Although the long four-star test was rather sparsely attended with five pairs, the master of equestrian management with her own facility at home in Münster must have been delighted with the winning result of 40.1 points. This was made up of 29.7 points for the dressage, 6.4 points for exceeding the time limit in the cross-country and one obstacle fault (four points) in the show jumping.

Vanessa Bölting and Ready To Go

Vanessa Bölting celebrated her 45th birthday on Easter Saturday. Together with her family, she runs a riding facility in Münster and says she receives enough support to be able to fulfill the “Ride” part of her life motto “Life is simple, eat, sleep and ride”. Two weeks ago, she had five horses with her at the start of the season in Kronenberg (NED), including Ready To Go, who finished 23rd in the CCI3*-S with 34.7 points.

The 14-year-old Rock Forever son out of a Weinberg dam was bred by Jörg Winterscheid and is owned by Hubert Hermesmeyer. The Westphalian gelding and Vanessa Bölting have known each other for a long time. She brought the bay into international sport as a six-year-old in 2018. In 2022, Vanessa Bölting and Ready To Go took part in the German Championships in Luhmühlen. In Wiener Neustadt, it was their second victory in a CCI4*-L after a success in Floresti, Romania, in 2024.

Successes for the Siegl family

There were only three participants in the long competition at three-star level. Jordy Wilken from the Netherlands won in the saddle on the eight-year-old son of Diarado, Darkness (31.5 points), followed by two riders from Germany: Sophia Frank and Ballinaguilkey Velvet by Ars Vivendi (39.5) and Anna Haag with Little Caterpillar, also by Diarado (47.8).

The CCI4*-S was dominated by the Siegl family from Austria. First and foremost by Lea Siegl. 19 horses competed in the test. Lea Siegl presented no fewer than four of them. Her best horse, Van Helsing P, this now 16-year-old Brandenburg gelding by Van Gogh, galloped to victory thanks to by far the best dressage of the field (25.1), six points for exceeding the time limit in the cross-country and one obstacle fault in the jumping. The bottom line was 35.1 points for the pair.

Closest on the heels of this result was Lea Siegl herself, this time in the saddle on Watermill Giorgio RS by Carambole (37.7). Lea’s father Harald Siegl rode to third place with the ten-year-old Millennium son Monroe de Hus and a score of 39.1 points.

Victory for Sophia Frank with veteran Lord Locksly

There were no German participants in this test, but there were in the short test at three-star level. Sophia Frank left no doubt there and worked her way up to first place with the experienced 18-year-old Lord Locksly after the second-best dressage (31.2) and an almost ideal cross-country (1.2 points for exceeding the time limit) despite two jumping faults.

The terrain in particular presented the 13 pairs in this test with major challenges. Three participants gave up, including Vanessa Bölting with Birkhof’s Lady Ciacomo. Seven pairs came out of the cross-country with more than ten penalty points.

All results