Pommery Look Wins the 2026 National Championship for Four-Year-Old Mares and Geldings

Even during the qualifiers for the National Championship for four-year-old mares and geldings, the Oldenburg mare Pommery Look OLD—from Christine Arns-Krogmann’s successful breeding program—had taken the lead. And today, too, the mare, ridden by her trainer Alina Schneider, was the horse that led the victory lap.

Pommery Look is a daughter of Florida TN. Her Sir Donnerhall dam represents the second successful Arns-Krogmann bloodline—alongside that of Weihegold—namely that of the Anglo-Arabian mare Primera X by Inshallah AA. Pommery Look cannot deny her noble bloodline. She is a slender ballerina, and that is exactly how she moves—light on her feet and graceful. Alina Schneider masterfully knew how to showcase exactly that in today’s Class A dressage test.

Pommery Look didn’t seem overwhelmed by the challenge of having to complete the test alone in the arena. Schneider rode her without having to urge her on. She was able to maintain soft contact and follow the rein. Combined with the engaged hind leg, the result was a head-and-neck carriage exactly as one would hope for in a four-year-old horse. The transitions were smooth through the body and well-balanced. The extension when allowing the reins to hang loose was nothing short of exemplary. One criticism: In the trot, the front hooves do not land where they are pointing.

Commentary

Katrin Burger provided the commentary for the judges. The Grand Prix trainer explained:

“A very light-footed, very springy trot. The horse moves uphill with the suppleness of a bird on down. The extension is also beautifully even, and the rider is not pushing the horse beyond its capabilities at this pace; rather, she is asking only what the four-year-old is capable of. Overall, a very good trot, 9.0.”

In the walk, Burger praised the clearly defined, even rhythm and the relaxed movement over the back, the willingness to stretch, and the “good to very good stride and reach”—8.7.

As for the uphill canter work, which was already very collected—it even earned a 9.5. And regarding responsiveness, the judge noted: “As for rideability, the horse is already well-trained and well-aligned.” At the start, it was perhaps still a tiny bit uncertain in its contact, but that resolved itself after the first lap. The horse found inner suppleness with very good contact, a calm mouth, chewing steadily throughout, working very confidently over its back, and very well-executed transitions—9.0.”

Combined with the overall impression of a horse “with a lot of potential” (9.2), this resulted in a final score of 9.08. That was enough to win the title.

Silver for “Spezialeffekt

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. Second place also remained unchanged from the qualifiers. Thomas Schulze rode the Westphalian mare with the beautiful name “Spezialeffekt,” a daughter of Segantini out of a Lemony’s Nicket dam. Both the sire and the maternal grandsire had previously won sashes at the Warendorf riding arena. Their daughter and granddaughter, respectively, now each has a silver medal.

Spezialeffekt may be on the smaller side, but when she moves, she comes into her own. Supple and energetic, she bounced her way uphill at a trot and a canter. At a trot, one might have hoped for just a bit more fluidity. When lengthening her stride on the diagonal, she seemed to struggle a bit with the first few strides, but then she found her forward momentum and began to work very well into the bit. Overall, Spezialeffekt also showed good contact for much of the test.

Her walk was diligent and steady, with exemplary extension on the rein. As she broke into a canter, she seemed to show a bit of tension; in any case, the mare swished her tail a few times during the canter. But she developed a very beautiful extended canter, the transitions were executed confidently, and when allowed to chew with the reins out of hand, the mare sought to extend her stride.

Comment by Katrin Burger

In the trot, Spezialeffekt received the highest score of all today with a 9.2. Katrin Burger: “A mare who impresses here with a great deal of dynamism and drive from her hind legs. In the trot, she is very clean and energetic, with a strong push from her hind legs. The mare is always in tune with the rider, displaying excellent foreleg mechanics. She develops a very confident extension of the trot, driven from the hind legs through the back and forward.”

In the step, the judges “might have liked to see a little more forward movement and extension” in addition to all the other positive attributes; 8.2.

