Becky Moody Makes Two Costly Mistakes in the Grand Prix for the Dressage Team Competition at the 2026 World Championships in Aachen, and More

4.3! A break into the first strong trot—that’s certainly not how Becky Moody, the second British team rider after Fiona Bigwood, had imagined the start of her ride with Jagerbomb. Yet the extended trots are actually one of the Dante Weltino son’s strongest exercises. The second one went much better (7.6), but it had to. It was only thanks to the first piaffe and, above all, the smooth transition into the passage that the score at least narrowly returned to the 70 percent range.

The silhouette of that massive brown horse in the second piaffe—amazing; do they say that in British English, too?

The double changes showed minimal fluctuation, as did the flying canter changes from jump to jump. But everything flowed beautifully, with only the tail moving slightly in the wind and the light summer breeze at the Aachen stadium. But then: another moment of uncertainty. As she rode out of the second pirouette, Jagerbomb threatened to lose her balance and rhythm. Becky Moody had to “counter-steer” with her hand held wide (6.9).

The final piaffe on the center line was once again one of those “Jagerbomb” moments. No spectacular lifting of the legs, but rather the hindquarters lowered, the rhythm controlled as if by a metronome, and a smooth transition into the passage.

Thanks to generous 75-percent scores from the judges in the K category (Michael Osinski, USA, 75.761 percent) and the M category (Ulrike Nivelle, GER, 75.00), Becky Moody took the provisional lead with a margin of 0.482 percent—until Frederic Wandres took the arena.

“It wasn’t our best round, but there were a lot of positives, too,” said Becky Moody after her ride. “He was a little nervous given the stadium atmosphere,” said the reigning World Cup champion. “And then he lost his balance in the strong trot.” (JT)

Still, Moody’s result was enough to put the British team in second place for now—ahead of Australia, where Simone Pearce had put in a strong performance today.

And Denmark?

The second pair for the defending Danish champions was one of the most experienced: Carina Cassøe Krüth and Heiline’s Danciera. In 2019, the 15-year-old Princes’ Ball-Her daughter competed in her first international Grand Prix. And it has to be said: You could really see that today. The once-radiant and supple black mare looked lackluster and was at times not quite consistent in her extensions. She was then able to make up some points in the canter sequence. Her final score was 72.174 percent. That was enough to finish just ahead of her teammate Nadja Aaboe Sloth to qualify, but not to keep Denmark in medal contention. The team is currently in fifth place—though, of course, everything is still up in the air at this point.

Belgian destinations …

Belgium has never won a team medal in dressage at a championship. But until last year, the same was true for the individual competition and World Cup stages—until first Justin Verboomen and Zonik Plus became double European champions in Crozet, and then Larissa Pauluis Neumünster World Cup Stop took the win. With these two pairs leading the way, Belgium’s goal should be clear: to finish in the top six and thereby qualify for the 2028 Olympics. The team is currently far from that goal—though that could certainly change tomorrow. But today, the Belgian results were mixed—Jeroen Devroe and the ten-year-old KWPN gelding Lestor were the first pair to deliver a performance scoring 69.690 percent, which is roughly in line with their previous results (although they had previously scored over 70 percent in the Grand Prix of Hagen).

The situation was different for Wim Verwimp and his half-Lusitano Jedai de Massa (one of three horses from this breeding line competing in Aachen). The 12-year-old son of Don Juan de Hus had scored 72.239 percent at the CHIO Rotterdam, his last competition before Aachen. The pair were unable to replicate that form today. They had some great moments, especially in the piaffe and passage, but made too many mistakes. With a score of 68.121 percent, this will likely be their discarded result. In the team standings, Belgium is currently in tenth place.

Therese Nilshagens Navarro – Growing in Confidence

One horse that has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season is the ten-year-old black stallion Navarro, ridden by Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen. The Hanoverian son of Negro performed well again today—though he showed some issues with his mouth, particularly during the trot sequence. Every now and then, his mouth was noticeably open, and he stumbled in the walk. However, this improved during the canter sequence, where he still had some real highlights, such as the zigzag half-passes. Navarro lost his balance in the left pirouette, but the one to the right was much better and revealed considerable potential. In the piaffes, the black horse still lags behind with his forehand and his base is too narrow. However, he piaffes diagonally in time and enters and exits the piaffe smoothly. In the passage, his hocks need to work more clearly beneath his center of gravity over the long term. But these are nuances that the pair can refine over the next few years. The foundation is solid. With a score of 72.376 percent, the pair finished just behind Australia’s Simone Pearce on Will Marq, moving Sweden up to fourth place in the interim standings.

Mr. Magnum – A Horse with a Promising Future for the Netherlands

The KWPN stallion Hexagons Mr. Magnum N.O.P.T., presented by Thamar Zweistra for the Netherlands, is only nine years old. Two years ago, the son of Expression placed fifth in the final of the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses. This is his first Grand Prix season.

The pair got off to a wonderful start—the stallion was light on his feet, full of momentum, looked beautiful from the side, and was lightly in contact. He traversed smoothly to the right, turned with ease, and continued with the same rhythm into a forward-sideways movement to the left. That is, until Mr. Magnum spotted something just before reaching the track, causing him to flinch briefly to the side. But he was quickly corrected. The piaffe-passage sequence also got off to a good start and showed great promise for the future. Today, the stallion’s piaffe wasn’t quite relaxed yet. But that’s likely just a matter of increasing strength. The problems began with the canter sequence, where the mistakes piled up—alternating between canter and trot when coming out of the extended canter, flying changes that didn’t work, and zigzag half-passes, which still seemed to overwhelm the stallion at this point.

It only reached 65.342 percent. But there’s likely room for much more in the future.

You can find all the results for the individual and team standings here.