News
Aachen 2026: team medal competition kicks off the FEI World Championships 2026
- Written By: British Dressage
- Published: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:44
It was a sunny morning in Aachen on day one of the FEI World Championships, where six equestrian disciplines will be showcased over the next two weeks as over 750 riders from 65 nations set to compete on the world stage. And it was the dressage team competition that kicked off the first event.
Experienced international championship rider Fiona is partnered with her homebred 10-year-old, who is making her Championship debut in Aachen. A fact that Fiona was extremely aware of during the test, as she showed tactful, sympathetic riding, giving as much confidence to the mare as she could. The duo showed good piaffe and passage work, with clear smooth transitions in and out of all of the piaffes. They held a clear, correct rhythm through the movement, taking the weight on to the haunches and keeping good cadence throughout.
The duo grew in confidence as the beautifully balanced and harmonious test went on and finished with a strong extended trot and final centre line as one of the biggest highlights, scoring 69.348% to post the first of the British Team’s scores.
Speaking of her test afterwards, Fiona commented “I am absolutely delighted; she’s only ten, she hasn’t done a huge amount of Grand Prix [tests] and to come to one of the biggest venues in the world and do that – she was a little bit spooking at the cameras, we had them in for familiarisation but they weren’t moving. She’s unbelievable that mare, she literally locks on and is really trying for me and I just can’t ask anymore from her at the moment, I’m so pleased with her.”
A mistake in the one-time changes cost the duo some marks, however Fiona reflected “it’s my fault, rider error, I though I’d got her to stop and then she did two more. The whole year she’s hardly make any mistakes so I was happy to just to go round that and try like she did.”
It’s a story rich in sentiment for Fiona, who returns to Aachen eleven years after claiming European silver at the very same venue aboard Donna Bella’s dam, Atterupgaards Othilia. Now back on familiar ground with another mare she bred herself, and at the same age Atterupgaards Othilia was during the 2015 FEI European Championships, the moment carries an unmistakable sense of full circle. “It’s really nice to bring her daughter and do the same thing in their first years in Grand Prix – it’s really special,” Fiona reflected. “They’re both very similar to ride, both go and try their hardest.” Asked whether Donna Bella might follow a similar path, Fiona was emphatic: “Absolutely – I love that mare.” The family theme continues at home too, with Fiona revealing that Donna Bella’s four-year-old daughter is already showing the same character.
With Carl Hester’s last words to Fiona before she entered the arena being “just go and enjoy it!”, Fiona made sure she followed that advice, saying “it was amazing to go in and try and do something similar to what I did 11 years ago. We’ve got a really strong British team this year and they’re all amazing and so supportive.
“I just wanted to go in and give her confidence in there to do a nice round”
The next British combination into the arena was Becky Moody, currently ranked fifth in the FEI World Rankings, with the second homebred horse on the team Jagerbomb. It was a tricky start for the pair with a couple of early mistakes in the first halt and extended trot proving costly on the scoreboard. Becky however stayed calm, showing her experience and skill to help re-focus the 12-year-old gelding and pick up vital marks throughout the rest of the test, with the canter work and tempi changes in particular proving real highlights. A brilliant extended trot and final centre line saw the popular combination finish on a score of 73.820%, placing them second on the scoreboard going into the second day of the Team competition.
Reflecting on the test afterwards, Becky said “It’s not the mark I wanted to put on the board for the team, but after a difficult start we probably did some of our best piaffes, the first pirouette was good, the trot half passes were better in the test than they were in the warm up, so I was pleased I managed to pull as much of it back as I did, but obviously very, very frustrated with the bits I didn’t get right.”
Becky commented that Bomb was a little excited and distracted as they entered the arena, with that having an impact on the start of the test, “I think it’s just such an unusual arena I didn’t know what I was going to get from him – it’s unusual because it’s incredible and it’s huge, but it’s all quite far away so I did just feel his focus went too far away from me. Whereas when everything is closer I somehow feel like he stays closer. It’s knowing how they’re going to react in an arena like that, I just have to learn from it and hopefully come back better for the next one.”
A familiar part of the British Team over the last few years, Becky spoke about how she stays focused when things don’t go to plan in the arena, “It’s definitely something as a top competition rider you have to be able to not focus on the mistake that’s happened and really go to ‘what can I do to either pull it back or at least not lose any more marks’. My focus is on doing the rest of the work, without taking on unnecessary risk but trying to get the best marks that I can.”
The British Team currently sit in third position overnight ahead of the final day of the Team competition with a score of 143.168%. Germany ended day one on top, with Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD scoring 75.963%, followed by fellow teammate Raphael Netz aboard Great Escape Camelot in third place on 73.338%, to give Germany the overall lead on 149.301%. In second place at the halfway point is Denmark thanks to two solid tests from Nadja Aaboe Sloth with Favour Gersdorf and Carina Cassøe Krüth with Heiline’s Danciera giving Denmark a score of 144.130%.
The Grand Prix competition concludes tomorrow (Wednesday 12 August) where the podium places for the Team competition will be decided and the top 30 finishers will also qualify for the Grand Prix Special on Friday. For the British team it’s the turn of Carl Hester and Charlotte Fry to compete in the hope to secure a British team medal.
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Photo: © Andrea Rodriguez
