2026 Birkhof Dressage Festival: Trischberger Qualifies Kinshasa for the Louisdor Prize Final

Franz Trischberger and Henriettenhof’s Kinshasa will compete in the Louisdor Prize Final in December. After the pair had already won the preliminary test at the dressage festival at Gestüt Birkhof, they were unstoppable in the decisive test as well.

The well-proportioned mare shows great potential for piaffes and passages. It was minor technical imperfections that prevented her from achieving an even higher score than the 72.255 percent she ultimately received. In one of the well-executed piaffes, a few more steps would have been desirable, and the first canter pirouette could have been a bit smaller—minor details that in no way diminish the Bordeaux mare’s potential. On the contrary—there should still be room to earn additional points here leading up to the Advent finale. In the walk—the only minor point of criticism noted by Dr. Dietrich Plewa—one might have hoped for a bit more suppleness, especially at a collected pace.

Lesson-Ready

Otherwise, the mare once again impressed with her maturity and her confidence in executing the dressage movements. Riding Kinshasa’s sister—aptly named Kenia (one wonders, is there a brother named Congo?)—Trischberger won another S-level dressage competition as part of the Birkhof Dressage Festival.

Second place went to Carlos Manuel Valerio Caetano, a Portuguese rider based in the Emsland region. His expressive Oldenburg horse, Gidday by Grey Flanell, made a major mistake during the 15 flying gallop jumps from jump to jump. As a result, he narrowly missed the 71 percent mark but could have reached 72 percent (70.979). This pair has thus also qualified for the final.

With no riding errors, Victoria Nielsen and Princess Paula finished the competition in third place (69.936). The rides that made it onto the podium stood out clearly from the rest of the field.

Short Grand Prix for Thomas Wagner

In the Kurz Grand Prix, the victory went to Hesse: Thomas Wagner and Filigrano Marone. Not only are the two regulars at the stud farm on the first weekend in August, but they also enjoy collecting gold ribbons there. They clearly felt committed to this tradition again this year, as their only ride scored over 70 percent (70.12). Sabrina Linsenmaier and FBW Fiorenzo followed (67.49), ahead of Nicole Isser and FBW DiCaprio (67.07).

All the results from the Birkhof Summer Festival