Sunday, 31 August 2025
The glorious French sunshine returned for the final day of the FEI Dressage European Championship 2025 in Crozet, where the medals for the crowd-favourite Grand Prix Freestyle, were to be decided. Eighteen of Europe’s best horse and rider combinations came forward to do battle in the scenic main arena at Jiva Hill Stables, set in the foothills of the Alps, with Mont Blanc towering as a backdrop.
Three of the British Equestrian dressage team, in partnership with Agria, had qualified for today’s finale and it was the duo who led Britain to the team silver on Thursday who were up first – Carl Hester, riding in his 13th European Championships, with his own, Mette Dahl and Fiona Bigwood’s Fame. Directly after were reigning Grand Prix Freestyle World Champion sLottie Fry and Glamourdale, owned by the rider and Van Olst Horses. Fourth last to go and right at the sharp end of the draw were Becky Moody and Jagerbomb, riding in their first ever European Championship Freestyle after finishing as the highest placed Brits in the Grand Prix Special on Friday.
After two masterful performances already this week, questions around Carl Hester’s enthusiasm for competing at championship level and speculation around his retirement were firmly pushed aside for today’s Freestyle. Whether or not this was to be their final test together, Carl would give it his all for the perky bay stallion Fame, who he shares with long term-friend Fiona Bigwood and her daughter Mette Dahl.
Carl opted to use the same floorplan he’d had made for Paris last year with its 9.9 degree of difficulty, which is cleverly choreographed to use Fame’s best attributes. A super square halt and quick salute to the judges led into clever half-pass in passage, followed by piaffe pirouettes in both directions – a real test of control and communication between horse and rider. Fame looked relaxed today, which showed in the extended walk, where Carl could really give the reins and let him stretch.
It was then into the canter work, where Carl showed off the horse’s training by demonstrating both ends of the canter spectrum, with a ground-covering extended canter condensing into a double pirouette for the ultimate collection. In the changes, there was slight miscommunication when attempting a line of two-time flying changes to single flying changes, but Carl quickly recovered. The canter half-passes again showed great athleticism and just how maneuverable Fame is. As they came down the centreline for a final time, the crowd began singing aloud to Mary Hopkins and ‘Those Were The Days’, clearly enjoying what they’d seen and wishing the final halt would never come. However, it did, followed by huge praise from rider to horse.
“It’s so beautiful having an arena where people are so close, but what happens is the horses get a little nervous. It’s incredibly loud in there,” declared Carl.
He went on to explain; “He’s so clever and so in tune with me – he felt fantastic to ride in the test. I had a few ‘old man’ mistakes, but they were my mistakes, not his, and he gave me a lovely ride. In the two-time changes, there were mistakes at the end because I thought I was running out of room and then I didn’t, so it was my own fault. A couple of errors, but he felt fantastic and he’s been fantastic all week. It’s a great way to finish with over 80%, so I’m going home very happy.”
Carl then reflected on his Crozet experience; “Thirteen may be unlucky for some, but it’s been lucky for me. All I could think of is getting through the 13th without anything going wrong! My team has been fantastic and amazing to be around – it’s nice to be part of such a ‘family’. Anyone joining the British team is lucky because of the people around us – everyone is so supportive,” he said.
And what next for his equine partner? “He [Fame] will definitely have a holiday now with Fiona!” he exclaimed. Let’s hope Carl follows suit after commitments at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials and the LeMieux British National Championships in the coming weeks.
After several teasing hints of a new floorplan and music, all with a ‘flying’ theme and a 10.0 degree of difficulty, there was huge anticipation ahead of Lottie and Glamourdale’s appearance. Added to that was the building atmosphere in the arena as the competition progressed, building it into a cauldron-like environment for the entry of the reigning world number one rider and her black stallion, owned by Van Olst Horses and the Yorkshire-born Lottie.
