Clear victory for Katharina Hemmer and Denoix in the Grand Prix Special in Lier

The thumbs of national coach Monica Theodorescu and Hubertus Schmidt as Katharina Hemmer’s trainer and mentor went up when the European team champion gave her Denoix a grateful pat on the neck after the second salute of the Grand Prix Special in Lier. “Purzel” had once again given his all.

The pair managed a clear round, in which the wonderfully flowing left atraversal, the relaxed series changes jumped to the top and, above all, the overall picture of a contented, permeable horse were particularly convincing. There was still room for improvement today in the piaffe, which the gelding had already performed more clearly in the arena and in which he also tipped behind the vertical. In the left pirouette, it almost looked as if Katharina Hemmer wanted to start a zig-zag traversal instead of a pirouette. She was able to correct this, but the pirouette turned out big.

The judges gave them both 75.596 percent. They were all ranked first, albeit with very different scores ranging from 72.872 percent for the Dutch rider Francis Verbeek-Van Rooij at C to 77.447 percent for Maria Colliander (FIN) at B.

Valencia in top form

Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier had only used her now 15-year-old Vitalis daughter Valencia AS very sparingly at five CDIs in 2025, most recently at the World Cup stage in Stuttgart. The chestnut mare already showed yesterday in the Grand Prix that she has come through the winter well. Today she went one better in the Special. The task with the many passage jumps was made for her. This is where her accentuated movement really comes into its own, she can score points and she did just that today.

Overall, the pair from Paderborn gave a very concentrated performance, which was rewarded with 70.298 percent. The only technical mistake occurred at the start of the one-leg change, when Valencia included an unplanned jump with both hind legs, but then jumped the one-legs as if nothing had happened. Overall, we would have liked to see the neck as the highest point in the canter.

Third place for Lisa Müller and Zonik Hit

Lisa Müller was delighted with third place with her 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding Zonik Hit. Müller had taken over the Zonik son after the European Championships in Riesenbeck in 2023, where the black stallion made his championship debut for Portugal with his trainer João Pedro Moreira. Since then, they have made several appearances at competitions, but Lier was also their first CDI outing since Stuttgart.

They showed a safe test, which was initially characterized by good balance in the trot tour. Until the second passage recapitulation F-A-K on the right hand, where the gelding suddenly stepped farther forward on the right than on the left. However, he then caught himself again. The piaffe seemed a little dull, the walk bound. But in the canter, the pair scored points with beautiful series changes and pirouettes. Overall, we would have liked to see fewer curb reins and more snaffle reins. The judges awarded them 69.787 percent.

The model student

This meant that Müller and Zonik Hit had exactly one point more than the Louisdor Prize winners from 2024, Carina Harnisch and Sheldon Cooper. The imposing Sezuan son didn’t quite follow through evenly on the first diagonal in the strong trot, but presented himself wonderfully stable in the contact and lateral pattern and showed, for example, very beautiful traversals and safe and precisely executed transitions between the accentuated and diligent passages and good reinforcement, which were now also regular again. The piaffe also went well.

The eleven-year-old gelding was then supposed to canter, seemed briefly out of concept and jumped to the side. However, Carina Harnisch quickly regained control of the situation and the two showed casual, dead-straight series changes with minimal aids and a very stable contact. The gelding lost his balance briefly once in each of the two pirouettes, saved himself once by moving forward and once by stopping briefly. But all in all, this was once again a very nice round in which the scale of the training came into its own. In the truest sense of the word.

The judges awarded 69.745 percent – which seems low in comparison despite the faults. In fact, the judges’ scores ranged from 2 (Frederico Pinteus for H/70.851 and Christine Prip for M/71.489) to 7 (Maria Colliander for B, 68.723).

Münster twice

Annabel Balkenhol and her Hohenstein son High Five were delighted with fifth place. The 15-year-old gelding, who was bred in the Ahlmann family’s Holstein show jumping stable from the only dressage mare there, once again impressed with his solid basic training, with which he scored particularly well in the canter. A costly mistake in the one-tempi changes and a misunderstanding at the start of the first piaffe – which otherwise went very well – meant a final score of 69.447 percent today.

The second pair from Münster were Ingrid Klimke and Vayron. The pair began with a strong trot tour in which the score trended towards 76 percent. The walk was also good. However, Vayron had to muck out right at the start of the first piaffe. Everything went well in the canter until the strong canter. In the walk back, the Vitalis son suddenly blocked considerably and no longer wanted to come up to the hand. Tongue pulled up? Tongue over the bit? In any case, Vayron crept behind the reins as things progressed. This led to problems and ultimately to a final score of 68.659 percent, which meant that the pair were “one out” of the placings.

You can find all the results here.