Mount St John Freestyle and Vayron Not to Compete at 2026 National Championships

Dressage

Denmark

Mount St John Freestyle and Vayron will not be competing at the national championships in Denmark and Germany coming up on 29 - 31 and 3 - 7 June 2026.

The Danish Championships are held at the old Blue Hors facilities in Randbol, while the German Nationals take place in Balve.

Denmark: No Freestyle

Denmark's number one Grand Prix pair, Cathrine Dufour and Mount St. John Freestyle, will not be defending their title at the Danish Championships, which are a team selection trial. The pair has sufficiently proven its ability and the rider has chosen to give the 17-year old Hanoverian mare a break from competition to continue training at home.

On her social media Dufour explained that she's making a new Kur to Music for the British-Danish owned horse and is working with her trainer Kyra Kyrklund on a new floorplan and music. It follows the FEI's decision to make changes to the Degree of Difficulty format which reportedly has sacrificed complex technical lines for more harmonious patterns.

"We are working hard on our new freestyle, and together with Kyra Kyrklund we finally finalized the floor plan yesterday," she took to Instagram. "A new freestyle requires a lot of time and a lot of training at home, and with the fact that Free performed to perfection in Hagen a few weeks ago, we have chosen to focus on the new freestyle instead of the Danish Championships."

Germany: Vayron Out

The German Championships are traditionally Germany's first team selection trial before the summer championships. The second qualifier will be the CDIO Hagen at the start of July.

Crozet team rider Ingrid Klimke and Vayron are out for Balve. Rudolf Spiekermann's 15-year old Westfalian stallion is not fit to compete. Klimke posted on social media that,"unfortunately, Vayron NRW is not fit, and after consulting with the veterinarian, we have decided that he will not compete in Balve . This means our dream of participating in the German Championships with Vayron has been shattered. We are very sad about this, but Vayron’s well-being always comes first.”

Klimke and Vayron recently placed second twice at the CDI Hagen with 75.087% in the Grand Prix. This score made them strong contender for the fourth team spot for the WEG in Aachen this summer. Klimke and Vayron also missed last year's Championships in Balve, but made it on the team for Crozet based on their performance at the CDIO Aachen

Ingrid has a second Grand Prix horse to compete, the 14-year old bay Hanoverian mare First Class (by Furstenball x Bergamon).