Quinn G Controls the Pack and Wins 7-YO Preliminary Test at 2025 World Young Horse Championships

- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)  
-- Photos © Astrid Appels/Eurodressage - No reproduction allowed - NO SCREENSHOTS!

British Olympian Fiona Bigwood and her fabulous Danish warmblood mare Quinn G controlled the pack and won the 7-year old preliminary test at the 2025 World Championships for young dressage horses in Verden, Germany, on Friday noon 8 August 2025. 

Charlotte Fry landed second place with the KWPN bred stallion Ilegro, while Danish Cecilia Hedegaard and the Trakehner Gaspard were third.

Heating Up

On day three of the WCYH in Verden and with the weekend approaching, the crowds began to gather in droves on the premises of the German Hanoverian breeding society, which will host the Championships for the next two years as well.

With cracking summer weather, a blue sky, and a 26 ° C temperature today the food court was packed with people this afternoon and attendees were dragging stacked shopping bags out of the trade fair. The queue for the cappuccino place resembled a line at Disney land and breeders, riders, trainers and dressage lovers were leaning on the iron fence railing the warm-up arenas to watch the young horses being warm-up for the competition.

While Ermelo stole the hearts of the spectators as their favourite venue for this show format, Verden certainly is pulling out all the stops to make their three-year cycle work. The organising committee has shown a great interest in feedback from stakeholders what can be improved. Wilken True, managing director of the Hannoveraner Verband, lends his ear for ideas on multiple occasions and it's nice that the worker ants are heard.

Punxsutawney Phil

As hot favourite for the gold with the 2023 and 2024 World Champion's title to her name, Quinn G was the one to watch today. The limitlessly talented mare is like Punxsutawney Phil. She only emerges from her home, Brantridge Park in the UK, for a rare occasion as her real future lies at Grand Prix level. The young horse "stuff" is just a snack along the way. To prove form for Verden she only competed in one test this year: at the premier league show in Addington on 12 May 2025, where she won the 7-year old test with 85.83%.

Bigwood admitted that she felt the pressure as title defender, but as 'veteran' British Grand Prix team rider and with the horse with superior character and rideabiity, making life easy, she nailed the job today in the preliminary test.

"I felt the pressure for the last two months," Fiona admitted. "You have to prepare for a Championships. They have to compete two full days here, so you can't start preparing three weeks beforehand, you have to start much earlier." She rode Quinn three to four times a week at home and spent much time outside with her, hacking. "She is such a lovely, kind mare. She is so safe. I could put my mother (Penny) on her for a hack. Everything is so easy for her. You don't have to work her much.  She's a big horse and I'm doing a lot of hacking."

The class was judged by Henning Lehrmann, Maria Colliander, Agnieszka Majewska, Carlos Lopes, and Clive Halsall; a highly experienced panel of judges who got two rounds of booing on their plate: once for what the audience believed to be an under-scored pair and once an over-scored pair.  Still, the 7-year old class in which two judges assess the quality of the horse (gaits, submission, perspective) and three the technical riding of the test, finding consistency and transparency in the results is not an easy task.

Quinn in Control

Bred by Helene Geervliet of Stutter G in Denmark, Quinn G competed in the final block of horses at noon time and left no doubt about it that she is still the best horse in all three categories that travelled to Verden to compete. She has three world class gaits, incredible athleticism and the perfect mind to boot. Her trot work was so ground covering on the straight lines and in the traversal movements. The trot extension was slightly hurried but impressive. The extended walk had nice marching with clear overtrack, even though she was gazing with one eye into the VIP tent. The canter work was big and could have been a fraction more on the hind leg, especially in the canter half pass right. The right half pirouette was a bit unbalanced, but not bad. The flying changes came easy to her, were uphill and through the body. Bigwood rode Quinn G in a snaffle, had an elastic contact with the mouth. She could have been a fraction rounder, but definitely not shorter in the neck. The overall silhouette was very sympathetic and that's what contemporary dressage should look like. 

The judges scored Bigwood's test 80.177%, the winning score of the day. Quinn G got 8.4 for trot, 8.7 for walk, 8.4 for canter, 8.6 for submission and 8.8 for perspective. The technical score was 74.553%.

