„It’s not just a show for us” – wrapping up CAVALIADA Tour 2024/2025

CAVALIADA is the largest series of equestrian competitions in Poland, authorised by the International Equestrian Federation. In the 2024/2025 season, athletes in the four equestrian disciplines - show jumping, eventing, dressage and driving - collected points during legs in four locations: in Warsaw, Poznań, Sopot and in the grand finale in Kraków.

CAVALIADA Warsaw

The equestrian competition kicked off in mid-November at Warsaw's Torwar. 165 riders representing the colours of 17 countries with 258 horses competed, and the most important competition - the PKO Bank Polski Grand Prix - was triumphed by Dutchman Dennis van den Brink riding Aonia Domain.

‘Warsaw is very beautiful. There is also a lot of spectators gathering every evening, who cheer on us wonderfully. It's a great pleasure to be a rider and get such support from the audience.’ - said the Dutchman, who also won Friday's Longines Ranking Big Tour.

To the joy of the fans, the second place in the Grand Prix competition was taken by a Pole - Wojciech Wojcianiec on Aliean Zin'Galeriani. In Saturday's Medium Tour Final, Rankings, the best was the Irishman Diarmuid Howley with Absolute du Mio.

The two stages of the Apart Dressage Tour were won by Polish representative and Paris Olympian Sandra Sysojeva with Found Boy. In the CAVALIADA Eventing Tour, Pawel Warszawski riding Fuerta triumphed twice, and in the Bawaria Motors Driving Tour, the defending champion Aleksander Fularczyk took the lead after two wins.

CAVALIADA Poznań

At the beginning of December,CAVALIADA moved to the grounds of the Poznań International Fair. Here, the CSI4*-W ranked competition was held, with a prize pool of EUR 262,600, and in the prestigious PKO Bank Polski Grand Prix, Irishman Harry Allen riding the impressive Calculatus galloped to victory.

‘Calculatus gave it his all, I am very proud of him. All four days of the CAVALIADA were fantastic and the horses have very good conditions here,’ said the winner.

Thursday's Big Tour competition ended in victory for Dutchman Jura Vrieling on Helwell du Chabus, Friday's best was Belgian Gudrun Patteet with Sea Coast Guinness and in Saturday's Medium Tour final, victory belonged to Ireland's Diarmuid Howley with Absolute du Mio.

Thursday's CAVALIADA Eventing Tour competition was won by Joanna Pawlak with Armin de Monsieur, while on Friday Paweł Warszawski was unbeatable. In the Apart Dressage Tour competitions, German Lena Hassmann twice collected the highest marks from the judges. The third stage of the Bavaria Motors Driving Tour was won by Aleksander Fularczyk, but Rafal Paszynski was the best on Sunday.

In the two competition arenas in the halls of Poznań International Fair, we could watch a record-breaking number of 366 competitors from 22 countries with as many as 652 horses.

CAVALIADA Sopot

CAVALIADA Tour took to the Polish coast at the end of January. There was no shortage of sporting excitement in the ERGO Arena, especially when, in Sunday's Grand Prix, junior rider Patryk Skrzyczyński on the 17-year-old Jerico was in the running for victory. In the end, however, he had to give way to an experienced Greek representative and CAVALIADA regular - Angelos Touloupis with Lord Mexx proved to be the best.

‘Lord Mexx is my best friend, he is like a family member to us. I felt that he wanted to win today. CAVALIADA is my favourite competition - we love this audience and the organisation.’ - said the rider.  

Friday's Big Tour competition ended with a joint win for two athletes: Sweden’s Douglas Lindelöw with Charlie's Way and Germany’s Felix Hassmann riding Caspian GD. In the final of the Medium Tour, the German representative Harm Lahde with the horse Kingston de L'Eau Z won.

There was also no shortage of emotions in the other CAVALIADA competitions. In Saturday's Bawaria Motors Driving Tour the best driver was Aleksander Fularczyk, but on Sunday the victory belonged to Rafał Paszyński. On-form Paweł Warszawski won both stages of CAVALIADA Eventing Tour, and in the Apart Dressage Tour the highest marks were awarded to the Lithuanian rider Justina Vanagaite-Samuile riding Fedon.

