Winning your first international Grand Prix with a horse making it's debute at this level: On Sunday Mischa Everse pulled this off with Chocola Z (Carthago Z x Pilot). The only 8-year-old mare jumped double clear in the 1.45 m main class at CSI** Hoofddorp.
"Chocola has always jumped nice and with good manners. Now she felt extra good. The preparation for Hoofddorp was ideal. We started at the international shows in De Steeg and Rotterdam and that makes the differents. When one started in 1.50 and 1.60 m classes a 1.45 m class looks less difficult than coming from the regional shows at 1.30 m level. You also notice this with the horses. They seem to jump a lot easier", says Mischa Everse.
Chocola Z followed in the foot steps of Ups-a-Daisy (Gentleman x Hamilcar) to the higher level. "Now Ups-a-Daisy can jump some smaller classes. I think of this as luxury, having two horses for a Grand Prix like in Hoofddorp. I'll hopefully get more invitations for international shows, but we'll see what happens. It's also nice to train up young horses. Zerly for example is only six and competed really well in the small tour in Hoofddorp. This is also a horse that can jump bigger classes in a few years."
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