Tommie Visser and Karma Begijnhoeve Win 1 Freestyle to Music*

The final day of CDI Lier started this morning with the freestyle to music for the 1* combinations. Belgian rider Tommie Visser secured the first victory of the day for the home crowd. He rode his mare Karma Begijnhoeve to a score of 74.340%. Prix St. Georges winner Laila Smits finished second, while Belgian rider Suraya Hendrikx completed the podium.

“Lier is always top-notch. I think this is one of the best, if not the most beautiful, indoor dressage competitions,” Tommie Visser praised CDI Lier. “I always love coming here; I think it’s truly fantastic.” And it seems Karma Begijnhoeve agrees. The ten-year-old Desperado daughter became Belgian champion in the Small Tour last summer and today claimed victory in the Small Tour freestyle to music.

Last-minute decision
“I had a few small mistakes in the Prix St. Georges. I had only entered Karma at the last moment because I was bringing my other horse for the Grand Prix. I figured since I was coming anyway, I might as well bring her too,” Visser explained. Because of this, they lacked a bit of routine. Additionally, their last competition had been the Belgian Championships in May. “I could definitely feel that; she was a bit on fire.”

The ‘wrong’ Freestyle
Good preparation is half the battle, but in Tommie Visser’s case, it meant riding an old freestyle instead of one especially for Karma Begijnhoeve. He laughed: “Yeah, this was really a bit amateurish. Rob used to ride Karma and had a custom freestyle made for her. And we completely forgot about that. Yesterday, I said to Rob: ‘How stupid are we that we didn’t even think of that?’” Fortunately, the Belgian rider, who previously lived in the Netherlands, found the situation hilarious. “Because of that, I didn’t ride entirely in sync with the music since this freestyle doesn’t match her trot very well.” Despite this, Tommie was very pleased with his test. “The pirouettes went much better than on Friday. I had practiced them with Anky yesterday, so ‘thanks, coach!’” he laughed. “Karma is just such a fun horse to work with. The best thing about her is that she always gives her all. When I just look at her, I think: ‘She’s got something special.’”

From Lier to The Dutch Masters
The next stop for Tommie Visser and Karma Begijnhoeve is The Dutch Masters in one and a half weeks. “At least I’ve now realized in time that I should probably ride a different freestyle at The Dutch Masters,” he laughed. “The Dutch Masters is also an amazing competition, a different type of show compared to Lier. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Moving up to Grand Prix
And the plans for the rest of the season? “The reason I haven’t competed much is that I’ve been working on moving up to Grand Prix. So we’ll see how that goes in the coming months. My other horse didn’t do really well in the Grand Prix; he just lacks competition experience. Honestly, I simply don’t compete often enough,” Tommie admitted. Why not? “I always think things need to be a little better before I leave home, that I should practice more first. But I’m now realizing that competing itself is also part of the practice,” he concluded with a laugh.

Top 3
With a score of 72.910%, second place went to Small Tour winner Laila Smits, who rode her self-trained nine-year-old Lest Best P R (by Gunners KS). Belgian rider Suraya Hendrikx secured third place with the Benicio daughter Benicia, scoring 72.040%. The class was sponsored by FlyMyHorse.

Results