While international championships seem to have their own rules and you never 100% know what is about to happen, one thing seemed clear before even the first Grade 1 horse went down the centerline in Ermelo: The head to head duel between Latvia’s para dressage star Rihards Snikus and Italy’s equally popular Sara Morganti. They were again the ones to watch in the Grade I classes, but there was so much more than that.
The headquarters of the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation (KNHS) in Ermelo and the National Equestrian Centre, located in the Gelderland region in the northwest of the country, offered perfect conditions with several beautifully maintained outdoor rings and a stadium worth an international para championships, even though the two spectators tents on the long sides did not provide the prettiest of backgrounds.
The popularity of Grade I, which often records the largest starter field at many CPEDIs, was not truly reflected at this year’s Europeans. Only 11, instead of the 14 riders who were at Riesenbeck in 2023, contested the first class of the 2025 Europeans, an individual medal class held on Wednesday 3 September 2025. Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Italy, always a strong nation in this Grade, had two riders each.
Correct Training A Key Factor
Those not familiar with para dressage could assume Grade 1, in which the riders with the highest degree of disabilities ride a program entirely in walk, might be the most "boring" of all five Grades. The very opposite is the case if you’re interested in correct riding and training. The level of communication between the horses and their often physically severely impaired riders is second to none and is furthest away from one dominated by strength and pressure.
2019 European champions Jens Lasse Dokkan and his wonderful DWB gelding AladdinsThe programs, ridden in a dressage arena reduced to 40x20 meters, require medium walk throughout and among others voltes on both leads, a serpentine with three loops along the centre-line and three halts in total, of which one requires 5 seconds of immobility—all movements which are provided with the coefficient 2. Correct flexion and bend, maintaining of the walk’s 4-beat-rhythm, straightness and activity are essentials which are decisive factors in this grade.
A special challenge is the required stretching forward downward on a half circle in which it is of importance that the contact never gets lost while executing it—depending on their impairment this is a difficult task for some riders who often use reins with loops.
Moreover, a collective mark for accuracy, a harmonious presentation, as well as the „equestrian feel and skill of the Athlete“ is given by the five judges.
Horses in All Breeds, Shapes and Sizes
The Europeans in Ermelo once again proved that in Grade I horses can literally come in all breeds, shapes and sizes and be competitive as long as their training allows them to execute the program correctly.
The variety of horse types in Grade 1 is what also makes it a so interesting competition to watch: Connemara cross-bred Strong Beau of the British team.In times in which also in para dressage success more and more depends on a horse’s innate quality, this is an undeniable advantage of Grade I. However one cannot overlook the fact that Grade I usually requires costly training of the horse as most riders are physically not able to prepare and warm up the horses. Sponsoring in para dressage might be better than in the past, but it is still in its infancy and not everybody has the luck to be member of a state financed sports group which helps covering the costs or even to have a private patron who just likes seeing his horse compete internationally in para dressage.
Watching the familiarization on Tuesday, a few training sessions and warm-ups the other days confirmed the impression I got when I saw all horses „naked“ at the vet check. As I mainly stood not far from the officials to whom the horses had to be presented before going down the lane in walks and trot, I had the opportunity to take a closer look at them. Many looked quite well muscled which shows the training they receive outside the rides they get with their usual riders, while there were also very few who had dippy backs.
Perhaps that’s the striking point when having a discussion with a (none Grade I) rider at the Europeans. This person took the stand that the officials shouldn’t be as strict with Grade I horses like as with those in the other grades wh need to trot and canter. Because it is not only their walk programs Grade 1 horses usually do, but the warming up by the trainers which usually includes more than just walk. Grade I horses are athletes like the ones of the other grades and they are not just trundling along in walk, but to be able to execute their Grade I programs well they need a proper dressage training and also a certain stamina because walk is a gait that is strenuous for a horse when done diligently and in medium tempo over several minutes.
The Ones Who Caught My Eye
Dokkan getting ready to mount Aladdin who patiently waits until his rider is ready.Norway’s para veteran of eight (!) Paralympic Games, Jens Lasse Dokkan, and his striking 17-year-old Danish warmblood gelding Aladdin (by Akinos x May Sherif), the double European champions of Rotterdam six years ago, had come out of a short retirement before Paris. No other rider in history has seen so many international para championships and the entire evolution of this sport than the now 64-year-old from Röa near Oslo who trains in Denmark. Aladdin, owned by Jens Lasse and Pernille Örum, and taken care of under the saddle and from the ground by Mette Klose Nielsen, is certainly and way beyond the success he had over the past six years a horse that wins the hearts of the onlookers with his attractive looks and the way he takes to the world.
Also in Ermelo he and his rider put in those reliable sympathetic performances which you simply like to watch as you are presented a horse contented with the world and whose rider seems to have a lot of fun riding him. Can you ask more of a ride when you leave the question of medals and results aside?
