Arabische Pferde IN THE FOCUS Nr. 3-2020 (Vol. 23) - public

In the Corona year 2020, the European
Championship was the first tournament of
the year for some riders, because at the end
of July public sports events were not yet possible
in many countries. It was all the better
that, despite the adverse external circumstances,
so many riders came to Wiener Neustadt
and enjoyed these four days like a vacation.
Whoever you asked, everyone was grateful for
this change during those Corona days, grateful
for the opportunity to meet old friends, make
new friends, and do something with their
partner horse. The sporting spirit was always
in the foreground. For example, those who did
not have the right equipment for the Hunter
Pleasure, which was advertised as a European
Championship title for the first time, found a
fellow rider who could borrow the equipment.
This togetherness despite sporting ambition is
what distinguishes this event.
48 horses and riders from five nations had
come: Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland,
Germany, and of course Austria. Not all starters
took part in the actual European Championship,
some of the riders also brought young
horses for the Newcomer and Master Championship.
At the European Championships, there
were 39 medals in a total of 13 disciplines, new
additions were Hunter Pleasure and Ranch Riding,
and as in the previous year, the costume
classes were divided into Western and Classic.
Germany was represented with nine horses,
six of which took part in the actual European
Championship and four won gold, three silver,
and two bronze medals. The most successful
horse was (once again) Haifi El Sorrento under
Susanne Hoyler, who won two gold, one silver,
and two bronze medals. Only the Austrian Susanne
Schuh with Loggia (2 gold, 2 bronze)
came close to them.
The host country Austria naturally had the
most irons in the fire, or rather horses at the
start. And so the Austrians took home the
most medals: 8 x gold, 8 x silver, and 9 x bronze.
However, it should not be overlooked that
the various pleasure classes (Classic Pleasure,
Hunter Pleasure, Native Costume (western and
classic), Ladies Sidesaddle, Western Pleasure)
are better known in Austria than in Germany
thanks to the activities of Sissi Chat. And in
these six classes alone, 18 medals were awarded!
The "Classics"
The dressage test this year suffered particularly
from the low number of starters, and the
quality of the rides as a whole was below the
level of previous years. There were various reasons
for this. For the winner Haifi El Sorrento
(BS Specific / Haifi Dinjah) *2005 under Susanne
Hoyler, it was the fact that since January 1,
2020, no whips are allowed in the test, which
the rider only realized shortly before the start.
This was the reason why the gelding did not
perform the flying changes with the same zealous
as we know it - and yes, one even had
the impression "now he will stop entirely". All
in all, it was a confident performance as usual
and the couple won the test rightly and by a
wide margin. Haifi El Sorrentos victory could
only have been challenged by Galahad under
Helena Jody Byrne, but Helena and her mother
were the unlucky ones of the event: First burglars
had stolen all their money from the car,
and then Galahad was injured on Saturday
and could not go forward to the European C
hampionship tests. So GFH Sandhya (Baikal /
Desert Safanad) *2012 remained in the race
under André Reitermayr as the second-best
starter, a horse that we knew from western
sports so far! André Reitermayr wanted to prove
that a horse can be trained or presented in
two different riding styles (for more on this see
"The Experiment", page 64). An experiment,
but you wonder whether the European Championships
and an advanced level dressage test
are the right moment for it.
In third place was Akwadar, who came from
Poland under Danuta Kononchuk, an impressive
stallion who is still lacking in coolness.
Overall, the jumping competition was more
enjoyable. Although there were only four starters
here, it was the most exciting test of the
whole event. This was primarily due to Neele
Schlichte, the youngest participant in the tournament,
and her Al Ashar (Ashur / Aswana V)
*2005, our "Arab of the Year 2019". This team
had already won the preliminary and qualifying
tests (Newcomer and Master Championships),
so they were the last starters and
rolled up the field from behind. With prudence
but at high-speed Neele steered the stallion through
the course and the two won gold again
with a sovereign zero-fault ride! Neele beamed
and laughed at every obstacle, it was obvious
that the two of them had a lot of fun - and
that's exactly what this tournament is supposed
to convey, along with all the performances
that are delivered here. The three other starters
all came from the stud of Martina Minhard,
Al-Qahira Arabians - that is not an everyday
occurrence either. Silver went to Kalderon
Qahira (Ghandour / Sevilla) *2005 with Antje
Aigner, a couple who is also successful in eventing
- even though Kalderon lost his left eye in
an accident! Espinosa Qahira (LM Libretto /
Shamal) *2000 landed in third place under her
owner Alexandra Moosburger and thus received
bronze. This mare is a phenomenon and
represents the versatile and long-lived Arabian
par excellence. She is now 20 years old,
still takes part in cross-country tests regularly
with her owner and in 2007, at Stadl Paura,
they already won the European Champion Allaround
title in one-in-hand driving in 2007, a
test that has unfortunately not been done in
recent years due to too few entries.
Let's go west
Of course, the reining competition is always
awaited with great excitement at the western
tests. This year Gerhard Hairas managed to
win the Reining with TR Whata Hottie (What
it Takes / Paf Tohottohandle) *2011 from Gut
Fronleitenhof. He has been a regular participant
for years, earlier with his horse, today
with a "leased horse", and mostly he was placed.
He won the Reining with 211.50 (141)
points, just ahead of the reigning European
Champion CH Silverlight (Azjaa / Silver Riole)
*2004 with Verena Böckle in the saddle. The
third was by far GFH Sonar Seganges (Ganges
/ Sonora) *2009, our "Arab of the year 2018"
under Reinhard Hochreiter. "Unlucky" for this
Sport
European Championships for Sport Arabians 2020
Medal
Jumping
Dressage
Classic
Pleasure
Hunter
Pleasure
M. Native
Costume
(classic)
M. Native
Costume
(western)
Ladies Side
Saddle
Western
Pleasure
Reining
Trail
Ranch
Riding
Classic
Allround
Western
Allround
Gold
Al Ashar
Haifi El
Sorrento
Valerie
Erasomos
Ojinegro
Qahira
Loggia
El Trocadero
Ashraf Al
Shams
TR Whata
Hottie
Rosaleda
Qahira
CH Silver
Light
Haifi El
Sorrento
Loggia
GER GER AUT AUT AUT AUT AUT NED AUT AUT GER GER AUT
Silver
Kalderon
Qahira
GFH
Sandhya
Haifi El
Sorrento
Kalderon
Qahira
Kalderon
Qahira
Zahims
Alina
Cyrano
MM
Sandrine
CH Silverlight
Vadim
Zahims
Navii
Ojinegro
Qahira
Ashraf Al
Shams
AUT AUT GER AUT AUT AUT POL AUT GER AUT GER AUT NED
Bronze
Espinosa
Qahira
Akwadar
Ojinegro
Qahira
Haifi El
Sorrento
Haifi El
Sorrento
El Trocadero
Akwadar
Loggia
GFH Sonar
Seganges
Loggia
Baikals
Shangrila
Kalderon
Qahira
El Trocadero
AUT POL AUT GER GER AUT POL AUT AUT AUT AUT AUT AUT
3/2020 - www.in-the-focus.com
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