Nordstrand Femme Fetale Named 2026 Danish Warmblood Elite Mare Champion

Breeding

Danish Warmblood

The 3-year old Nordstrand Femme Fetale (sic) became the champion of the 2026 Danish Warmblood elite mare show in Vilhelmsborg on 4 - 5 September 2026.

The Format

This year a group of 164 mares performed in the mare saddle testing and 34 were selected for the elite show. One older mare was shown in freedom, while the other mares were all shown under saddle, after which breedung manager Bjarne Nielsen provided a public commentary.

The Danish Warmblood inspection committee awards bronze, silver, and gold medals to the best quality mares of the year. At the elite show, judges Vicky Nortvig, Bjarne Nielsen and Johnny Sørensen evaluate the score of the saddle test and based on the performance delivered at the show they can adjust the marks in an upward trend. They may not adjust downwards.

No Gold Medal Mares

Twenty-five mares medals received the bronze medal, five the silver medal, and four mares were invited to the championship ring to vie for the title and potentially a gold medal.

This year the committee decide not to give any gold medals to those four champion ring mares, but a winner was named nonetheless. Nordstrand Femme Fetale was the winner as she had the highest mare performance test score.

Nordstrands Femme Fetale is by Fifty-Fifty out of a Quaterhit dam. She is bred by Gitte Nordstrand Larsen and owned by MT Dressage (Michael Søndergaard Nielsen) & CK Dressage (Camilla Kalseth).

Inspector Nortvig commented that, "Nordstrands Femme Fatale is a rather large, but suitably uphill mare. She has a large frame, a good expression and good gender identity, and above all she functions well under a rider. She walks with great overstep and she is clear in the rhythm and walks with good energy. The trot is ground covering and supple, and the canter is big and powerful. She has proven to be very rideable and has passed a great riding test. Unfortunately we have a few deviations on the limbs of this mare, but she is a functional mare, and she has had a really great test."

Silver Medal Mares

The other three mares in the champion ring were Straight Horse Be A Lady (by Be Sure x Franklin), bred and owned by Straight Horse; Teglovnens F'Irenee (by Blue Hors St. Schufro x Franklin), bred and owned by Stutteri Teglovnen; and Lomus Fifty Shades of Love (by Fifty Fifty x Blue Hors Zackerey), bred by Lo Breiding and Sophie Wilson and owned by Marlene Larsen.

Read more about the elite mare show on Ridehesten

Two-YO Championship: Tjørnegården's Gaya Jo

At the elite mare show also a championship for two-year olds was held. Twenty-seven mares in total were inspected, nine mares were selected for the final, and three went into a champion's ring to determine the winner.

Tjørnegården's Gaya Jo (by Baron x Sunny Boy) was named the champion. She is bred and owned by Christina Reslow. The inspection committee praised the bay mare for being, "an extremely appealing, noble and well-proportioned mare, very harmonious in her body parts, and she has a fantastically beautiful and feminine expression and type. The shoulder is long and well-functioning. The topline is a bit long, but very functional and extremely supple in movement. The mare has shown excellent movement in the trot, she has a lot of ground cover and natural carriage. She steps rhythmically and energetically, steps through the whole body with great overtrack. A mare that is excellent in her type and has excellent movement."

The other two in the champion's ring were the DWB Filly Foal champion of 2024: Kamar's Brexit (by Bonds x Escolar), bred and owned by Morten Kappel Petersen; as well as Feldbak's Amasing (by Bueno SL x De Noir), bred and owned by Jens-Ingemann and Pia Feldbak.