinrich), and won Saturday’s Grand Prix Freestyle with 79,015%/

“I’m really very proud of the mare because it was just her third freestyle," said Scholz. "She did a great job today. She’s 15 now and I hope we have a couple of good years ahead of us. It’s my first World Cup season and it’s really exciting because we have a lot of big, super nice shows and we’ll see. So the plan is to go to World Cup stations, maybe Stuttgart where Tarantino, my other GP horse, is on the reserve list and maybe the mare for Madrid."

First Show After Summer Break

Dutch Marieke Van Der Putten slotted in second in the Kur aboard Torveslettens Titanium (by Totilas x Stedinger) on a score of 78,230%. She edged out country mate Liesbeth Geven on Iago with 74,770%.

Marieke van der Putten on Torveslettens TItanium

Van Der Putten and Titanium began the weekend by winning the Grand Prix with 71,217%. A second place in the Kur gives her more points for the World Cup final ranking.

“It’s my first competition after the summer, we had a break after Aachen and he is a very sensitive horse so we chose a show which is a bit more quiet," Marieke explained. "It’s my first time in Poland and it’s nice that it’s a bit more quiet here to start with this horse. Of course I want to try the World Cup, yet our goal is to ride a few nice competitions with him and then we’ll see if we have enough points to go to Basel."

The critical Marieke admitted she wasn't entirely satisfied with her test.

"I wasn’t very happy with my test here but now when he’s tense I can still keep him nicely in front which was a problem a year ago," she explained. "Now he doesn’t show his tension which you feel inside. When he stays a little bit behind my leg and it’s a bit difficult to give him a signal what to do, I still have to figure out to get it right so that’s where the small mistakes happen. Overal I’m very happy with the first competition and we can still improve a lot."

Van der Putten will be heading to the CDI-W London in December.

"I hope to get him a little better in one and a half month," she said. "He was out for a long time because he had a colic surgery in Omaha and it took a while to get him fit. In the beginning I could feel that he wasn’t 100% well in the muscles but then we did the Dutch Championships and Aachen and we did quite well. It wasn’t good enough to go to the Olympics but I was really happy for him. He is an amazing horse, but not like top five, so for me it was really amazing that we got so close.”

Race for World Cup Points

While the race in the Western European League is still wide open, the Central European League has already taken concrete form.

The leaders of the Central European League - Sandra Sysojeva (POL) and Aniko Losonczy (HUN) – both have four victories and 80 points under their belt and did not travel to Wrocław. Sysojeva plans to compete at the CDI 5* in Salzburg this December.

Polish Katarzyna Milczarek got 20 points in Wrocław and moved up to the third position in the Central European Ranking. The next two riders are Turkish Rotem Jale Ibrahimzadeh and Lithuanian Justina Vanagaite – Samuile. They are heading to the CDI-W Motesice in Slovakia on 1 - 3 November 2024.

Best Pole

The best Pole overall competing on home turfin Wroclaw was Aleksandra Popławska who brought three horses to this show: two GP horses – Sambalito and Copernico - and the most experienced one, her small tour horse, Capo.

Poplawska on Capo with judge Trond Asmyr and
show co-organizer Daniel Karpiński

Aboard the 18-year old Holsteiner Capo (by Cracker Jack x Alcatraz) won the Intermediate I with a score of 67,883% and the Intermediate I Freestyle with 72,055%

“The 14-year old Sambalito (by Samba Hit II x Classic Dance) is my GP horse for the future. We made a few small mistakes here which of course “contributed” to the score," she said about her 62.78% GP score and 67.240% Kur score. "He has a great piaffe and passage and the rest is to be worked out. We’ll dedicate our winter to the training and hope to get better in the upcoming season. Capo is the horse that you get once in a lifetime. He’s very willing and will do his best to please the rider. He’s quite a mature horse but when he gets in the arena he still wants to show his best."

Sport Growing in Central Europe

The Austrian 5* judge Elizabeth Max-Theurer pointed out that the sport is growing in the Central European region and mentioned the responsibility of the judges for the well-being of horses and good practice.

“I think it’s very important that we bring more countries into dressage sport and therefore we started the Central European Dressage Working Group seven years ago with Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and the Baltic states," said Sissy. "We’re working very closely with EEF and FEI to do so. The sport is growing in the region, especially in Poland with the team at the Olympics in Paris 2024 and it’s all on the good way. There are nice facilities with 5 CDI’s at the moment which is very positive."

She praised the quality of competition in Wrocław.

"The Freestyle we had on Saturday was of high quality. We also had two eliminations during the show and this is what we have to do," said Max-Theurer. "The judges and the stewards are asked to be very strict because we have to fight for our sport and protect our horses. One horse was lame, the other did not fulfill the criteria. We have the bell and we have to use it when it’s necessary. And then I hope it will become much better when outsiders and activists see that we react when there is something going really wrong. If we don’t, our children will see horses only on photos.”

Post Olympic Planning in Poland

Patrycja Kaczorowska, the Vice-President of the Polish Equestrian Federation, commented on the post-Olympic hectic and the plans for the seasons to come.

“Generally I am really impressed with the show (in Wroclaw). The fact that it is located in the center of the city and can promote dressage to a wider audience is very important for the sport," said Kaczorowska. "The judges are not overloaded with the number of entries, what makes the level of judging really high. In the last couple of years Polish dressage moved forward and grew also in terms of quality as we had a team qualified for Paris 2024 and a e list of reserve riders. That never happened before. Not all the riders made it to Paris but we should be grateful to them, to all the trainers and people who contributed to that like our coach Andrzej Sałacki who planned the entire cycle of Olympic preparation."

Kaczorowska notices a big growth in the sport in her country.

"Now we are have better quality horses and that helps riders stay motivated," she said. "We have never had so many senior riders, candidates for the national team. We will eventually try to qualify for Los Angeles 2028. Now it is the time to manage that. As we all know every Senior rider has his own individual coach and in many cases the owners of the horse are also involved and the federation has to cooperate with all of them. I do hope that we will create a clear and transparent plan together with riders and all people involved to keep them in the loop about all the requirements and detailed schedules. When we have a goal and a plan clearly set, it is always easier to achieve it."

She concluded that "the quality of shows has also improved with new locations as Biały Las or Gościszów aspiring to international shows and many local shows where riders can simply practice.”