A hot mare, extra strides and surprises: full analysis of the horse swap class at the Dutch Masters

Last night’s horse swap class in ’s-Hertogenbosch was a fascinating showcase of horsemanship and skill from four of the world’s top riders.

Named the HeadFirst Group Prize – Best of Champions, the contest re-created the format previously used in the final of the World Championships. Each rider popped round the 1.45/1.50m course on their own horse, before swapping mounts and all jumping each other’s.

The riders had three minutes to warm up each horse in the main arena, with an upright and a spread fence available, and 2014 world champion Jeroen Dubbledam and Harrie Smolders provided commentary and interviewed the competitors between rounds.

The class was won by home side rider Willem Greve, with Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt second, Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann third and Dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten fourth.

All four horses went well for every pilot, in a positive showcase for the sport, and the top three riders were tied on four faults after the horse swap section so they had to jump off on their own horses against the clock.

Read on for our horse-by-horse analysis and what the riders said…

Hadewyn Van’t Ravennest

Willem kicked off the horse swap class by jumping Isabel de Rijjcker’s bay 10-year-old mare Hadewyn Van’t Ravennest, a horse he has been riding since the start of this year. The mare knocked the front bar off the oxer out of the double at fence 6b.

“The course is not very easy, it’s light, it’s technical,” said Jeroen. “Let’s see what the rest do, but of course it’s a little painful when you have one down with your own horse – you don’t want that to happen.”

Harrie said that Hadewyn looked comfortable and he expected her to jump clear rounds in the next performances, but she actually faulted in the same line with Philipp and Henrik, taking down the white plank at fence seven, five strides after the double, with both riders.

Philipp explained: “I watched Willem go – he came a bit long and open to the combination and it got a bit short for him. I tried to give her the room she needed in the combination, but it meant I had to squeeze a bit to the oxer out, which made the five strides a bit short. It wasn’t so smooth, that’s why I had the plank down.”

Henrik watched Philipp and said: “I tried to help her with the plank and maybe tried to help her too much and disturbed her instead. I should have trusted her quality and maybe she’d have jumped it better.”

The crowd murmured approval when Hadewyn cleared this line with Maikel, who jumped a clear round with the mare.

Willem said: “My horse was a bit fresh – she jumped best in the last round with Maikel. She gets a bit tense and she doesn’t know this ring but she handled it well.”

Cupido 130

This nine-year-old was bred by his owner, Madeleine Winter-Schulze, and is relatively inexperienced. He was put into the contest by Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt, but the European individual silver medallist had never ridden him in an international competition before last night; he has been competed by his colleagues from Ludger Beerbaum’s Riesenbeck stable, including Ludger himself.

Willem admitted that he was surprised by how Cupido felt compared to his appearance: “The first impression of Cupido was a big horse and a bit slow, you didn’t expect him to have such a quick reflex – the feeling was very comfortable and careful.”

The chestnut was not an extravagant jumper, but proved extremely neat, conscientious and careful. He also gave good rideability to every pilot and jumped four clear rounds, earning himself one of the two “best horse” sashes.

Philipp was asked whether he wanted Cupido to go clear with his final rider, Willem, or not as it would be better for him in terms of the competition if Willem faulted.

“If he’s clear he’s the best horse of the four here – and that makes me as proud as winning as a rider,” said the German.

There was some good-natured ribbing about the fact Henrik – a former Riesenbeck rider – generally now rides horses with more blood than Cupido and whether he would remember how to pilot an “old-fashioned German horse”, but the world number one showed his skill and adaptability.

Philipp said: “You could see Henrik doesn’t know the horse and he was giving him more room [in front of the fences]. The horse was a bit shy at the first two or three jumps. He felt immediately that he prefers a deeper distance because he’s very careful, so he adjusted to that and gave him a perfect ride after the first couple of jumps.”

Jeroen added: “Three minutes is too short a time to change the horse – that would not be clever to do – so in this situation you want to try to work with the horse, go with the flow, make life easy for the horse, not put too much of your own stamp on the whole thing. It’s really about feeling, feeling what is necessary to do in this moment.”

Calizi

Dufour Stables AG’s 12-year-old mare was the most experienced horse in the horse swap class and has a long-term partnership with Henrik, but she also proved the trickiest ride of the four horses. It was obvious from her initial round with the Swede that she is a very keen mare.

Henrik added an eighth stride in the line from fence two to three and explained that this was a tactical decision.

“She can do the seven strides but she touched fence one and was a bit on the forward one, so I wanted to make sure she waited for me and keep her calm,” he said. “She is always a horse that is more relaxed if you take one more stride at the beginning of the course rather than trying to be a bit long.

“She is usually a bit excited in the first round and then gets less excited, so I think she’ll get better and better.”

Calizi’s next rider was Maikel and though he repeated the eight-stride line from fence two to three, they did not prove a match made in heaven; they had the upright at 4b and the final fence down.

Henrik said: “She’s not an easy horse in that you need to know her a little bit. She’s so sensitive, if you squeeze a little too much in the wrong moment, she really goes forward. Maybe Maikel should have stayed upright a little more and not gone too early [with his body before the fences]. You have to do it with your seat and body as she’s very sensitive to your legs and hand.”

Willem was up next and when he approached the upright in the warm-up and Calizi sped up, he brought her quietly back to walk and turned away before re-approaching. He also spent a little time in the warm-up standing still, stroking the mare and letting her look around.

The Dutch rider also copied Henrik’s eight strides from fences two to three and although the mare still looked feisty at times, the pair went clear.

“Willem did it perfectly and you can see she gets more calm the more rounds she does,” said Henrik.

Final rider Philipp also piloted Calizi to a clear, repeating the eight strides between fences two and three – although he admitted it nearly didn’t come off.

“She was waiting so well I was too far off and had to squeeze a bit. I said to myself not to make the same mistake as Maikel – sit quiet and don’t move – and the feeling was actually very nice,” he said.

Willem said: “I knew Calizi was hot, but she’s very hot! She was a challenge, but you can feel that she has enormous motivation and drive.”

Lalique

Maikel and his father Eric bred this beautiful nine-year-old mare, owned by Gabriela Roger Ibars of Spain, who previously competed with her. Maikel has been jumping Lalique internationally since the end of 2023.

Lalique equalled Cupido and also received a “best horse” sash as she jumped four smooth clear rounds. She looks like a very gentle mare to ride, with a soft mouth, and was clearly trying hard for all four jockeys in the horse swap class.

Philipp, who was Lalique’s third rider in the horse swap class, added a stride between fences two and three.

“It wasn’t planned, but you have to have plan A and B,” he said. “I was a bit deep, whereas Willem was a bit far off, and the horse was getting a bit scared so I thought I’d give her confidence and add one. Then she almost got a bit too careful in the combination at four – I didn’t know how much leg Maikel was using, so I didn’t squeeze too much – then we got the confidence back at the end. She’s a very nice horse.”

Henrik summed up: “She’s a horse I’d really like to have in my stable – she has a lot of quality and is very careful. It was quite easy on this one and that’s always nice.”

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