John Whitaker wins Grand Prix – Luciana Diniz was third at Hagen

Great Britain showed itself to be on top form on the final day of Horses & Dreams meets Russia: 57 year-old Brit John Whitaker, who has characterised show jumping in the UK like noone else, won the Deutsche Kreditbank AG Grand Prix and with it the first leg of the DKB Riders Tour. “The horse jumped well“ said Whitaker, “I’ve had him since he was four years old.“ The grand seigneur of show jumping was followd by two women: Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum from Thedinghausen and Luciana Diniz from Portugal.

Michaels-Beerbaum from Lower Saxony sat in the saddle of Unbelievable, the horse she has had since the end of 2012 and who took part in Horses & Dreams at Hagen a.T.W. with American Peter Wylde in 2011. Luciana Diniz emphasised the strengths of her horse, Fit for Fun. “She is as her name suggests, we all have a lot of fun with her,“ laughed the Portuguese rider, who is taking part in Horses & Dreams meets Russia on her way to the World Cup final Göteborg.

Organiser of Horses & Dreams Ullrich Kasselmann was delighted with the nail-biting sport and scores of spectators at the tournament, right through to the final day. Hof Kasselmann played host to around 67,000 visitors across five days, not quite as many as in the previous year. Kasselmann said: “The cold weather in the first few days costs us some spectators, but we had record visitor numbers on the Sunday.“ And the guest country for 2014 is now set – it will be Brazil.

The concept of Horses & Dreams generates interest all over the world, and the question has already been raised at Hof Kasselmann as to whether the team could put together a similar event abroad. “I tend to trust in the motto ‚stick to what you know‘,“ says Kasselmann. President of the Russian FN Sergey Maslov had already said he could imagine a similar event concept working well back home, even before the international equestrian sports festival had started…

Super premiere for Thomas Wagner in the German Professional Riders Championship

The newcomer won the title: Thomas Wagner from Bad Homburg took part for the first time in the German Professional Riders Championship at Hof Kasselmann and did everything right. And now the 31 year old is the new champion. Silver went to Holga Finken, while Bianca Kasselmann achieved bronze. After he successfully qualified, the dressage rider said he was feeling relaxed about the final in the short Grand Prix with horse exchange. That was obviously the right strategy. He achieved his best score with Bianca Kasselmann’s horse Weltclassiker.. “It’s an experienced horse, you notice that immediately“, said Wagner, who brought Amoricelli to the final. “He’s only been competing at this level for a year, which makes it tricky for the others.“ Weltclassiker gave all the finalists a chance to shine: Holga Finken (Kirchwalsede) and title-holder Bianca Kasselmann both scored most points with the four-legged old hand. He came top in the horse assessment of the German Professional Riders Championship.

And the award for fastest change of all time goes to…Danish rider Andreas Helgstrand. Just two and a half weeks ago he sat on Akeem Foldager for the very first time, on the Friday he sent the video of his planned Freestyle Grand Prix to his music expert, on the Tuesday before Horses & Dreams he tried the freestyle for the first time and then came straight across to Hagen a.T.W. And the outcome of all these last-minute decisuons? Two victories – in the Grand Prix and the Freestyle Grand Prix.

Second place went to American Steffen Peters and Legolas. This horse and rider travelled across from the USA especially for Horses & Dreams, and for good reason, as Steffen Peters explains: “Amongst US competition we are very good, but the true test is how we fare in Europe.“

The former World Cup winner feels at home at Hof Kasselmann. There has only been one event similar to Horses & Dreams in the USA: “The World Equestrian Games in Kentucky…“

Thereapeutic riding benefits from generous donations

The ehorses charity campaign raised a total of 1250 Euros in aid of the board for Therapeutic Riding. Celebrities like Olympic team champion Ingrid Klimke donated pieces of equipment, and all horse-riding products were gratefully received. The donated items were sold by ehorses during the five days of Horses & Dreams meets Russia. The campaign attracted donators and buyers in equal measure. Ehorses is now planning to repeat the campaign next year.