“Chaman Dumontceau shows that he is one of the best French horses”, Stéphane Landois

You have just won the Chatsworth CCIO 4*-S. Was this a goal for you?

No, I didn’t really have the goal of winning individually, especially in England, because it’s a very tough competition! I wanted to participate to see how Chaman would stand against international competition and on a different terrain from those where he is used to racing in France. In addition, when we arrived there on Thursday, we saw that the terrain, already hilly and demanding by nature, was going to make the cross country difficult. On the other hand, we left with the aim of trying to win the Nations Cup in order to mark the spirits a little, especially across the Channel, at the start of the season.

Your weekend started very well with an excellent recovery (to be reviewed at the bottom of this article), which was assessed at 77.22%, or 22.8 penalties, on Friday. A record for your couple!

Absolutely. We worked a lot in dressage during the winter and at the beginning of the season with all the federal supervision. Shaman is always very focused. When I got on the horse before my recovery, I felt that he was present and that we could pull off a good recovery. I’m really pleased with his performance and his score.

Previously, your best dressage score in 4* was 26.8 points. What avenues of work have you followed to improve your performance in this discipline to this extent?

Shaman was already doing all the exercises quite well, even well, but he lacked a bit of brilliance and activity. So we really worked on this aspect and on its overall functioning, in particular with Christoph Hess (technical speaker for dressage with the French eventing team, editor’s note). This has brought us a lot, as shown by this very good average obtained at Chatsworth.

“I felt my horse was in great shape right down to the home stretch”

At Chatsworth, the show jumping test and the cross were held on the same day. How do you manage this when the courses to be tackled are 4* level?

It is very common in Great Britain to run these two tests practically one after the other. You have to anticipate well and have well organized your cross-country reconnaissance so as not to be taken aback, but it rather suited my horse. He can have a bit of a hard time getting going in the morning or before the long distance test, so the equine actually made for a good pre-cross prep session for us and woke him up a bit.

How did you feel Chaman at the end of the cross (to review on ClipMyHorse.tv), which proved to be quite taxing since no rider managed to finish it with less than twenty-seven seconds of time exceeded. Besides, you accused twenty-eight of them?

Shaman has a lot of staying power and I’ve never felt him really tired. On the other hand, he may have a little trouble starting at a good pace on the short formats, but he did not have this problem on Saturday. Moreover, I know that I can ask him for effort throughout the course and that he will respond. At Chatsworth the cross was harder than I expected. The ground was sticky and its undulations cut off the momentum of the horses. Also, I found that there were really big jumps, but I felt my horse was very fit until the last combination, and even until the final stretch. Given the competition conditions, the federal authorities had instructed us to optimize our performance, but not to ask too much of the horses.

“I waited almost two hours to have my notebook stamped in Dover”

Since Brexit, many riders have pointed to the red tape that surrounds each trip between Europe and the United Kingdom. How did yours go?

It is indeed very complicated to go to England. We called on someone who is very familiar with the system in place and takes care of all the administrative part, but there are a lot of controls and the horses therefore spend overtime in transport. Leaving France, we have to go through customs in Calais, which went quite well, and then go to Dover on the other side of the Channel. There, I waited almost two hours to have my ATA carnet stamped (document required for temporary imports on British soil, editor’s note)and I had to wait about the same time in Calais on the way back, but it was quicker in Dover as I arrived late in the evening.

What are your objectives now and how will the rest of your season unfold?

My objective remains, of course, the Pin-au-Haras European Championships (which will take place from August 9 to 13 in Orne, editor’s note). The selection obviously does not depend on me, but I think that my horse shows that he is one of the best in France. I started my season with the stage of the Grand National FFE-AC Print in Pompadour (whose couple took seventh place, early April, editor’s note), which I had chosen because it seemed to me to be a fairly good preparation for Chatsworth. Chaman will stand out at the Master Pro de Vittel (from June 23 to 25, editor’s note), because I want to participate in the French Pro Elite championship, but also because it’s an interesting and rather hilly terrain. Without forgetting that it will be a mandatory step to obtain a selection at the Pin.