The biggest CAVALIADA of the 2023/24 Tour will go down in history!

During the four days of CAVALIADA Poznań, eight MTP pavilions hosted sports competitions, fairs and shows. As many as 30 international classes in show jumping were held, in the ranks of CSI1*, CSIYH, CSI Amateurs and the most prestigious one - CSI4*-W. In addition, the program was completed by national competitions CAVALIADA Future for children and their ponies, ORLEN Driving Tour, TRAF Eventing Tour, CAVALIADA Dressage Tour or Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) Talent of the Year.

Expo & Family

CAVALIADA is also the largest Equestrian Equipment and Accessories Fair in Poland. In the Expo zone, the visitors could see a wide the range of products was offered by 130 exhibitors, presented on a two-thousand-square-metre exhibition hall, as well as attend meetings with equestrian stars and influencers, organised on a special stage. An equestrian fashion show was also held, as well as the presentation of the Grupa MTP Gold Medals. The competition jury, chaired by Professor Grzegorz Skrzypczak, awarded two innovative solutions: the therapeutic product supporting the treatment of difficult-to-heal gastric and duodenal ulcers GASTROGEL, presented at the fair by the Hippovet+ company, and the hydro ozone therapy system for horses, used for treatment, rehabilitation and welness, entered in the competition by Ozone Horse Konrad Pawłowski.

There was tremendous interest in the second edition of the Hobby Horse competitions, which grow in popularity all around the world. Children competing with their "hobby horses", i.e. horses on wooden poles, took part in as many as 14 classes and were divided into three age categories. In total, as many as 269 athletes took part in the competition subsidised by the PGNiG Foundation, and a new addition to the programme was a class with cross-country fences. The patron was held under the patronage of the In_Spire Foundation.

The zone also featured a family area, which offered pony rides for children or a presentation of many breeds of horses and the opportunity to see them up close. Fans also visited Arena 7A, where dressage and show jumping competitions were held, as well as shows prepared by the Polish Horse Breeders' Association and Working Equitation – the star of which was the European and World Champion, Portugal’s David Oliveira.

The main arena hosted the third edition of the CAVALIADA Horse Auction, with a catalog of 2- and 3-year-old showjumpers. Once again, carefully selected youngsters, straight from Polish breeders, presented themselves on the CAVALIADA arena and found buyers among titled European riders. After an exciting evening of bidding, in the end 9 out of the offered 14 horses found new owners. The average price was close to EUR 21,700 and the total amount for which the horses were sold was almost EUR 200,000. This year's auction was particularly popular with foreign competitors of CAVALIADA, who bought as many as four horses.

CSI – CAVALIADA Tour

The most important sport competitions in show jumping were those in the rank of CSI4*-W. The PKO Bank Polski Grand Prix counting for the FEI ranking, the FEI Jumping World Cup Central European League and CAVALIADA Tour for the prize of PKO Bank Polski, under the patronage of the Mayor of Poznań, ended with a victory of the Dutchman Frank Schuttert riding ISIS.

- “First of all, I think it’s an amazing show. We had a great week. There was a very good course designer, and the perfect jump-off, with seven clears. Tani Joosten put a lot of pressure on us as the first to go, she had an amazing jump-off, but luckily for me I could watch her round, and in the end I was quick enough” – said the winner.

The first ranking class within CAVALIADA Poznań, - the Big Tour (145 cm) for the prize of the Polish Equestrian Federation, was lucky for a representative of Sweden - Douglas Lindelöw atop Cheldon. The second most important class was Friday's Big Tour (150 cm, with a jump-off), counting for the FEI ranking and CAVALIADA Tour, for the prize of the National Support Centre for Agriculture, under the patronage of Śliwocki Home. Pim Mulder from the Netherlands was the best, riding VIKTOR Z, and spoke about the competition in Poznań:

- “I like the show a lot, last year I really wanted to come. At the end, I entered and I liked it so much that I thought I have to come back for sure!”

The fourth FEI ranking class was the Medium Tour Final (145 cm, with a jump-off) for the prize of LOTTO, under the patronage of Baborówko Equestrian Association. Here, to the great joy of the fans, the winner turned out to be Poland’s Jarosław Skrzyczyński with the 8-year-old gelding Komboy.