Even at a gallop, Katrin Burger emphasized her energetic hind leg. To earn an even higher score than “8.6 today,” the judges would have liked to see even more reach and even more extension in the uphill phase.

In terms of responsiveness, the judges praised the mare’s willingness to cooperate. “A horse that always listens, is always diligent, and always tries to do everything right.” They also highlighted her smooth transitions as well as her ability to let the reins hang loosely from her mouth. She received a 9.0 in this category.

The 8.7 for overall impression was due not only to the mare’s talent, but also to the qualities already mentioned in the section on responsiveness: the mare’s attitude. “That’s something we riders can’t appreciate highly enough—when the horses deliver a performance like that here in this atmosphere as four-year-olds, you have to say, it’s truly impressive.” Expressed as scores: 8.7 for potential, 8.74 for the overall package.

Two Fair Deal

Horses

Fair

Deal

by Franklin, based at the Moritzburg State Stud, provided two finalists in the mares and geldings category: bronze medalist Fenya-Fae, ridden by her owner Laurien Martin, and fourth-place finisher Fair Game, ridden by Mette Sejbjerg Jensen for Helgstrand Dressage.

The bronze medalist is a DSP mare out of a Millennium dam, bred by Dirk Schmidt. Millennium has clearly left a strong visual mark on her, as Fenya-Fae is built with such noble grace. Laurien Martin had already presented her very carefully and sensitively during the qualifiers. She succeeded in doing so again today. The mare is also the “prima ballerina” type, moving light-footed with great elasticity.

To earn scores even higher than 8.2 (trot), 8.3 (walk), 8.5 (canter), 8.0 (responsiveness), and 8.4 (overall impression), the judges would have liked to see an even more energetic push-off from the hind leg in the trot. They also noted that the mare occasionally showed a slight bias to the right. In the canter, too, collection and extension were areas of concern. The bias to the right also affected her suppleness. In addition, the support provided by her hindquarters needs improvement.

Fair Game

Fair Game, a Hanoverian out of an Escolar dam, trained by Ingo Könemann and owned by Helgstrand Dressage, is certainly one of the best horses in this final in terms of the quality of his basic gaits, with a very powerful, accentuated movement pattern and plenty of action in the trot (8.8), a regular walk that could use a bit more reach and stride (8.5), and a truly springy, uphill canter (8.7).

However, both riders had trouble getting into the canter on both leads today, and on the left lead, the gelding slipped back into a cross-canter. Tension mounted, and Sejbjerg Jensen rode another circle to regain control of the gelding, which resulted in additional point deductions. He received a 7.7 for responsiveness and an 8.5 for overall impression.

Combined with the 0.2-point deduction for the extra round, this resulted in a final score of 8.24 and fourth place for Fair Game.

Be My Sunshine, No. 8

Last year’s champion and third-place finisher in the qualifiers—everyone was eager to see if the Westphalian mare Be My Sunshine by Benicio out of For Dance, ridden by her breeder and owner Christiane Ulmker, would win a medal again this year.

The mare displayed a textbook-perfect side view while trotting, but at times seemed a bit distracted and therefore wasn’t always perfectly balanced. She hardly showed any tendency to chew on the reins today. At a walk, Be my Sunshine looked around with interest, raising her head slightly as she did so. But she also had some truly great moments, especially at a gallop, and the entire parade along the center line at the end was yet another highlight.

There was loud applause, but the judges were only moderately impressed by the mare today. They praised her suppleness and relaxation, as well as her responsive contact. However, they would have liked to see more drive from the hind legs through the back into the uphill movement, more forward momentum, and they noted a tendency to lean to the right.

The trot received a 7.8, the walk a 7.6, the canter an 8.3, the responsiveness—where the crookedness and the need for improvement in the movement from back to front over the back were once again emphasized—a 7.8, and the overall impression an 8.0. This resulted in a final score of 7.9, placing him eighth out of eight finalists this year.

You can find all the results here.