"Of course, she's seven and there can always be something that distracts young horses, but she was so good to my aids today and the flying changes were all really good," said Fiona. "I rode a bit on the safe side, but it was great fun. And afterwards she leaves the arena completely relaxed on a long rein – that's how she is. You can only enjoy that."  

Bigwood trains with Carl Hester but had Andreas Helgstrand help her with the warm-up, just like last year.  In preparation for the finals on Sunday, Fiona will not be working the  mare much. "I'm going to do nothing. She'll have time off."

Power Horse

British Olympian Charlotte Fry finished second on the KWPN stallion Ilegro (by Inclusive x Negro x Gershwin), who is bred by L. Hanse and Van Olst out of Jalegrofleur, the full sister to Valegro. He was originally named Nalegro but his name changed to Ilegro when he got NRPS licensed in 2024.

Owned by Gert-Jan van Olst, the tall bay stallion has all the trademark looks of a "Van Olst Horse": strappingly handsome, very well muscled, a super strong hind leg, tall and impressive. Ilegro fits the mold perfectly and Fry has another power horse to train and compete up to Grand Prix level.  The bay stallion was started by assistant Zandra Birkelund, who rode him to a 12th place in the 2023 Pavo Cup Finals and to a third place in 2024. Lottie only began riding Ilegro since January.

"I had a sit on him and he was wow," said Fry. "We have already built up a great partnership in a short space of time and I think he has a lot in common with Valegro – that's fantastic. He's been very special and has been taking longer to develop. He is probably a little greener than most of the other seven-year-olds here, he hasn't seen much yet. So I didn't know what to expect." Lottie took him to the CDI Exloo in May to qualify for Verden (via the Dutch quota) and scored 74.643% in the preliminary test but retired in the Finals.  "He has so much power, it's all about control and relaxation. He's so nice to work with. The main thing for me is a horse that loves his job."

Fry and Ilegro were last to go in the penultimate block of horses and the tall bay immediately stood out with his power and Ferrari hindleg. They began with a rather stretched halt and there was a break into canter after the right half pass, which took a moment to get fixed in the volte left. The horse was very cadenced in the trot work on the right lead but in the shoulder-in could have been a bit more flexed. The collected walk was clear in rhythm but rather quick. In canter the horse became a lot to handle and got tense, but continued to do the job. The left canter extension was very uphill but the striding could have been smoother. The fours were not entirely straight and there was more tension for the change on the centerline. The left extended canter was big, but the horse still needs to drop more in the croup. The change at K was crooked. The changes worked out but were not yet polished on this green, developing Prix St Georges horse. 

The judges loved it and rewarded the pair with 77.634% which ranked them second. Ilegro got 9.7 for trot, 7.0 for walk, 8.8 for canter, 8.2 for submission (?) and 8.8 for perspective. The technical score was 70.268%. The crowd booed when they heard the announced say the individual marks. Lottie had already left the arena by that time. 

Pure Elegance

Danish Cecilie Hedegaard landed third place aboard the Trakehner stallion Gaspard ND (by His Moment x Imperio), bred in Denmark by Angelica Lauritzen and owned by Nicole Derlin. She bought the premium stallion for 70,000 euro at the 2020 Trakehner Stallion Licensing and moved in training with Beatrice Hoffrogge. She showed him briefly in 2023, while Luisa Erichsen competed him in Germany at six shows in 2024.

One does not often see a Trakehner compete at the WCYH and with annually around 1,200 to 1,500 Trakehner foals born it is certainly one of the smallest sporthorse breeding society, but one with amazing success: double Olympic champion Dalera is the flag bearer, Grand Prix stallion Gribaldi has sired Totilas as well as numerous highly popular breeding stallions.  Three Trakehners have won medals at the WCYH:  Imperio in 2008 and 2009, and Kipling in 2017. More Trakehners have shown in Ermelo and Verden, the first was Munchhausen in 2001 (6th under Fie Skarsoe) and the last one in 2021: Pour Andrig de Barroue (by Donauruf x Sponeck) under French based Australian Rebeccc Rooke. The same rider rode Trakehners in Ermelo also in 2017, 2018 and 2019 so their presence are not once in a blue moon.

