Dorothee Schneider Won the Grand Prix and Free Skate in Schenefeld

Dorothee Schneider had already competed with her horse Vainqueur for the first time in a long while at the Anakenenhof in Pinneberg, where she won the Grand Prix. This weekend, they followed that up in Schenefeld. The 13-year-old Hanoverian stallion by Vivaldi won the Grand Prix with an impressive 76.133 percent after a confident performance with no major issues in the dressage movements. All three judges placed “Pepe” in first place.

Among those she beat was her stablemate Karlijn V., who scored 74.367 percent. The 11-year-old granddaughter of Totilas by Governor was competing in her first international Grand Prix season this year, and the Klövensteen Riding Stables in Schenefeld was set to be the venue for a special debut for her: her first freestyle. In the Grand Prix, they were certainly so confident in their movements that Schneider was able to tackle the debut.

There was certainly some stiff competition on site, including the Portuguese championship pair Nuno Palma e Santos and Fortunity. The Foundation son is sometimes capable of a surprise, but when he’s in a good mood and stays focused, no one can easily outdo him when it comes to piaffe and passage. He demonstrated that again this weekend. In the Grand Prix, he placed third with 72.433 percent, followed by Tessa Frank on the Holsteiner Casall daughter Lavaletta (71.033) and Juliane Brunkhorst on Fürst Enno (70.233).

Free Skate Debut for Karlijn V.

Last night, Karlijn’s first free skate was on the schedule. She’s brand new to this. Barry White provides the musical accompaniment with his classic “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything.” You could say: a successful debut! Karlijn won her first free skate with a whopping 79.583 percent, and she likely would have scored even higher had she immediately found the rhythm of the single changes on the curved line.

Riding instructor Schneider didn’t even enter Vainqueur in the competition this time. The silver ribbon went to Nuno Palma e Santos from Wedel, Portugal, and his 11-year-old Foundation son Fortunity S—for whom this was only their second freestyle routine, even though they had already danced to music for the first time in 2024. Back then in Redefin, they scored around 70 percent in the arena. Yesterday in Schenefeld, they managed to add nearly ten percent to that—taking second place with 79.417 percent.

Third place was a tie. Both Tessa Frank and Lavaletta, as well as Juliane Brunkhorst and Fürst Enno, had finished their routines with scores of 77.250 percent.

You can find all the results from Schenefeld here.