Blog Report: Dressage by Midnight at the 2025 CDIO Aachen

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

There's nothing like Aachen: the venue, the organisation, the relevance for the sport, and the cachet the competition has. Wednesday 2 July, the opening day of competition of the 2025 edition of the "World Festival for Horse Sport",  rolled around the corner with great speed, while Europe was being crunched by a heat wave. The weather experts even launched a new word for it: Europe is covered by a "heat dome".

There's no Aachen without a thunder storm and also this year the kick-off day gave that mixed bag of weather conditions. Four seasons in twelve hours: starting with sweltering 38 C* temperatures, than a wind setting in, then a wind storm, following by thunder, and lightning crashing on and near the show grounds, torrential downpours of rain, and then a temperature drop where everyone clothed in shorts and tank tops, running around the dressage stadium with goosebumps, exposing skin like a plucked chicken and teeth chattering.

Well-Oiled Machine

I arrived at Aachen at noon time after a comfortable 50 minute drive. The "CHIO" organization is such a well-oiled machine. I had my accreditation within five minutes, my car parked another five minutes later, and my photography bib picked up at the media desk where I was greeted by fellow Belgian Edith de Reys, one of the press officers hired by the Aachen team since pigs could fly. 

You stroll into the big media center, where are all colleagues are seated, tapping away on their computers writing articles or editing photos. It's a bee hive where grey bibbed photographers come and go, while journalists write, conduct interviews or network with colleagues. Aachen brings together the entire equestrian press work force like a European or World Championship does, it's rather a big family with smaller cliques of those who built deep friendship and collegiality over the years. 

With none of the dressage action happening just yet, it gave me time to say hi to my work besties: Lily Forado, Dirk Caremans, Stefan Lafrentz and Sharon Vandeput, Leanjo and Monique of Digishots, and of course some journalist compadres like Kim Lundin and Jan Toenjes, who's kicking back into action after the tragic downfall of Germany's most esteemed equestrian magazine St. Georg.

Informing the Next Generation

Lily and I went to the rider's club for lunch and shared a table with Dirk and Leanjo. We are allowed to eat in the left part of the VIP tent, where riders and press gets served a free lunch and free drinks. Since last year there is a "candy shop" upstairs, sponsored by Lindt chocolate, where you can get  all the candied poison in the world that is sooo yummy but so bad for you.  Lindt jumped on the marketing bandwagon for the latest fad: "Dubai chocolate". That marketing stunt is like water off a duck's back for a Belgian. My sugar fix of choice is the Haribo industrially coloured smurfs and strawberries. However, today I went for a vanilla soft ice as the heat was brutal.

Lily left and I stayed a little longer in the air-conditioned tent on my own to have a cappuccino before braving outside for my 15 'o clock appointment. I agreed to meet up with JJ Tate and Richard Malmgren who are chaperoning four American young riders on their first trip to Aachen, an immersive educational tour for The Dressage Foundation's "Dream Program" group. This year's lucky "Dreamers" are Tessa Holloran (FL), Genevieve Oliver (PA), Quinn Ridgway (NJ), and Paige Zimmerman (PA) and in Aachen they met and interviewed some of the top riders, coaches, and judges in the world. They also wanted to to talk to a journalist and asked me hard questions about the future of the sport, how competition can merge with upholding high standards of animal welfare, what article I would ever want to re-write, who my favourite riders are (I didn't give them my favourite, but told them for which super stars to look out for here in Aachen). It was fun and I felt like I was rambling. I think I could have talked for hours, but then the Aachen jingle sounded and it's my Pavlov bell. It means duty calls and the competition is about to start.

The PSG That Took Forever

The opening class of the show this year was the Prix St Georges for which 14 riders lined up. It started at 16h and was to finish by 18, but in that time frame, the weather changed and all hell broke loose with lightning crashing.  The class was twice interrupted and it certainly gave the pairs spicy conditions to compete it with gusts of winds and heavy rain shows with thunder and lightning in the vicinity.