Sara Morganti on BWP mare Mariebelle. From the Grade 1 riders you can learn how to ride perfect voltes: Marielle in good flexion and bendA rider who always expresses so much elegance on horse-back is Italy’s para doyenne Sara Morganti. The petite 49-year-old from Tuscany and a favourite for the title, has debuted at championships level in 2009. For more than a decade she has enjoyed tremendous and long lasting success with the remarkable Rhinlander mare Royal Delight whom she still competed with great success at a CPEDI in June and who fitted her like a glove. In Ermelo she competed the seven years younger Belgian warmblood mare Mariebelle, owned by her husband Stefano Meoli,who looks the complete opposite of Royal Delight: Very tall, big framed, this daughter of the former WCYH medal winner Lissaro van der Helle has taken the championships baton from Royal Delight from 2023 on. It speaks volumes for Sara’s talent and feeling as a rider and her strong back up team. Alessandro Benedetti trained the mare in Ermelo so she was able to seamlessly continue where Royal Delight left off, winning two silver medals at this Europeans. Mariebelle, who two years earlier in Riesenbeck had a big spook in the individual test, now appears much matured and self confident in her work. The harmony between the so unlikely looking pair of tall leggy horse and petite, very feminine rider is the joy you get watching both.
Blake on Strong BeauThe variety of horse types in this Grade, among other aspects, is what holds my fascination. After Mariebelle who might have been the tallest horse in the class, Britain’s Gabriella Blake rides her very appropriately named Connemara-ISH-gelding Strong Beau (by Spinway Blackthorn x Balda Beau). The flea bitten grey and his tiny rider were the discovery of the last Europeans in Germany, where they took two bronze medals. After being reserve for Paris, the charming pair was back on the British team. Now trained by fellow para rider and Paralympic champion Sophie Wells, Strong Beau had been wide awake during the arena familiarization the day before, but was quite foot perfect when it counted. Strong Beau’s walk is maybe a bit less huge than that of Mariebelle, but not less diligent. The gelding’s strength is the fluency in which he executes one movement after the other, always presented in a steady elastic contact by his rider, resulting in a nice frame. He seems to be a strong and apparently at times a bit cheeky character, perhaps his pony heritage, but he was there and with his rider when it counted - a very special horse for sure and one you cannot, but like when you see him strutting his stuff in the arena.
Julia Sciancalepore on HeinrichOne who wins the audience over every time she enters the arena is Austria’s ever smiling Julia Sciancalepore with her now 13-year-old Hanoverian Heinrich IV (by Heinrich Heine x De Niro), bred and donated to her by equestrian photographer Petra Kerschbaum. Julia is one of those exceptions in Grade I who, despite her cerebral palsy and ataxia impairments, does the training and warm-up on her own and her way. So the black Heinrich is very much tuned into his rider what makes them a special pair to watch. As Austria’s sole representative at this championships after team mates Pepo Puch and Bernd Brugger both withdraw due to injuries before Ermelo, Julia went above and beyond in her first ride. The black gelding, who had missed the freestyle finals in Paris, was on a mission, especially in the individual class, marching from point to point in a nice frame and steady contact. Julia’s sincere delight about her best championships result so far, 4th in the individual test, showed that para sport is so much more than about winning medals, but certainly they are a nice addition and one which some extraordinarily successful riders can get used to.
Mari Durward-Akhurst on Athene LindebjergBritain’s second rider in Grade I, 31-year-old Mari Durward-Akhurst who embarked on the international scene a bit more than a decade ago, took over the almost legendary pitch black Athene Lindebjerg, owned by Diane Redfern, in 2023. The mare was Paralympic champion in Rio 2016 with the recently retired Brit Sophie Christiansen. While a horse of that quality and experience opens up rare opportunities, it might also come along with a lot of pressure to live up to previous successes. If Mari, trained by British dressage rider Rob Waine, ever felt such, she handled it very well the past two years. In Ermelo the now 18-year-old Gribaldi mare looked fit and motivated and was still very competitive with her two bronze medal in both individual competitions. Keeping older horses fit and interested in their work is always a feat in itself.
King of the Dance, the living metronome, getting induced for a stretch by Rihards SnikusCertainly one of the most unusual horses of all in Ermelo was once again Latvia’s so visionary and properly named King of the Dance. Bred in Latvia, King is by the sire Kadilak, whom Rihards Snikus briefly competed in 2013. His current horse is out of a mare by Kings and the bright bay is nothing but very special: Strong boned, with a big head and with lots of substance he certainly is not what many would think a typical dressage horse is. The now 17-year-old is a match made in heaven with 37-year-old Rihards who lives in Latvia’s capital of Riga and competes the characteristic King for a decade now. A passionate DJ in his non equestrian life, Snikus wrote an incredible success story over the years with this horse , taking part in three Paralympic Games and culminating in Paralympic double gold in Paris. King’s innate metronome and Rihards’ feeling for rhythm are a happy marriage, paired with the strong determination both show as soon as they enter their world between A and C. It makes them an outstanding pair. It is not only the way King marches when it counts, but it seems the symbiosis between horse and rider which is so palpable it leaves nobody untouched and which always sends shivers down my spine.
Well Trained Horses Get a Chance
Massimiliano Chiatante and his team getting ( Un Euro ready for a training sessionErmelo’s individual class of Grade 1 had once more shown that the lowest grade of FEI para dressage is the place where well trained horses with a good safe walk are have a chance, something which cannot be said (anymore) of other grades or in the able bodied dressage classes where above average quality gaits are a must to succeed at international level.
It also showed once again and impressively that one can train horses to a level of communication at which small aids are sufficient and at which horses’ natural sensitivity leads to understanding a rider’s individual impairment...to a such a degree that horses either compensate for it or ignore it, something which also more or less applies to the other grades in para dressage.
The horse as a true partner with whom one cooperates on a refined level because the physical abilities do not allow any other form of communication. Tis is the special fascination that in particular becomes apparent in Grade I.
