With the shock resignation of Daniel Bachmann from Blue Hors, the big question was, who would ride his frontliner, Blue Hors Zack. The answer came in the form of another of the riders at Blue Hors, Nanna Skodborg Merrald, and already the pair have notched up their first wins – the Grand Prix and the Special – at Le Mans CDI***.
Winning at Le Mans – photo credit Lukasz Kowalski
Nanna who? Well we remembered her well from the big horse show in Neumünster back in 2014, and even then her talent was well and truly evident…
Nanna and Millibar at Neumünster (photo Roslyn Neave)
This is our report:
The ring literally lights up with a very bright new star on the dressage horizon: Nanna Skodborg Merrald (try saying that three times quickly) and Millibar. Easy, light, elegant, the twenty-year-old blonde sits so beautifully and her tall gelding seems to find everything a breeze. The passage is perhaps more of an advancing piaffe, and the horse stepped out of a first pirouette, but everything else is great.
The pair may be unknowns, but the big crowd in the Holstenhalle know the real deal when they see it and burst into warm applause. They go to the early lead on 72.840 to the cheers of the crowd.
Luckily Nanna and her crew take their places in the row in front of me, and I get the chance to ask her about her horse: “Millibar is 13 years old, I have had him about five years now. When I got him, he was competing at a very low level (And according to her trainer, Michael Søgaard quite crazy and out of control) and since then I have competed him in Juniors (the child is way too modest – the FEI database reveals that she won the Freestyle at the Junior European Championships), Young Riders and under 25 (they won the under 25 GP and Kür at Aachen last year, as well as winning both the under 25 classes at Herning) and now we are here in the World Cup (it’s their second WC start, the first was at Odense in October last year where they placed 4th in the Freestyle). My trainer is Michael Søgaard.”
Your horse looks like he would be lovely to ride…
“He is lovely to ride. He is by Milan (by Michellino) out of a mare by Liberty Dane (by Lancier).”
Was it scary to come into this arena at Neumünster, where the big crowd is so close?
“He was a little bit tense today but I think the movements were good.”
Are you aiming to go to the World Cup final in Lyon?
“It depends on the results in the next two shows.”
And then the WEG?
“Maybe, I hope so.”
I hope so too, the equestrian world desperately needs more bright and beautiful young things… and of course before too long someone will drill Nanna on what is ‘press conference-speak’ and she will have a dozen clichés to trot out on command for interviewers.
Sadly, Millibar was unsound and not able to compete at the World Cup final, but Nana found a home for her talents at Blue Hors after she completed her degree in Molecular Biology.
At Aachen in 2017, I asked Daniel Bachmann: Do you work most of the time by yourself, with no eyes on the ground?
“I have a really good colleague, Nanna Merrald and we help each other out. We ride together and then sometimes, I’ll say, hey can you look, that’s good.”
Daniel is no longer at Blue Hors but the good news is that Nanna is back on the international scene, riding a superstar. The best is yet to come…