Frederic Wandres rode Hof Kasselmann's 13-year old Hanoverian Quizmaster (by Quasar de Charry x Velten Third) to victory. Joseph Chu's bay gelding has been showing at small tour level since 2020 and this was the pair's fifth (!!) time at Aachen for the small tour: they won the Prix St Georges three times and were second twice over the years. Judges Raphaël Saleh, Katrina Wüst, Marlena Gruca Rucinska, Christine Prip, and Peter Storr rewarded the pair with the winning score of 73.912%.

Ingrid Klimke and Frederike feldhaus' 9-year old Oldenburg Diafys (by DeLorean x D-Day) were second with 72.647%, while Dinja van Liere and her big Grand Prix hopeful, the 8-year ld KWPN bred Mauro (by Zonik x Negro), owned by Eugene Reesink and Eric Koele of Turfhorst stud, landed third place with 72.382%.

The class took four hours to wrap up with all the delays and as temperatures dropped from unbearable heat to cold and windy, it also sucked quite a bit energy and stamina out of this journo-old timer. I was secretly hoping for the entire 4* class to be rescheduled for Thursday, but the Aachen team persevered and thought it better to keep on going... past midnight.

Dressage by Midnight

The 4* Grand Prix tour in Aachen is an equally important test as many rider have been lined up for it as their final attempt to convince team selectors of their worth for selection for the upcoming European Championships in Crozet. 

After missing Balve due to a colic scare, most likely Germany's fourth team candidate Ingrid Klimke and Vayron (by Vitalis x Gloster) had to put the big scores on the board but Klimke was unable to ride fault-free. Some of the halt halting was quite visible, the second piaffe was bumpy, and the centerline with pirouettes and one flying change had hiccups. The tempi's were wonderful though, just like the half passes and zig zag. They scored 71.630% but had 74.783% as high score (?!) and 69.891% as low score, placing between 1st and 11th!

The difficult weather conditions, timing changes, late hours, etc  had an effect on many combinations but also on the experienced panel of judges because Janet Lee Foy, Nicole Nockemann, Christof Umbach, Raphaël Saleh, and Maarten Van der Heijden were not in unison on several rides.

Another German team candidate, Matthias Rath and Destacado (by Desperados x Londonderry), could not (yet) move closer to the Crozet dream after posting 70.696% in the 4*, good for an 11th place. Carina Scholz and the 16-year old Soiree d'Amour (by San Amour x Latimer) were 8th with 71.456%. Germany's highest scoring ride in the class was delivered by the last starter in the field, Semmieke Rothenberger on the 15-year old Farrington (by Jazz x Samba Hit). They entered the arena past midnight and wrapped up the long day with a 72.565% for fourth place. 

Three on Top

The top three rides of the "night" were from riders of "developing dressage nations" as they are called. 

German based Norwegian Isabel Freese rode Lone Boeg Henriksen and Paul Schockemöhle's 13-year old Oldenburg stallion Total Hope (by Totilas x Don Schufro) to victory with 74.261%.  Aachen was the pair's first show since their third place at the 2025 World Cup Finals in Basel in April. The black stallion, who is consistently tight with his short neck, is a score magnet in the canter work. The piaffe is expressive but not always entirely correct: sometimes moving forward, at other times with the hindlegs up and out, instead of under, but always quite good in the rhythm. The left half pass was behind the vertical and not clear in the rhythm, nor was the collected walk. But then came the canter: the tempi changes are outstanding, especially the twos, the pirouettes show great ability to collect from behind, the zig zag was fluent. Their individual marks ranged from 72.717% to 75.326%.

A second place went to now Belgian based, Lithuanian born, and Polish declared Sandra Sysojeva on black sensation Maxima Bella, a 9-year old Oldenburg mare by Millennium x Christ. The mare moves with a lot of ease and effortless. Without wanting to body-shame a horse, the mare seems to have lost some belly weight, which gives her a more athletic physique. The trot extensions have a lot of forearm, but are limited in overstep. The right trot half pass was the better one, The passage is incredibly light-footed and energetic, in piaffe she moves in an identical passagey way, but then on the spot. The extended walk was active but there could be a bit more stretch over the topline. The two tempi changes were nice, although she dropped in the poll. The ones were straight, the pirouette left lacked some bending and the right one had a double beat behind. The mare did not lose an inch of energy on the final centerline and showed great willingness to perform. They scored 73.696% with marks between 72.391% and 75.326%.

