A little calm has returned to everyday life, Edouard rides his horses outside in the paddock. The end of the World Cup season with the final in Basel was a few days ago, and the 25-year-old is still generally satisfied with 16th place, even though he missed his goal of finishing in the top ten.
«The week was good. What Gamin and I showed was still in line with the target,» he says. He had opened the three-part competition with a fantastic clear round in a difficult course (9th place) - but he was very unlucky in the second jumping competition. The martingale, an auxiliary rein, broke due to a material fault. This irritated both horse and rider, and two knockdowns set them back. But another clear in the third competition gave Edouard hope again, «on Sunday I was satisfied despite the two faults. They weren't big ones, and some of them are simply inexplicable.»
With 16th place, he moved up seven places compared to 2023 in the USA - after half a year of major challenges. In September, he moved into his own stables in Anières in the canton of Geneva and only qualified for Basel at the last moment. Now Edouard is already preparing for the outdoor season. «It started for us immediately after Basel, the younger horses want to be moved, they need to gain experience quickly,» he says. And Gamin van't Naastveldhof has a well-deserved break, he will be back in the spotlight at the CSIO in St. Gallen at the end of May.