It is also worth mentioning the performance of Andrzej Opłatek, who was the best Pole in both Thursday and Friday's Big Tour competitions. On Thursday he placed 8^th with Le Cordial, and on Friday with Diaroubet – 9^th.

Read more about the CSI competition in the news at poznan.cavaliada.pl.

TRAF Eventing Tour

The eventing rivalry was held twice in Poznań - on Thursday for the prize of Raitech, and on Friday for the prize of Cavallia Estate. The first one belonged to Paweł Warszawski riding Fuerta, while the second one once again ended with a win for Jakub Wiraszka Corrnero, who showed that they are in great shape for the third time in this series already. The rivalry in this competition was truly fierce, one couldn’t be sure who would be the winner until the very end, and it was the fractions of seconds that decided that.

- Mój koń czuł doskonale podczas tych zawodów. Wszystkie dystanse, także te na rozprężalni wychodziły nam bardzo dobrze. Nie ukrywam, że dodało mi to większej pewności siebie. Myślę, że powinniśmy mieć z Julką (Julia Gillmaier przyp. red.) oboje pierwsze miejsce, bo trzy setne sekundy to są naprawdę bardzo małe różnice w rywalizacji - mówił po swoim zwycięstwie Wiraszka.

- "My horse felt perfect during the competition. All the distances, also the distances in the warm-up came out very well for us. It certainly gave me more confidence. I think that Julia Gillmaier and I should both have come first, because three hundredths of a second is a very small difference in the competition.” – said Wiraszka after his win.

TOP 3 of TRAF Eventing Tour after IV stages

ORLEN Driving Tour

The driving competition brought incredible emotions and an action-packed rivalry to the competitors, as well as the public. Saturday's class was held for the prize of ORLEN prize, under the patronage of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, and was unexpectedly lucky by the last rider in the ranking after CAVALIADA Warsaw - Rafał Paszyński.

- My dream was to get to the second round – and I had a very nice surprise today. I didn't expect this to end in victory for me. The fact that I qualified for CAVALIADA is largely thanks to my wife, who asked me to do it. I did it for her, it just worked out and I am very happy. - said Paszyński.

During Sunday’s class, for the prize of ORLEN, the youngest athlete Aleksander Fularczyk scored his first win of the season.

TOP 3 of the ORLEN Driving Tour

CAVALIADA Dressage Tour

The undisputed Queen of dressage at CAVALIADA - Lithuanian Sandra Sysojeva – scored her third and fourth consecutive wins.

- The competition in Poznań was a challenge for me. My horse is a stallion and he had a lot of distractions around him, so it was quite difficult for me to direct his focus on me, which is why the result is a bit lower than I would like, but that's the sport, you have to remember that he's just an animal and he has the right to feel worse. Found Boy will rest a bit now, and at the beginning of the year we will start preparing for the next edition of CAVALIADA in Sopot. However, I am most looking forward to competing at the arena in Kraków. It is my favourite stage of CAVALIADA" - said Sandra Sysojeva.

TOP 3 of CAVALIADA Dressage Tour after IV stages

CAVALIADA Future

The crowd favourite children's pony competition, the CAVALIADA Future for the prize of PKO Bank Polski, strengthened Ignacy Luboński's leading position, already has three wins to his credit in the MINI category. The leader of the midi category, Anna Korus, won the Saturday class for the prize of PKO Bank Polski, under the patronage of Torpol, and on Sunday, in the rivalry for the prize of PKO Bank Polski prize under the patronage of the Poznań University of Life Sciences, Aleksandra Lewicka scored a first-time win. 

TOP 3 of CAVALIADA Future after IV stages

MINI category

MIDI category

In the CAVALIADA Open Tour ranking, an international competition for amateurs, the leader of the Silver category remains Zofia Trela, and in the Gold category the pole position is held by Julia Koszuta.

The organiser of CAVALIADA Poznań was Grupa MTP. The main sponsor was PKO Bank Polski, the strategic sponsor was ORLEN, the host city was Poznań, and the partners were the Greater Poland (Wielkopolskie) Voivodeship, Poznań Ławica Airport and Fly Dubai.