Top riders are to swap horses in an “unforgettable evening” of showjumping at the Dutch Masters next spring.
On the Thursday evening of the 2025 event (13-15 March) at the Brabanthallen in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the world, Olympic, European and national champions are to jump a course on each other’s horses.
Henrik von Eckermann, Christian Kukuk, Steve Guerdat and Willem Greve have agreed to recreate the “final four”, which was part of the World Championships from 1978 to 2014. The top four riders in the individual competition would each jump a shorter course on the others’ horses, but the FEI brought the format to an end at the 2016 general assembly.
Dutch Masters sports director Jeroen Dubbeldam, who was Olympic champion in 2000 and also the last world champion to win in the old format, in 2014, is behind the move, with Yvonne van Bergen.
“We all know that the horse change has been taken out of the World Championship format. I have always thought it was a very interesting test and also often ridden it myself,” he said.
“It is interesting for the audience to see how the different horses interact with the different riders and how the riders respond to this. Also outside our scene there were always a lot of positive reactions to this class, which is why I think this class should stay in our sport.”
Jeroen Dubbeldam managed to secure all four reigning champions for the class.
“I started by sounding out European champion Steve Guerdat. He is someone with a vision and an opinion, and he was immediately very enthusiastic, as were the other champions,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be very interesting – you don’t often experience the champions all coming into the ring and jumping a course on each other’s horses. I will explain to the audience during the competition itself and ask the riders questions about their horses. We are still discussing which horses they will start with, but it will be a serious class at 1.45m/1.50m level. We really think this will catch on, so we can expand this class further in the future.”
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