Dressage World Cup stage Mechelen

Pauluis and her 15-year-old KWPN gelding Flambeau piaffe and passenger to an 80s medley with songs by Eurythmics and U2 to win the World Cup freestyle in Mechelen. 82.975 marked a new personal best for the Paris 2024 Olympic pair, who were also part of the team that took a sensational fourth place at the European Championships in Crozet in the summer. They also competed at the World Cup Final in Basel, where they came eighth with a score of 77.470 percent.

So there is a small world between Basel and Mechelen in terms of marks. The Ampere son performed faultlessly in front of the – sold-out – home crowd, fresh and with highlights in the elastic, diligent piaffe-passage-reprises. However, one wished for a less high and tight neck setting overall.

Larissa Pauluis was delighted even before the scores were announced, and the spectators were delighted with her. They knew it was a ride for a Personal Best, which the scores confirmed. Pauluis would never have believed that six years earlier.

“It has always been a dream for me to win in Mechelen. The support from the crowd was incredible, the atmosphere during the freestyle was wonderful. Flambeau is constantly developing. He started his career as a show jumper and only became a dressage horse at the age of nine, so we are still improving. It hasn’t always been easy with him, but there are no limits when it comes to quality. Today he danced with me. We are still discovering new buttons and possibilities.”

Verboomen and Djembe de Hus inspire

European champion Justin Verboomen also has an emotional connection to the tournament in Mechelen. Zonik Plus’ star rose here last year. When the pair sensationally finished second in the World Cup freestyle behind World Championship bronze medallists Dinja van Liere and Hermès, any dressage fan will have recognized that a special partnership was developing. At the same time, this was the last tournament that his mother witnessed. On the sidelines of the Frankfurt Festhalle tournament, Verboomen said that he was almost a little sad when Isabell Werth called to ask if he wanted to take part in the Top 12 Final. Because he knew he couldn’t expect his nine-year-old Zonik Plus to compete in Frankfurt and then Mechelen a week later. But fortunately, Verboomen has had a second Grand Prix horse in his stable since May 2025, the Oldenburg Djembe de Hus. He wanted to ask the organizers in Mechelen if he could ride him instead of Zonik Plus in the World Cup tour, Verboomen had explained in Frankfurt. He was allowed to.

That was lucky for everyone involved, because what Justin Verboomen showed in the Grand Prix with Djembe de Hus, also only ten years old, was dressage riding at its best. Much was similar to Zonik Plus: the horse’s confident self-carriage, the fine contact, the effortlessness in piaffe, passages and transitions, the fantastic pirouettes, but above all the harmony, the satisfaction and the trusting and willing cooperation that the gelding showed, made possible by exemplary fine, discreet and yet efficient aids.

Djembe de Hus is a completely different horse, much less present than Zonik Plus, less self-confident, less macho. Accordingly, Verboomen had also chosen quiet, restrained freestyle music for him. The main motif was Beethoven’s Claire de Lune. It fitted perfectly. It was the gelding’s first international freestyle ever. The unfamiliar lines, which can sometimes throw other young horses off their stride, were no problem for him. He allowed himself to be guided by his dance partner and gained confidence in his task from minute to minute. Until he came to a halt for the second salute and thunderous applause broke out. He took a startled leap forward. Verboomen didn’t even try to keep up with him. He channeled his flight instinct only slightly and stroked his neck again and again until Djembe de Hus had calmed down.

They received 82.450 percent. Two judges had them in first place. They still came second behind Pauluis. But that didn’t matter at the time. This ride was a great dressage moment. If all horses were presented like this, the opponents of equestrian sport would no longer have any arguments.

About Djembe de Hus

The ten-year-old Djembe de Hus is an Oldenburg son of Damon Hill. He was born in France at Xavier Marie’s Haras de Hus and was trained by Olympic rider Jessica Michel Botton, who is responsible for the dressage division at the stud. They won the French equivalent of the Bundeschampionat twice. In 2021, they were finalists at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses.

In 2022/23, Djembe de Hus stood in Germany and was presented by Marcus Hermes at several shows. With him, the gelding made the leap from advanced (S*) to advanced (S***) level and took his first Intermédiaire II victory.

In the meantime, Xavier Marie had made it public that he wanted to part with his stud farm. Some of the horses were sold at auction. Djembe de Hus was also to be sold. Xavier Marie gave him to his Belgian compatriot Alizée Froment, who, however, never presented him at a show. He then went to Justin Verboomen in May, as Eurodressage reported at the time. The pair made their show debut at the beginning of October in Troisdorf, where they won the Grand Prix and Special with 73.782 and 73.107 percent respectively. Mechelen was their second international appearance. The chestnut is still for sale, Verboomen explained in an interview with the French website Grand Prix.