In Sopot, 175 competitors from 11 countries with 252 horses competed. 

CAVALIADA Kraków

At the end of February it was time for the grand finale of the CAVALIADA Tour - CSI4*-W CAVALIADA Krakow, with a prize pool of 239,00 euros. Before the competition at TAURON Arena, it was tight at the top of the leaderboard, and the fight for victory was fierce. Particularly as, in accordance with the CAVALIADA Tour rules and regulations, riders were awarded double points on Sunday. In excellent shape was Germany’s Harm Lahde, who riding Oak Grove's Commander Bond triumphed both in Friday's Big Tour and in Sunday's PKO Bank Polski Grand Prix. These victories ensured his promotion from 10th place before the Krakow final to the top spot on the podium. With 82 points, he became the 2024/2025 CAVALIADA Tour champion.

‘I'm definitely going to miss CAVALIADA – for us it's not just a show. We really enjoy coming to each of the Tour locations because it's always fantastic. Everything is top-notch here - the ground, the track hosts, the prize pools and, above all, the audience, which is the best of any competition I've been to,’ said Lahde.

Second place with 63 points went to Dutch rider Jur Vrieling and the lowest step of the podium was taken by Germany's Lesley Wulff, who collected 61 points.

Thursday's Big Tour competition was won by Romanian representative Andrea Herck with Epsilon de Roulard, while Saturday's Medium Toyr final belonged to Czech Ales Opatrny riding Forewer.

The CAVALIADA Eventing Tour was triumphed this season by Polish champion Joanna Pawlak.

‘I knew that the final was the most important thing and you have to go as well as possible here. I thought that Paul would win this season though, because he was almost unmatched. I always treat this competition as a good time with a great crowd. Thank you all very much, I am glad you are here with us, because without you it is not the same emotions!’ - said Joanna Pawlak.

Paweł Warszawski, who won a total of five of the eight tour competitions, came second, with last year's winner Jakub Wiraszka standing on the lowest step of the podium.

The new dressage queen of CAVALIADA as part of the Apart Dressage Tour this season is German rider Lena Hassmann, who won both competitions at the Krakow finale.

‘My horse did amazingly well in this special atmosphere, and I have to say once again that it's really very nice to compete here, it's a great show.’ - Hassmann said.

Second place in the Tour was taken by Agnieszka Wisniewska and third by Helene Stenshoj Vitkauskas from Denmark.

The undisputed driving champion of the Bawaria Motors Driving Tour was once again 24-year-old Aleksander Fularczyk with his groom Patryk Lejk. Together they triumphed in five stages of the Tour, and sealed the victory with a triumph in Sunday's final.

‘We would like to thank the CAVALIADA crowd for cheering us on and for carrying us through!’ - said the winner at the prizegiving ceremony.

In the final standings, the second place belonged to Rafał Paszyński and Joanna Paszyńska, and the third place was taken by the youngest driver - 17-year-old Bartosz Klupś and his groom Kacper Mosiek.

There would be no CAVALIADA without the CAVALIADA Future competitions for the youngest pony riders, which are a regular feature of the programme. In the MINI category, after legs in Warsaw, Poznań, Sopot and the Krakow final, the best one was Sara Wnuczko. Second place went to Ignacy Luboński, and third to Amelia Marszałek. 

The winner of the MIDI category this season was Oliwia Leboda. Here the second place went to Laura Rudaś, and the Top 3 was closed by Maja Głoskowska.

Less experienced riders had the unique opportunity to present themselves on the CAVALIADA arenas in the Respect Energy Open Tour competitions, divided into two categories at heights of 110/115 cm and 120/125 cm. In the Silver category, Hanna Zadroga triumphed in the entire Tour, the second place went to Hanna Kosińska and third to Zuzanna Michalska. The winner of the Gold category was Aleksandra Lewicka, followed by Marianna Stawicka and Julia Zadroga.

185 athletes from 12 countries with 284 horses galloped through the TAURON Arena in Krakow.

Full rankings can be found at https://cavaliada.pl/ under the ‘Competitors’ tab.

The organisers are already inviting you to the CAVALIADA Tour 2025/2026, which will start with the competition in Warsaw on 6-9 November 2025.