Dressage-News

Patrik Kittel and Deja 5 celebrating their win in the Horses & Dreams CDI4* Int. 1 at Hagen, Germany. © 2013 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

HAGEN, Germany, April 18–Patrik Kittel has signed on to ride Deja 5 as his prospective mount for the 2016 Olympics and rode the mare to victory in Intermediate 1 Thursday, turning the tables on the German pair of Charlott-Maria Schürmann and Burlington that won the Prix t. Georges at Horses and Dreams CDI4*.

The Swedish Olympian and the nine-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare (Silvano x Donelle x Don Schufro) scored 72.211 per cent despite an error of course that looked like it might become two errors when he was given wrong directions to get back on track.

Charlott-Maria, a 20-year-old German college stiudent and her Burlington, were not far behind on 72.053 per cent for second after taking the Prix St. Georges Wednesday. Stefanie Palm of Austria and Royal Happiness 2 were third on 69.421 per cent.

For Patrik, whose 2012 London Olympic mount Watermill Scandic H.B.C. is 14 years old and will compete in the World Cup Final in Gothenberg, Sweden next week, the success with Deja in their first CDI and only their second show underscored that the agreement with the owner to aim for Rio de Janeiro Olympics was the right one.

Patrik was given the ride on Deja after the horse was successful as a young horse in Sweden and at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, Germany but had difficulty with the flying changes. The owner, Marie Harward, a Swedish breeder put the horse out in a field for six months then sent Deja to Patrik, who is based in Germany.

“It took almost a year to get changes back,” he told dressage-news.com, “then it clicked. She has the most amazing work attitude.

“I’ve never had a horse so supple. And she has an on-off button that works more quickly than any horse I’ve ever had.”She does not need to be worked much, explaining that they started working 10 days before this competition that is the first major outdoor tournament in Europe.”The worst thing for her would be to work her too much,” he said.

“One of her nicest things is when she comes into the ring you can feel her grow taller, her ears go forward, but she is still soft without getting strong. That’s the coolest part.”

Although Patrik has several Grand Prix horses, he bought a small interest in the horse while Marie kept the rest. The two then signed a contract for him to train and compete the horse through the Rio Olympics.

“The horse just doesn’t have any weakness… super piaffe and passage, walk, pirouettes… she has everything,” he said.

The 36-year-old rider said that Scandic is performing better than ever after three years in the top group of the world rankings.He described the differences between the two horses as “Scandic is like a power machine while Deja is a prima ballerina.

They are both very good in their own ways. Scandic has the power, Deja has the power but with elegance.”

Mares were not high on his priority list until he took on the ride of Donna Unique, a nine-year-old Danish Warmblood on whom he had outstanding results at small tour but he and the owner of Donna Unique and other horses he was riding ended their professional ties.

Scandic, he said, has provided him with an “amazing” partnership of the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in 2010, European Championships in 2009 and 2011 when they won individual bronze, World Cup Finals and the London Olympics last summer.

“The journey with Deja is just beginning,” he said. “She is very supple to ride, very good in the mouth and has a good, uphill front, and she may have got the hind legs from Don Schufro.”

On the calendar for this year is Munich, Germany next month and the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen in June.

Deja already does the Grand Prix, but he might hold off moving up to that level to seeking to qualify for his first trip to the prestigious Nürnberger Burg-Pokal final at small tour in Germany which he missed out on with Donna Unique.

Patrik said he is also working with a new mental coach, a Swede whose theme is “empty tha trash, take out of your mind all the garbage.”

But he has not started working with a new trainer after several years with the Netherlands’ Sjef Janssen, but his Australian wife, Lyndal Oatley, and Marie provide eyes on the ground.”I don’t stress over it,” Patrik said. “At the moment I’m enjoying riding and finding my flow.”
RESULTSIntermediate 1