Two third places for the “Labrador”

Düsseldorf-based Portuguese rider Joao Pedro Moreira and his ten-year-old Oldenburg stallion Fürst Kennedy have known each other much longer than the pair in second place. Moreira acquired the Fürstenball son, who was bred in Lewitz, as a two-and-a-half-year-old and trained him. The pair competed at national championships and world championships for young dressage horses. The black stallion had been on everyone’s radar at least since her fourth place at the World Championships for seven-year-olds in 2022. Two years later, he was seen again as a Grand Prix horse.

He was due to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But the day before, he developed such severe colic that he had to be taken to hospital and operated on immediately. In March, he was back in business in Herning, won the Grand Prix and Special at the Whitsun show in Wiesbaden and made his championship debut in Crozet. The pair qualified for the freestyle final at the first attempt. Mechelen was their first show after the European Championships and they came back with a personal best of 79.280 percent in the Grand Prix. They would probably have scored even more points if Moreira had managed to keep the stallion more consistently in front of the aids and therefore more open in the poll and longer in the neck.

Moreira was more than satisfied with this end to the season: “This time last year we had just been able to trot lightly under saddle again. Kennedy has recovered incredibly well. To be here now and finish the 2025 season like this is a privilege. I’m so proud of him, he’s very special and always does his best for me.”

What is special about the stallion is that he doesn’t like it when his humans leave him alone, Moreira revealed. “He’s like a Labrador. Or a teddy bear. At the show, we only leave his box to eat and sleep.”

Dutch hopefuls

Two pairs from the Netherlands made their World Cup debut in Mechelen: Marieke van der Putten on the eleven-year-old Oldenburg mare Zantana RS2 OLD and Emmelie Scholtens on the ten-year-old KWPN stallion Kyton.

However, the former was already in the team at the European Championships in Crozet this year. There, the mare appeared to be very excited and tense. The performance in Mechelen was not without tension either. At the same time, the Lewitz-bred Zonik daughter out of Sondra by Sir Donnerhall, a half-sister to Edward Gal’s Olympic horse Total U.S., among others, showed tremendous athleticism and a lot of talent in all the lessons. In Mechelen, she was the antithesis of Djembe de Hus, so to speak – the mare’s presentation was spectacular, but not relaxed; the gelding was spectacular precisely because he was shown so real and relaxed. The judges awarded Zantana’s performance 76.605 percent, fifth place.

Emmelie Scholtens and the imposing Ferguson son Kyton made costly mistakes in the Grand Prix and finished last. Things went much better for the pair in the freestyle. The highlight of the beautiful dark chestnut is the passage. In the piaffe, one wished that he would spring the load away from the ground better instead of just pulling up his limbs and in the reinforcement he should work more under the center of gravity. The suspension phase could also be more pronounced in canter. On the other hand, this makes it easier for the stallion in the pirouettes, which went quite well, whereas the single changes were still problematic. All in all, the pair scored 76.005 percent and finished in seventh place. The technical ratings ranged from 67.750 to 72 percent.

Farewell to Botticelli

Directly behind Emmelie Scholtens and ahead of the only German starter, Ingrid Klimke with her Fürstenball daughter First Class, was Belgium’s Charlotte Defalque on Botticelli. Mechelen was particularly emotional for the 30-year-old, as it was the last appearance with her 19-year-old Vivaldi son.

The pair competed internationally for 13 years, working their way up from the junior camp to senior championships, from medium to Grand Prix level. They represented Belgium six times at the European Championships in the junior, young rider, U25 and senior categories alone. In 2022, they took part in the World Championships in Herning.

In his last performance, the chestnut presented himself fresh and lively and was awarded 75.475 percent, eighth place. Immediately after the ride, there were flowers for the rider and an apple for Botticelli as well as standing ovations for both of them. A beautiful farewell for this special horse, probably a difficult one for his rider.

World Cup ranking

Mechelen marks the halfway point of the 2025/26 World Cup season. It was the fifth of ten stages. Raphael Netz currently leads the standings with 48 points. Larissa Pauluis is behind him with 47 points. Fie Skarsoe (LUX) follows in third place.

The nine riders with the most points from the Western European League will qualify for the final from April 8-12 in Fort Worth, Texas. However, only three riders per nation are allowed to take part. In the past, this has often meant that the fourth-best German rider was unable to compete, even though he was one of the top nine. Now Raphael Netz is the only one who is even eligible. However, Moritz Treffinger, in tenth place, still has a good chance of slipping into the top nine.