October 19, 2025 
Eightieth. Eliminated. Twenty-six. Ninth. Seventeenth. Thirteenth. Sixteenth. Eleventh.
If you looked at Cartania’s FEI finishes, a casual glance wouldn’t have made you pick her as a five-star winner. Until a couple of weeks ago in Avenches, Switzerland, she had never won a competition.
But let’s break down where those results were: individual win in the Avenches Nation Cup, eliminated at Badminton, thirteenth at Burghley, sixteenth individually at Arville Nations Cup, and eleventh at Badminton.
When her rider, Felix Vogg (SUI) chooses to push for the time, they knock on the door of success. And five stars are where they shine.
Thanks to a travel grant from the Maryland International Equestrian Foundation, Vogg swung that door open. Adding only 0.4 time faults to their dressage score for a total cumulative penalty score of 28.7, he and Cartania won the MARS Maryland 5*.
“[Cartania] tried so hard. And that’s how it is always like in life—if you need a woman, a strong woman, she’s there,” he said in his post win interview. “I wanted to win all week. But of course, many people want that.”
Vogg has been partnered with Cartania for seven years. But it’s just this year he’s found the key to unlocking her strength with the help of girlfriend, Austrian Olympian Lea Seigl (no. 7 on the current FEI World Rankings for Eventing) and former German show jumping coach, Marcus Döring, who after years of begging finally agreed to train Vogg at home once a week.
“She was not a typical winner, I would say, always struggling a bit in dressage, tiny bit in show jumping. [But] the cross country: there’s nothing she cannot jump, and there’s nothing I ever teach [her] across country, except getting her to do her jumps correctly. Maybe the fitness work is for me. From her, it’s natural, sometimes a little bit too much. She’s sometimes a bit too brave.”
A minor teeth problem earlier in the season made Felix experiment with bits for Cartania. First he moved from a Pelham to a Dutch gag bit of four rings for cross country to help manage that enthusiastic bravery and natural ability through these almost four mile courses. Then he moved to a hackamore for the show jumping, which unlocked the mare’s brilliance over the colored poles.
“When I got her, I didn’t know she was that strong and so temperamental, but, yeah, overall, I think we made a good decision to focus on five stars with her.”
Sunday’s win adds Vogg to the history books beyond the Maryland record books: he is now the first Swiss rider to win more than one five star. He won Luhmühlen in 2022 on Colero. The only other Swiss five-star winner was Captain Hans Schwarzenbach, who won Badminton in 1951 on Vae Victis.
With his Olympic partner Colero, European Champions partner Frieda, and a slew of young horses waiting in the wings with his newly minted five-star winner Cartania, the 35-year-old has depth on his side. It seems likely this isn’t the last time we will see his name at the top of a five star.
But first: a haircut is in store.
“My groom [Orla Thompson] said if I win, she’s allowed to cut my hair. I didn’t expect it to happen, but we made a deal. If I [didn’t] win, I [was] allowed to cut her hair. She’s pretty lucky!”
The final five star event of 2025 takes place next week at Étoiles de Pau in France, October 23–26, 2025.
