Children Horse Harlem D Returns with Carlotta Wittmann

Dressage

Germany

Harlem D, the Dutch warmblood that kicked off the show career of German junior team rider Maria Teresa Pohl, has returned to the show scene under a new rider, Carlotta Wittmann.

Harlem D is a 14-year old Dutch warmblood by Vivaldi out of Dorina (by Donnerhall x Rosenkavalier). He is bred by Jos Derikx out of dam Dorina, the full sister to the licensed stallions Don Bedo I and II. He also went by the name "Handshake".

Sweden

The dark bay got licensed and named premium at the 2015 KWPN Stallion Licensing in 's Hertogenbosch. He began the 2015 KWPN Spring Stallion Performance Testing in Ermelo, but he failed with only 72,5 points. He was owned by horse dealers Ad Valk and Jan Vink at the time.

He sold to the Skobe Rosen family of Stall Sathalla in Sweden was showed by Sophia Skobe Rosen in 2016 and then did the stallion performance test in Sweden in 2017. He was named premium stallion by Swedish warmblood. He stood at stud at Gransbo Stud farm, where he became the third most used dressage stallion in Sweden in 2017, having covered 102 mares that year and 83 were reported in foal. In the end he has 121 offspring registered in Sweden. No sons are licensed.

In 2017 he was trained and competed by Swedish Mia Runesson, who tried to qualify him for the World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo, but did not make the cut. The stallion also spent time in training in Holland with Dutch-Italian Chiara Prijs Vitale in 2018 before returning to Sweden to be back in the saddle under Sophia Skobe Rosén. She also tried for the team for the 2018 WCYH and showed him through the summer of 2019 in the 7-year old classes.

Germany

Harlem D at the 2015 KWPN Stallion Licensing

In 2020 Harlem D resurfaced in Germany under Leonie Richter. She showed him through the summer and autumn of 2020 at M and S-level.

He sold to the Pohl family as a children's horse for Maria Teresa, who was 14 at the time. Pohl premiered him at the 2021 Preis der Besten in Warendorf, where she finished 10th. "Maresi" showed him in Munster next and then rode her very international competition with Harlem D at the 2021 CDIO-CH Hagen, where they were 5th in the preliminary test, 6th in the team test and 9th in the individual test. She last showed him in Neu-Anspach in July 2021. As of 2022 Pohl competed internationally on ponies.

Harlem disappeared from the show scene for four years.

New Rider

The bay Dutch warmblood made his come back to the public eye at the Rhinelander scouting session in Langenfeld on 17 - 18 January 2025 under a new rider, Carlotta Wittmann. Pohl has retained the ownership.

Carlotta's mom Stefanie Wittmann is a Rhinelander team trainer and selector. The two scouting sessions by the regional (Rhinelander) equestrian federation are led by Wittmann, Heidi von Thiel, Adolf Vogt (ponies), Inken Ottermann (children), Wolfgang Winkelhues (horses), and a judge. Based on the riding at two scouting sessions the regional committee selects which riders are allowed to go to the final evaluation for the Preis der Besten qualifiers, carried out by national team trainers Caro Roost and Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen.

Carlotta passed the first scouting and moves to the second round.

The 13-year old Wittmann made her international show debut in October 2025 at the CDI Troisdorf on Feodora von Roeder's FEI pony Morgensterns Delicius (by FS Daddy Cool x The Breas My Mobility). She then showed him at the CDI Aachen Young Stars in December.

For 2026 Wittmann seems to be focusing on both the Children and Pony division. It will be her last year eligible to ride in the Children category as she turns 14 in December 2026.