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Prior to the 2023-edition of Jumping International de La Baule, Swedish rider Marcus Westergren was a relatively unfamiliar face on the five-star circuit. However, that changed after Westergren and the only 9-year-old Fellaini de Liebri Z (Faustino de Tili x San Patrignano Corrado) took the top honours in Thursday’s main class – the 1.50m Prix FFE – and finished fourth in the 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix Ville de La Baule. While not well known at top level, Westergren is a regular competitor at both national and international shows – and for the Swedes the 47-year-old’s success was perhaps not that surprising. 

Westergren brought three horses to La Baule; Hurry Up G (Bernini x Berlin) as his first horse, Fellaini de Liebri Z as a second horse and Crunch Air (Crunch 3 x Calato) as the third horse. “The plan was for Hurry Up G to do the Grand Prix, but she got kicked the day before the show started so we had to make a change of plan. Fellaini has been very good with what she has done so far in her career, and she has done everything extremely easy. Until La Baule, the biggest she had jumped was CSI3* Grand Prix classes, but the step up to CSI5* level went very well,” Westergren says with a smile. “I really enjoyed La Baule, the arena is fantastic, and the audience and the atmosphere was just amazing. I have never experienced that much applause even before riding through the start line, and then it is of course very motivating to perform well.”

During his career, Westergren has been riding on and off at five-star level – the last time was in 2019. “When I was young, I of course had a dream about the big sport, but then you have to work and make money so I have been focusing on developing young horses. That has worked very well, so now we keep some horses for a bit longer – which actually was an initiative from my wife Lena. Then we sell some horses that are on their way up the classes and that gives us the possibility to keep other horses longer,” Westergren explains. 

Marcus and his wife Lena are based on a yard outside Stockholm, where they have about 20 horses. “We have everything from one-year-olds to older competition horses. The number of horses always fills up from a very young age and we have several youngsters that I really hope for in the future,” he tells. 

“I have had Fellaini since she was six and when she was seven, we did the FEI WBFSH World Breeding Championships and qualified for the final. She belongs to my wife’s sister Lotta Finnhammar, and even though we now have had some amazing offers on her, Lotta has decided to keep her – which I’m really happy about,” Westergren smiles. 

When looking towards the future, Westergren says that he hopes to one day do a championship. “However, we have so many fantastic riders and horses in Sweden, so it is not easy. I’m really happy that we have this number of good riders though, and I think it might make it easier for more Swedish riders to get into the bigger shows. Which show organizer doing a Nations Cup wouldn’t want to have Henrik von Eckermann at their event? This also opens doors for someone like me. Of course, we then have to perform, which I think we managed quite well in La Baule with Swedish riders ending 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Rolex Grand Prix,” Westergren closes off. 

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