The 5-year old dark bay Hot Shot W (by Hotline x Kawango) won the 2014 Danish Warmblood Young Horse Championships held at the Danish Warmblood Stallion Licensing in Herning on Saturday 8 March 2014.
This Young Horse Championships is one of two Young Horse Championships held in Denmark annually, but the event hosted in Herning is exclusively for Danish warmblood bred horses. A guest judge rider gives a final verdict on the rideability scores of the top horses and this year Carl Hester was invited as test rider.
After days of testing Spanish Severo Jurado Lopez won the Championship aboard Hot Shot W, which is bred by Lisbeth Holm and owned by Helgstrand Dressage. The judges particularly praised the horse's trot which they described as elastic and elegant. They scored that gait a 10.0.
Test rider Carl Hester was also impressed by the winner. "It is a horse that moves uphill, is easy on the reins, and has a lot of self-carriage. The trot is fantastic, the walk correct and relaxed, and the canter uphill, even though you could wish for a bit more jump from the hindquarters. It is a lovely horse to ride, I love riding it."
Carl Hester gave Hot Shot W 10.0 for rideability and 9.0 for capacity, making the Blue Hors Hotline son's final score 928 points. Last year Hot Shot W was competed by Camilla Ahlers Pedersen.
Gasolin (by Doolittle x Tiberias) became the reserve champion. Bred and owned by Munkedal Horses, this black Danish warmblood earned 9.0 for trot and potential from Carl Hester and placed second. Lady Gaga (by Quaterback x Solos Landwind) finished third overall. The mare is bred by Johannes Søndergård and owned by Team Møllen. She scored 8.0 for rideability and 8.5 for potential.
Carl Hester was excited about his task as test rider in the Young Horse Championship. He test rode no less than 32 five-year-old horses he had never seen before. He said he was impressed by how well-ridden and easy to ride the horses turned out to be, and he did not refrain from praising the riders for the horses' level of education.
"The quality of the horses here is considerably higher than in England, and I must say that I have ridden some really lovely horses here in Herning. I expected that the audience would be enthusiastic, and so they were, and at the same time very knowledgeable about what they were watching. They knew which horses were the best," said Carl.
After having concluded his job of testing the second half of the 32 horses his tight schedule Sunday afternoon only just allowed him a quick change of clothes and a short visit to the booth of his sponsor before travelling back to England.
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