By ILSE SCHWARZ
VERDEN, Germany Aug. 5, 2026
The winner of the World Championships’ first qualifier for 5-year-olds was the Hanoverian gelding Einfach Imposant B by Escolar x Westernhagen 15, ridden by Kira Laura Soddemann for Germany. My notes immediately after the ride, before the scores were shown, go: “Submission score HAS to be high. Beautiful soft, straight transitions and a horse that swings through his whole body. He is nicely forwards with balance, lift and power creating a very harmonious picture.” It is easy to see him being developed into a very good FEI horse. Trot 8.8, walk 9.0, canter 8.7, Submission 9.0, total 89.000%. This horse was not a “wow” guy but simply fluid, consistent and effortlessly covered the ground. It is worth watching his test for a good idea of what the judges are truly looking for at this level. He is certainly not the prettiest horse, going through the teenage years was hard for many of us, and I did not expect him to finish as the winner, but I am not unhappy that he won. I can’t wait to see him as a more mature muscled 6-year-old next year.
The 5-year-old test looks like a relatively straightforward test for a young athlete, but in many respects this is the hardest test of all. Most 5-year-old horses are at some weird stage of growth, they have yet to be exposed to much of the outdoor world and certainly, unless they have had success at the Bundeschampionate or Pavo Cup, they certainly have not seen an arena like this before.
Still, I hear some say, it’s only walk trot canter, simple changes, counter canter, half 10-meter circles, medium trot and canter and a trot serpentine. No lateral work, no flying changes… any 5-year-old could do it… right? Well, not really. What are the judges looking for?
Of course they want to see quality gaits with uphill carriage, a clear ability to show adjustability and balance within the gaits. They want to see suppleness and bend on the half 10-meter circles. These change bend directly facing the judge at C so any tilting or lack of balance is easy to see. They want clear supple changes of bend through the serpentine with the horse staying equal in each rein and maintaining the same tempo, balance and frame. And, what people don’t realize is that there are SO MANY transitions, and I don’t just mean the obvious ones like the centerline halt and back to trot. The transitions in and out of medium canter are on the long side, horses have an easier time making a clear forwards transition that balancing back on their hindlegs to return to collection… and staying straight in that. How is the quality of the walk in the simple change? This affects the walk score.
Then we add that the performance should look effortless, relaxed, and forward, showing a “happy athlete” with horse shown in their “natural way of going.”
I truly believe that this last requirement, the “Natural Way of Going,” which is currently one of the priorities, is creating a level of confusion amongst some riders, trainers, and dare I say it, even some judges, about just what this is.
We had some beautiful examples of this today.
The judges will also not hesitate to reward an extraordinary gait if it is shown. The gelding DSP Lord Löwenherz von Bellin (Lord Europe x United) and Ellen Richter showed both a natural way of going, illustrating a beautiful flow through his gaits with the power from the hind leg moving through the entire horse plus really supple, balanced changes of bend through the trot. This earned them the highest individual score of the day with a 9.8 for trot. He has a ton of scope in the canter, but today this actually led to a few losses of balance in the down transitions and the occasional unsteadiness in the canter frame and in the down transitions. This was not really reflected in his scores of 8.7 for both canter and submission. This left me scratching my head a little, but maybe they would have gone higher if all had been perfect. We will see in the final.,
Phoebe Peters of Great Britain and the Westfalian mare McMary NRW also knocked it out of the park with their 9.6 for trot. This was an absolute highlight for this pair. The trot was very round in carriage, soft connection and an effortless easy way of moving. This score was crucial to them sneaking into the final in 12th place on a score of 81.6%
My “favorite” that I would love to take home with me was the mare Weihe’s Happiness OLD (Dynamic Dream x Sir Donnerhall), a granddaughter of the legendary Weihegold, ridden tactfully and appropriately by Alina Schneider. This enigmatic mare was light footed and elegant, had a lovely uphill steady frame, showed a clear stretch towards the contact in the stretching circle, huge extensions and good suppleness in her way of moving in the trot. Her walk was that amazing type that moves through the entire body. Every single joint and muscle is involved, making her look like a black panther. The canter work was mistake-free, uphill, engaged and the transitions in and out of the medium canter were clear and maintained uphill balance. The main negative to comment was that the mouth was busy the whole ride. Not wide open and against the bit at all, but certainly not quiet. This dropped her submission score to 8.3, the trot was a deserving 9.3, the extraordinary walk 8.8, canter 8.5, perspective 8.8, overall 87.20 today, but THE one to watch in the finals I think. She is 100% my type of horse.
One final favorite was the chunky Danish gelding Hamiltons Jazzmaster (Jameson RS2 x Dante Weltino) and Katrine Kraglund. I love the idea of this cross of bloodlines so I was extra interested. He is a very complete horse. The canter is uphill, so straight, in the good way, and upon watching the simple change, there is no doubt that this horse will or has very beautiful flying changes. The balance before the transition to walk could not have been better but he listened so well to his rider that there was no question of him “sneaking a change”. He actually had a good rein back, truly the only one and the rider had no qualms in letting him stretch his neck in the second diagonal of medium walk. The trot is still a bit normal but it will developed with training onto this correct foundation. The scores reflected my impressions through the test, trot 7.9, canter and perspective the high scores at 8.5. Total 82.2% and directly into the final.
This was a huge class of 48 rides and after the top 15 or so placed rides, I have questions.
I have the sneaky feeling that some trainers/riders are still training in the “old” way that the young horse classes are still “thrown under the bus” for. Hyped up, nostrils flaring, legs flailing, expression created purely through tension and strength with no relaxation. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that this will no longer be rewarded at this show and, hopefully, in any “Young Horse” class held internationally. So are riders trying to present their horse “normally,” taking away the tension, only to discover that their foundation of training is not there and the horse can’t hold it’s own balance or show uphill carriage or any expression?
Are some riders reading this too literally and simply not providing horses with any management or guidance. Then we have an unsteady frame with no quiet supple connection, no real transitions within the gaits with what appear to be truly lovely horses. Obviously the reality is likely somewhere in the middle. In 2025, the 5-year-old class was, overall, well presented, well ridden and horses and riders seemed to be finding their way with the current priorities in judging, so perhaps I am overly concerned and in this crop of 5-year-old horses we just have a very clear top group and a very clear bottom group that is larger than in years previous and the middle group with horses excelling in one gait but not across all aspects if the test at this stage of their development?
In this respect BOTH the small final and true final for this class will be extremely interesting and informative.
