February 28, 2025 
In the eighth week of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, American Grand Prix riders faced off in their last chance to qualify for the FEI World Cup Final slated for April.
Two riders duked it out over the last remaining spot for the Final, happening in Basel, Switzerland: Anna Marek and Kevin Kohmann. Americans Adrienne Lyle and Geñay Vaugh had already qualified.
In the FEI World Cup Grand Prix on Thursday in Wellington, Kohmann topped the class aboard Dünensee to score a personal best of 71.522%. But Marek wasn’t going to let him him have it easy—she placed second with a 70.152% score on Fire Fly. Jan Ebeling topped a 70% score for third place.
Paris Olympians Marcus Orlob and Jane also made their way down centerline—but some big spooks led to Orlob retiring the 11-year-old mare by Desperado before the end of the test.
“We’ve found a strong relationship and what we do here in the warm-up and in the competition arena is just what we do at home; we’re not putting on a show,” Kohmann said about Dünensee, the 16-year-old gelding by Dancier. “I cannot thank ‘Dünee’ enough. He makes me confident so that I can focus on actually riding the test. I am not nervous any more in the arena with this horse.”
Kohmann knew and rode Dünensee as a young horse before he was sold. As fate would have it, his trainer, Cristoph Koschel would get the ride later on in the horse’s career. Koschel eventually persuaded Kohmann to get back on him. The pair began competing at the international Grand Prix level in Wellington in 2023 and have contested in 22 CDIs around the world since, including he 2024 World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“It’s such a nice feeling when you know your horse trusts you. Before we go to the arena I scratch him for 15 minutes in the stall,” Kohmann said. “He gets carrots and apples all day long—I think he likes it better at the show than at home because I pay more attention to him.”
Kohmann said Dünensee is “part of the family” and has earned his forever home.
“Nobody else will ride him after me, he’s not going to be given to other people to learn on,” he said. “When he’s done doing his job with me, he’ll stay with us, be in the field, and live his best life. Although I think right now he’s pretty much living his best life! After a show I give him a few days just hacking, but after two or three days he always tells me that he wants to go back to work.”
Despite the pressure to qualify for the World Cup Final, Kohmann said he is walking into Friday night’s freestyle focused on his horse.
“I just want the same ride I had the last freestyle at AGDF,” he stated, referring to his 77.545% performance during AGDF 3. “I don’t want to do anything better. Dünee did an amazing job last time and I was very proud of him. Just being able to do the same thing a couple of times in a row is difficult enough in this sport, so there’s no pressure on the horse.”