German based Finnish rider Henri Ruoste has been taking his Olympic mare Tiffanys Diamond (by Tailormade Temptation x His Highness) on a different show path in 2025, avoiding the larger competitions (Doha, Mannheim, Aachen Dressage Days and Achleiten). Owned by the rider and Victoria Schönhofen, this mare is drop dead gorgeous and shows energetic, off the ground passage work. Unfortunately in this test she was too tight in the neck and often behind the vertical: in the rein back, two tempi changes, and zig zag. Also the downward transition from canter to trot was too abrupt. Still, Tiffanys Diamond is very gifted and her beauty must have cast a spell on the panel as they rewarded this test with 73.087%. All fives judges were in agreement with their scores.

Quick Notes

Dutch Marieke van der Putten had her 2022 WEG ride Torveslettens Titanium on the ball in the 4* Grand Prix. The scores of this 13-year old Danish warmblood (by Totilas x Stedinger) have been downward trending in the last two CDI's, but in Aachen the pair found their old form. The canter work was really soft-footed and in trot the compact horse appeared less hectic although in passage the hindlegs stay too far out. They got 72.282% with 69.130% as low score and 74.140% as generous high score.

American Olympian Marcus Orlob and Alice Tarjan's highly sensitive mare 11-year old KWPN mare Jane (by Desperado x Metall) have been in Europe this spring, training with Johan Zagers, and trying to desensitize her to electric environments. She showed in the quieter CDI Aachen Dressage Days as well as in "small" Hagen in June, all in the lead-up to "Big Aachen". While the mare did not do her usual rear-and-spin upon entering the stadium, she was still uncomfortable in her skin in the test; grinding her teeth so loudly you could hear it from the opposite side of the ring. She also flopped her tongue out in the rein back and trot extension. Orlob remained quiet in the saddle and tries to build trust while doing the Grand Prix movements, in which Jane is incredibly gifted. This black mare has not yet come of age and there is a lot of quality in the tank. Today they got 70.913% (10th place), but the unrealistic 74.022% (compared to a 67.826%) showed that the judges still struggle to score tense horses.

Olympian Jessica von Bredow-Werndl suddenly came up for team consideration with her new ride, Diallo (by Dancier x Floriscount), after Munich and Balve, but in Aachen that dream evaporatedIt turned out too much, too soon for this new combination and green 10-year old Hanoverian, who was produced to Grand Prix level by Uta Gräf. The trot extensions are very ground covering, but the horse was running instead of extending. The right half pass was the smoothest one. There were two moments of resistance in the second piaffe. Diallo has three good quality gaits and is gifted for Grand Prix, but he needs time to mature. They scored 66.630% for 21st place. Werndl withdrew the horse from the Grand Prix Special after the class. She will go back to the drawing board with him.

Hot Potato

A few quick comments on the hot potato: animal welfare

No "welfare bell" in Aachen, so far, for horses a few visibly uneven in trot half passes in the 4* got the benefit of the doubt as they were better in the clarity on the diagonals.

I have seen stewards apply the noseband measuring tool in the warm-up before the class. So far I haven't gone to see the atual tack check after the test as this is conducted away from the arena, round the corner, not visible to the public. This was done to give the horses a more "quiet and peaceful" environment, but reduces transparency of the procedure. 

Some observations: I have witnessed grooms feeding sugar to their horse after coming out of the test and before the steward even checked the horse. I'm pretty sure that's not allowed.. I have also seen horses given the opportunity to come out of the test and do a few minutes cool down in trot (while being watched by the steward) before the actual tack and bit check happened around the corner.

The amount of sugar/fluffed mouths is much less here in Aachen, probably because of the rule repair which started on 1 July, but I have still seen a few mouths with a lot of foam. However, the crisp white, sticky, frothy, zink ointment look-a-like concoctions are far less. 

And then finally another interesting thing to note is that Greta Heemsoth tried to retire from her PSG test on Scara Boa (after the mare had a "computer says no" day) by signalling the judges during her final halt and salute. This was not accepted and her score stood. There has been much discussion that riders can/should not retire at the end of the test in order to avoid a score. I would need to dig into the FEI rules to see how this is formulated but I remember this was an issue being discussed already at the start of the year.  

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