First appearance in Class S for Debutant PS

While his dam, Zantana, performed the best freestyle of her life to date in ‘s-Hertogenbosch to finish third in the World Cup, Debutant PS made his debut in the advanced class in Hanstedt. With 69.802 percent, the six-year-old Oldenburg stallion finished fourth in a highly competitive advanced (S*) level dressage test for seven to ten-year-old horses.

About Debutant PS

Debutant PS was born in Lewitz. With Marieke van der Putten, the dam Zantana by Zonik is currently the best horse flying the Dutch flag in international dressage sport. Paul Schockemöhle combined the dynamic movement of the dam with the proven rideability of Donnerhall by Depardieu on the sire’s side. The result of the mating already made a name for itself as Oldenburg State Champion as a three-year-old and took fourth place in the Bundeschampionat final.

As a four-year-old, Debutant PS was mainly concerned with covering. In 2023, he recommended himself for the Bundeschampionat with Dries van Dyck, finishing third in the final qualifier and 14th in the final. As a six-year-old, the stallion competed again in Warendorf, this time finishing eighth.

In May last year, it was announced that the sport rights for the talented bay stallion had been sold to the Oatley family, while the breeding rights are still reserved for Paul Schockemöhle, who offers TG semen by the stallion. From his first crop, Debutant PS produced the champion stallion of the Mecklenburg licensing days with Donation PS.

Since changing stables, the stallion had gone quiet in sporting terms. He did not compete in 2025. Rose Oatley only presented the stallion at the inspection for the World Championships for seven-year-old dressage horses. His talent was obvious – but also that it would take time for him and his rider to become a team.

Fourth place despite slip-ups

In the meantime, the two seem to have become quite good friends. They missed the opportunity to make a good first impression in the first greeting line-up. But then they really scored points in the trot tour. They even received a 9 for the shoulder-in on the right. There is still room for improvement in walk and canter, for example in the pirouettes, where the stallion only received scores between 6.0 and 7.0, although he actually has great talent for collected work.

The winner with 71.587 percent was another promising youngster, the eight-year-old Oldenburg stallion Santos by Secret-Don Schufro, who was, as always, put in the limelight by Greta Heemsoth. Santos came seventh in the final of the 2023 Bundeschampionat for five-year-old dressage horses after qualifying with a strong 8.9. In Hanstedt, he not only won the advanced (S*) level test, but also the medium (M**) level test – the latter with 72.50 percent.

Behind him in the advanced (S*) class was the now ten-year-old former riding horse champion Damaschino under Tessa Frank (71.111). Rose Oatley’s fellow gold medal winner from the 2022 European Junior Championships, Carolina Miesner, came third with Simsala D (70.913).

Destacado now at Oatley Stables

Speaking of the Junior European Championships – Eurodressage has found out who will be taking over Matthias Alexander Rath’s squad horse Destacado. It is Ava Osing, who trains at the Oatleys’ stables just outside Hamburg and who already has a top-class stallion in her stable in the form of three-time World Championship dressage silver medal winner Vitalos. Osing got Vitalos after the stallion finished third in the 2024 Nuremberg Burg Pokal Final with Leonie Richter. She came second with him in the Preis der Besten, finished second in all three FEI tests in the CDIO Tour at the Future Champions and was then nominated for the European Junior Championships, where they also came second in the team test and thus played a major part in the team gold, but fell well short of their potential in the individual test and were unable to recommend themselves for the freestyle.

Since then, the pair had not competed at any competitions. However, Ava Osing placed in November with her partner from the Children days, the gelding Darjeeling by Don Darius, in a medium (M**) level dressage test. She also competed in Hanstedt. With the nine-year-old Oldenburg Ferdades, who she has had under saddle since 2024, she came fourth in the medium (M**) class, in which Greta Heemsoth won with Santos and came third with World Championship bronze medal winner Endorphin.

You can find all the results from Hanstedt here.