As the duo circled the arena, the tannoy announced “Welcome aboard Glamourdale Airlines…” and the excitement was palpable. However, as they started with passage half-pass, it became obvious that the music was overpoweringly loud and ‘Glammy’ could feel it, losing his rhythm and finding it hard to concentrate on his rider. Lottie kept her cool and knew she could recover some marks as long as she could restore the confidence and communication with her special partner.
Once their showpiece canter work was underway, things settled and the marks returned. The flying-themed music continued and Glammy channeled his inner Concorde in the extended canter and enormous two-time flying changes. The pairing has not quite hit form these championships in the canter pirouettes but, today, they put that right – a double canter pirouette to the right was certainly the best of the show. Lottie expertly showed the stallion’s amazing adjustability with clever two-time to one-time changes before a final halt, which was bang on the end of the music and another voiceover. A final score of 79.579% wasn’t perhaps the end to the championship Lottie wanted, but this is a freestyle packed full of potential and it will only take off from here.
“I think he was absolutely amazing today – he felt on fire! It’s a real shame because I definitely didn’t have the music that loud in the sound check. That wasn’t the idea, but we had to go with it – not really much choice there – but he was amazing and the Freestyle felt incredible,” said Lottie with mixed emotions. “I can’t blame him at all, he was piaffing and pirouetting in there in a way he hasn’t all week. I have to be very happy with him, it’s just a shame about the sound system.
“He was such a good boy. When it first went off, he got a bit of a shock and everything time it changed, he was a little nervous, but he loves it once he gets into it and we have a really, really great time. To be honest, he didn’t really make any big mistakes – the canter was all amazing, so he was still really concentrating, despite the noise. It suited him so well in there and was so nice to ride to.”
As is always the way when new music is debuted, there were lots of questions about the inspiration behind the choice of songs.
“We thought of a few songs that we really liked and realised that they all had this flying word in them, so we thought it would be really cool to have a theme of flying,” explained Lottie. “It hasn’t been done before, so it was something a bit different, and it’s nice to bring new ideas to the Freestyle. It makes everyone happy! It’s my voice that you can hear in there – I’m talking in the Freestyle. It’s something a bit different and it was really fun to ride. He seemed to really enjoy it, so I’m excited to ride it again.”
When asked if the aeronautical theme was a hint of her intentions to campaign Glamourdale for LA 2028, Lottie said: “You never know, but I’d love to do a few more championships with him. I think he’s in such great form and has a good few years still to come.”
And what’s next for the pair? Lottie elaborated: “I’m definitely going home happy after today. I think we’ve learned a lot from it, and I’m excited to bring him out again and iron out the mistakes. It wasn’t our first two days here and, unfortunately, it wasn’t again today, but I’m very happy with how he was today because I think that gave me a promising feeling. There was still plenty of energy.
“I haven’t really made any plans for him yet – we were going to see how he went here, then give him a bit of a break and let him have a holiday, then pick him back up and see how he’s feeling.”
Becky Moody is a Grand Prix Freestyle genius. Over the years, she’s pulled together some of the most toe-tapping and clever programmes, which have entertained crowds and impressed judges. With Jagerbomb, whom she co-owns with Jo Cooper, she wowed in Paris last year with their Tom Jones score, but Becky wanted more. At the London International Horse Show last year, she debuted a new Beatles medley and, while it didn’t quite come off that day, the duo has since honed it to perfection, so hopes were high.
Awarded a 10.0 degree of difficulty, the test starts with a bang – halt, straight into canter and a pirouette, followed by clever two-time canter flying changes on a circle and one-times on bending line. You must have supreme confidence in the security of your changes to pull it off, and Becky certainly does – after all, she’s produced ‘Bomb’ from day one. The test was like Beatles bingo, with many of their chart toppers supremely timed to the Bomb’s paces and moments. ‘Day Tripper’ rang out to huge, ground-covering extended trot, ‘Get By With a Little Help From My Friends’ over fluent passage, ‘Love Me Do’ amplified sweeping half-passes and ‘Here Comes The Sun’ beautifully set off the walk tour.
‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ provided the final hurrah, with a difficult final centreline incorporating a piaffe fan before a final halt, which brought the crowed to their feet. Becky was delighted – she and Bomb had given their all and the Jiva Hill audience loved the perfromance. Their score was confirmed as a whopping 86.982%, which wasn’t quite a personal best, but enough to go second behind the Queen of Freestyle, Germany’s Isabell Werth.
“I think, bit by bit, we’re getting a little more energy – but I still want a bit more!” laughed Becky, who’s had to content with a slightly more chilled Bomb than usual this week. “I still haven’t got that piaffe-passage that I know we can have, but it was a little bit of a risk – a lot of horses have been struggling with how loud it is, so I kept his ear cover on today. Maybe I should have taken them off? I don’t know, but I’m very pleased with him – he’s just so cool.
“We had a foolish rider error in the twos – I don’t think I was quite clear enough. They were lovely, he was feeling lovely and I was just a little too blasé. I was doing them over by the grandstand and I made the mistaken and you can still, over the music – and the music is loud – hear everyone gasp. Apart from that, though, I’m really pleased.
“I have to say, when I saw the start list, I thought it was very cool to be in amongst that very top group of riders. I’m super-proud of him. The scores are going the right way, and I just want to keep getting better – I know we have more there, which is cool. I still want to keep aiming towards that 80% in the straight test and even more in the music. It’s a constant journey and we’re all trying to get better all the time. There’s a lot of work still to do,” she finished wryly.
Her thoughts on the championship as a whole are overwhelmingly positive. “It's a beautiful venue and the show have been super-amazing at giving us everything that we’ve needed,” she said. “We’ve got a really lovely team, and I think that’s really shone through – we’ve had such a lovely time, we all get on really well and we’re all rooting for each other.”
When asked what was next on the cards for her and Bomb, Becky said: “I have to decide whether I’m going to serious campaign the World Cup series this year. I just did three shows last year and didn’t quite qualify, so I’d need to potentially put in another one, but then that does become quite a big commitment, especially with the final in the States. I will definitely do London – I love that show, it’s amazing – but, other than that, I need to make some decisions. I’ll definitely be campaigning for the World Championships next year, though.”
The final Freestyle podium was a mirror image of Friday’s Grand Prix Special. Belgium’s Justin Verboomen earned himself a place in the sporting history books yesterday as their first ever dressage medallist and, today, he matched that with Freestyle gold. Riding the supremely talented Zonik Plus, who’s just nine years old, he produced a sublime freestyle. While it may have the lacked huge musicality of some, it was technically beyond everyone to score 89.964%. Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle did everything they could for a test packed full of difficulty and harmony, but had for to settle silver , while Isabell Werth and Wendy De Fontaine brought home European Championship medal for number 55 for Germany – Isabell’s 26th European Championship medal.
Our British trio all finished within the top ten, with Becky achingly close to a medal on her FEI Dressage European Championship debut in fourth, while Carl rounded out in sixth place and Lottie was 10th in one of the fiercest Freestyle battles seen for many years.
Here’s confirmation of their final placings:
The FEI European Dressage Championship 2025 made history this week. It was the first time France has hosted the event and the team at Jiva Hill Stables spectacularly rose to the task with limited notice after the original venue pulled out. Belgium, meanwhile, earned their first ever dressage championship medals – and two golds at that. Thanks to the organisers, officials, sponsors, fans and, of course, the athletes – equine and human – for a memorable chapter in the dressage story.
The next installment in this summer’s series of FEI European Championships follows hot on Crozet’s heels. We travel some 900km north to Ermelo in the Netherlands, where Europe’s elite para dressage stars will go head-to-head for team, individual and freestyle medals across five grades. Follow the British team via our digital channels from 3–7 September, while everything you need to know about the British combinations and how the competition will progress is on our online para dressage hub.