The 24-year old Hedegaard is riding her very first WCYH but is not a new face on the scene. She began competing internationally as a pony rider in 2017 with Strandgaards Challenger (by Champion de Luxe x Pour l'Amour) and between 2019 and 2022 competed Silhuet (by Don Olymbrio x Gribaldi) at international junior and young riders level. She is now a professional rider at stallion station Hesselhøj in Denmark, where Gaspard is based. She began riding him in January. 

"He couldn't even do a flying change," said Cecilie about the start of her partnership with Gaspard. "He has developed so quickly and now here we are – it's unbelievable. He is very intelligent, really enjoys the sport and loves to perform. I was nervous, it's my first WCYH  and he did it for me. The canter today, he never gave me this feeling before."

Trakehner Gaspard is of unrivalled beauty: his face and popping eyes are so full of expression, his refined legs make him look like a ballerina. The trot work today was very elegant, but there was a loss of rhythm in the left volte. The collected walk was mediocre but the extended had a good rhythm and overtrack. Gaspard showed good ability to collect in the halt pirouettes but overall the ride looked a bit too pushed forward. The judges rewarded the test with a 77.075% for third place. Gaspard got 8.7 for trot, 7.7 for walk, 8.8 for canter, 8.5 for submission and 9 for general impression. The technical score was 68.750%.

Quality Horses

The top 10 of the 7-year old preliminary test had plenty of quality horses with a bright future at FEI level ahead. 

“We saw a lot of good horses at a high level today,” said Henning Lehrmann, thee chief judge of the competition. “What will make Sunday very exciting is that there weren't two or three horses that stood out from the rest. In that respect, small details could decide the outcome on Sunday. Many horses are at a very good level, but none of them stand out clearly.”

Danish Grand Prix rider Lone Bang Zindorff finished fourth today on her own Danish bred gelding FA Viviani (by Valverde x Tailormade Temptation), bred by Frank and Anja Evald of FA-Horses in Ribe, Denmark. The pair finished fifth at the 2024 Danish Young Horse Championships and now the horse competed at its first WCYH for Denmark. The bright bay is a tall long legged gelding whose professional way of stood out. Bang piloted him well through the trot work but at times the horse crossed his jaws when half halts were made and the neck was often too tight and short. Viviani showed good ability to collect in the half pirouettes but took too many steps in the right one. There was a short flying change. He got 8.6 for trot, 7.8 for walk, 8.5 for canter, 8 for submission, 8.5 for perspective and 70.625% as technical score, totalling 76.713%.

German Laura Strobel and the Austrian bred and owned Westfalian stallion Zulu GV landed fifth place with 76.067%. The black stallion is a star for the future with an elastic and powerful trot and a bouncy trot extension. He still lacked some balance on the voltes and in both shoulder-in lines. The collected walk was short though and the extended could march more over the back. The four tempi changes were straight, the right pirouette was the better one as he didn't flex the hocks enough in the left. Overall, Zulu is a very exciting horse for the future when he develops more self carriage. Today he got 76.067% with 8.5 for trot, 7.2 for walk, 8.6 for canter, 8.5 for submission, 8.4 for perspective and 69.733% as technical score.  Zulu GV is bred by Austrian veterinarian Ursula Barth, who picked Sissy Max-Theurer's stallion Zarathustra MT (by Zonik x Florestan) for her mare Sunday Rose (by Sorento x Diamond Hit). She sold the foal four days old to Max-Theurer's Gestut Vorwerk.

Swedish pair Linnea Holmgren and her home bred Buskhaga Sitara (by Springbank II VH x Sandro Hit) slotted in 6th with 76.000%. The trot was beautifully balanced, albeit a bit stabby at times. The horse is quite soft in the pasterns and generated good overtrack. There was a clear 4-beat rhythm but the mare could have stretched a little more. The changes were confirmed although the ones to the right need to improve in straightness. The bay mare got 8.5 for trot, 8.2 for walk, 7.9 for canter, and 8.2 for submission and perspective. The technical score was 70.000%

- Photos © Astrid Appels/Eurodressage - No reproduction allowed - NO SCREENSHOTS

Eurodressage is taking photos of all competitors in Verden. If you are interested to buy photo prints or digital files for social media, email us.

Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2025 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses