Friday, 29 August 2025
After two fiercely competitive days to decide the team honours, today it was the individuals were in the spotlight at the FEI Dressage European Championship 2025 in Crozet, France. With the world’s 10 ten riders all featuring in the 30-strong starting line-up, the intensity wasn’t going to be any less for the Grand Prix Special in the Jiva Hill Stables arena. As well as the individual medals there for the taking, riders were in search of a top-18 placing to secure a place in Sunday’s Grand Prix Freestyle finale.
Three of the British Equestrian dressage team, in partnership with Agria, had qualified for today and it was world number one duo Lottie Fry and Glamourdale, owned by the rider and Van Olst Horses, who went first for Britain. European championship debutantes Becky Moody and Jagerbomb were drawn 23rd to go and just three combinations later came Carl Hester, riding in his 13th European Championships with his own, Mette Dahl and Fiona Bigwood’s Fame.
Yesterday’s pressure help Britain onto the podium was today replaced by the motivation for individual honours but, because ‘Lottie’ and Glamourdale are world champions in this test, there was the weight of expectation upon them. Drawn 21st to go of the 30 starters, Lottie had a good notion of the benchmark score she’d need to be troubling the top few placings.
The rider, originally from Scarborough but now based with her employers in the Netherlands, boldly turned down the centreline and it was clear she meant business – square halt, an acknowledgement to the judges and they were on their way. The first extended trot across the diagonal – a feature of the Grand Prix Special test – showed good overtrack and activity, and then it was into the first half-pass, which showed true airtime as ‘Glammy’ glided across the arena. Heading into the first passage, Lottie was riding forward – almost too much – but she expertly got him back to control the power in the extended trot.
The next half-pass, which flows in the opposite direction to the first, was accurate and the transition into passage was much improved. The pair showed good relaxation through the walk section, with Glammy stretching out his neck and stepping forward across the diagonal. However, as they approached the track again, Glammy seemed a little unsettled and, as Lottie attempted the tricky transition into piaffe, a moment of seeming miscommunication show a break in the movement. Ever the professional, Lottie was able to gather the powerful stallion back up and carry on with the test – but, with the piaffe being a double coefficient movement, the mistake would be expensive.
It was then into canter, which is Glammy’s forte, and the marks began to flow again. The two-time flying changes were superb – effortless yet expressive – with four of the seven judges awarding a nine. The one-time changes were also spectacular, as was the stallion’s showpiece extended canter, which always brings goosebumps to the onlooking crowd.
Yesterday, Lottie struggled to keep the consistent power in the canter pirouettes, so she put extra effort into getting the preparation right, which was rewarded with two very safe executions. As they came back into trot for the final effort, Lottie used all her expertise to get that tricky final piaffe and passage line as good as it could be and she did a sterling job, getting Glammy through the tour with scores around seven to eight per movement. A good halt and huge pats as a reward for Glammy brought their Special to an end. After the general impression mark, the final score was 75.289% which, at that stage in the competition, was enough to take the lead.
“I was really happy with him – the canter was amazing and much improved from yesterday in the Grand Prix. The pirouettes were really good, so that was a highlight for me, and the changes, especially the ones on the centre line – they were really, really cool to ride,” Lottie said.
“Unfortunately, a few miscommunications in the piaffe today, but it’s something to fix – we fixed the pirouettes already, so it's time to fix the piaffe for Sunday, but I’m really proud of him.
“The piaffe has been really good, much improved, and it was really, really good in the warm-up today, so it's just about getting the communication right in the test – we’ll fine-tune it a little bit and will be looking to improve it slightly for Sunday,” she explained.
Sunday’s Grand Prix Freestyle will be the debut of a new floorplan for the pairing, who are renowned for their well-produced music. All that Lottie would give away was that it has a flying theme to chime with Glammy’s flamboyant paces; “Yeah, we've got new music, a new floor plan. I'm really excited about it and it's all a bit of a secret, so it will be fun to ride on Sunday,” she teased.
Having ridden on day one of the Grand Prix team competition, yesterday could have been deemed a rest day for Becky Moody and her homebred Jagerbomb, who she jointly owns with Jo Cooper. However, there was the small matter of the medal lap of honour, which had the potential to spark ‘Bomb’ up and affect his way of going for today’s challenge.
However, such is the indomitable bond the two share, there was nothing but razor-sharp focus from the 11-year-old gelding and his charismatic rider. They entered the arena as if on springs, with a super, forward trot followed with a nailed halt which two judges awarded a nine. The double-scoring first half-pass earned plenty of eights and was followed by the first passage, which Becky rode with great bravery to earn every half mark possible. The second half-pass had a split second of miscommunication, which slightly impacted the marks, but they were soon back to a good flow of eights for the trot work.
Becky knows her horse so well and it was clear she knew exactly where to take a risk and where to ride for safety. The canter work was packed full of quality and harmony – huge reach in the half-passes, big and bold two-time changes, effortless one-time changes and a ground-eating extended canter reeled in scores of eight consistently. The centre line left and right pirouettes intersected with one-time changes were perhaps the highlight of the entire eight minutes, with a few nines added to the score.
A confident and secure final line of passage and piaffe ended with a square halt – and more nines – as the crowd erupted and the Union flags were waved merrily in appreciation. Such was the harmony and pleasing picture, they scooped more nines for the double factor general impression score, which boosted the final mark to 77.796% – not quite their personal best, but Becky and Bomb had delivered on their European individual debut and slotted into second with a handful of riders to go.
“As I said the other day, he took me a little bit by surprise in the Grand Prix because I expected him to be so much hotter than he was,” explained Becky. “Today, we didn't ride this morning – he's had a very chilled day – and a little more feed and no ear bonnet. So, we had a bit more go, which made life easier, but still not as much as I have when we’re at our peak. But yeah, overall, it was much better.
In response to the fact that today’s score was just a shade off their personal best, which came at CHIO Aachen earlier this year, Becky responded: “Yeah, not far off. In Aachen, I had a problem with my halts, but I was absolutely thrilled with the rest of the test, whereas here I know there were so many things that could still be better – the piaffe wasn't his best, the passage was okay but, again, I was just having to help him a little bit more. In my extended canter, because of what happened yesterday, I was just a little bit tentative. I know there's quite a few more marks in there, so to get today’s score, knowing that, I'm pleased.
“I think I still wanted a little bit more, but it's this constant thing about finding that balance, because we did still stand still and we did still walk okay,” she mused. “My goal and what I'm going to keep striving for is that I can get that ultimate energy that makes everything else feel top, but still keep his mind relaxed enough that he's happy enough to just go ‘Okay, we halt here and do it’.”
Carl Hester is open in saying it’s all about the team medal for him – helping Great Britian to a podium position is everything but an outstanding ride yesterday to finish best of the Brits must have given him a feeling he could be competitive for a podium place in today’s Grand Prix Special. The test has a large amount of work done on the outer area of the arena, unlike the Grand Prix, which doesn’t always suit his equine partner Fame, owned by Carl with Mette Dahl and Fiona Bigwood. However, Carl excels at riding this super technical test, so the omens were positive.
Fame and Carl warmed up well in the quiet of the indoor arena but – despite the increasingly heavy rain – the atmosphere in the main arena was buzzing as the competition reached its latter stages. In response, the sensitive stallion certainly grew in stature as the Carl circled him ahead of the bell to start. Fame was on his toes – Carl was going to have to call on his experience to get the best possible performance he could. Their entry was confident and impactful but, in the first trot half-pass, Carl couldn’t quite keep Fame as relaxed as is ideal, so tension crept in. Despite that, the score still averaged seven. The tour of extended trot and passage brought some better relaxation – and a nine form one judge – as the stallion began to settle into his task.
The walk section was marred with the return of some tension, which meant the stretch and overtrack wasn’t quite as good as it could have been, but once they picked up trot, it was back to scoring eights consistently. The two- and one-time changes might have been a riding masterclass, but the canter pirouette centre line was the next level with its rhythmical, tight, even circles. The final extended trot was forward and flowing, before collecting to come down the final tricky centreline. As is often the case, the maestro that is Carl finished with a flourish, showing great activity and control in the piaffe and passage to bring the test to an end with a halt, which scored five eights and two nines.
A mixture of eights and nines were justly awarded for the all-important general impression mark, giving a final tally of 76.383%. It wasn’t quite enough to take the lead, but left the duo in third with four of Europe’s elite still to come.
“It was better than yesterday, so I was happy with it,” was Carl’s summary. “There were no mistakes again in it, so another consistent test.
“In the beginning of the season, he's really fresh, but by the end he's just got very chilled and laid back about it. He's gone from this electric hot horse to just a really laidback character and I'm really pleased with how he goes in the arena. He has never, ever let me down and he still hasn't today, and he's been amazing again, so, I'm just very happy with his consistency.
“I did a little experiment today and took his ear cover off – that’s the first time I’ve ridden without one because I just thought if it gets wet, it's going to be horrible for him to have that. Understandably, he's always a little bit sharper without one on because he hears everything and he's quite reactive.
“I’ve been here long enough – I don't expect to win a medal. I just thought, you know, let it get as high as I can. I mean, if I'm fifth or sixth, he’s still done his bit for our team, and for me and Fiona and everybody else. So, I'm very happy with that!” he reflected.
Carl is being supported here in Crozet by his long-term friend, and Fame’s owner and previous rider, Fiona Bigwood. When asked what it means to have his friend out here, Carl replied: “Well, it's just lovely. We first rode on a team back in 1997, so we have known each other a long time and the fact that she handed him [Fame] over to me and asked me to ride him, that's just what a real friendship is. She trusts me, I trust her, I've had a wonderful, friendship and relationship with her and we're very honest. She can tell me exactly what she thinks when I'm riding and how much better it is or how much more I need to do.”
As it turned out, today’s podium came down to the final few combinations to head down the centre line. History was made today in Crozet, with Belgium taking their first ever dressage medal in the form of Justin Verboomen and Zonik Plus – a partnership that has been together since Justin bought the stallion at the age of two. Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle put up a strong challenge, but had to settle for second, while Isabell Werth and Wendy De Fontaine brought home another medal for Germany – her 25th European Championship medal, but her first individual bronze.
Our British trio all finished within the top nine, meaning that they’ll be back on Sunday to ride the Grand Prix Freestyle – which is open to the top 18 placings in the Special – and compete for the final set of medals on offer at this FEI Dressage European Championship.
Here’s confirmation of their final placings:
Tomorrow, all 18 horses that are qualified for the Grand Prix Freestyle will go before the ground jury again for a second horse inspection, in order to ensure that they’re fit to continue in the competition, which is followed by a draw to determine the order of go for Sunday’s climax.
All eyes will be on these combinations as they ride down the centre line one final time, showcasing bespoke floorplans set to music of their choice. Expect toe-tapping tunes, high scores and fierce competition as the best in Europe battle for glory and a place in history.
You can watch all the action live on FEI.TV, powered by ClipMyHorse.TV, with a subscription. All the start lists and results are available via World Sport Timing, and everything you need to know about the British squad and how the competition will progress is on our online Dressage Hub.