24 Sep CDI Hagen – Special end to the outdoor season
Hagen a.T.W. — “That was a really special end to the outdoor season,”- former Danish team rider Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein found the perfect words for the CDI Hagen. Participants from 26 nations, new best performances, strong national and international competitions and many well-known names – these were the cornerstones of the four-day dressage show, which not only took up the original date of the International Ludwigsburg Dressage Festival at short notice, but more than worthily made up for it.
Best performances in Hagen
More than 100 riders used the event to show their young horses for the first time internationally, others presented their top horses once again before the winter season. Olympic squad member Frederic Wandres (Hagen a.T.W.) won the CDI4* Grand Prix on Friday with his World Championship horse Duke of Britain FRH, underlining the consistent form of the Aachen winner. The Swedish championship rider Patrik Kittel must be pleased about winning the CDI4* Freestyle on Saturday with Forever Young HRH. The event was particularly successful for Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock. With Florine OLD she won the Grand Prix and the Special on Sunday with two personal best scores, and with Queolito she was able to achieve third place in the Freestyle Tour twice. The rider from Ostbevern will therefore not forget this weekend in a hurry. Dressage rider Lisa Müller (Munich) was also delighted with two excellent third places for her stallion D’Avie in the Special Tour and praised the decision to hold the show in Hagen: “I am very grateful to the Kasselmann family for organising the show as a replacement for Ludwigsburg anyway. I always enjoy coming to Hagen when it is in any way possible.”
Draw card Hagen
This was also confirmed by national coach Monica Theodorescu: “The starting fields say that it was the right decision to organise the CDI in September. Hagen is always a magnet for the riders, no matter what time of year it is. There are also top-class international judges with Olympic experience here, which the riders really appreciate.” For Theodorescu, the event was also a good opportunity to view and support many of her students on site and to get an idea of their performance under test conditions.
Successful DSP Auction
The auction ‘Your Majesties’ of the DSP Breeding Association took place for the first time in Hagen and was a resounding success. The average price of the 16 dressage foals was 12,703 Euros. The top price of 40,000 Euros was achieved by Dreamcatcher GE, a son of Dynamic Dream out of a dam by Grey Flannel. Once again, the Neustadt P-family was the top-priced foal at the auction. Buyers from the Ukraine secured the typey colt bred by Sandy Pöhler on the spot. Buyers from Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Ukraine and of course Germany are also the new proud owners of a foal.
Host Ullrich Kasselman expressed his satisfaction: “Unfortunately, there was no possibility to build the footing in Ludwigsburg the way we wanted it. Therefore, we considered moving the event to Hagen. The result surprised us: So many riders from so many different nations entered that we had to do two tours in the Grand Prix. The riders are thrilled. It is quiet compared to other events here, but this way the dressage riders have the best opportunity to present their horses. From the sporting side, it’s a top show and you could certainly expand on this should Hagen get the date next year as well.”
Photo: Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock and Florine OLD won the CDI4* Grand Prix Special on Sunday with a personal best scores (c) LL Foto