Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann's Messi van't Ruytershof is jumping again

Messi van’t Ruytershof is back. At the CSI2* Tour in Valkenswaard, Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann rode her Nations Cup horse on the course for the first time in over a year. The pair started off small with a 1.15-meter and a 1.30-meter course. But for Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, these two rounds were nonetheless a milestone, as she notes in her post-event report from the weekend:

Just a very short walk, but it was the absolute highlight for me! After more than a year away from competitions, Messi was back at a tournament for the first time and felt really great!

Rotterdam

Their last tournament together was the CHIO Rotterdam in early June 2025. There, they were part of the German League of Nations team. They were the last pair on the German team, but from the very first obstacle, Messi didn’t seem to be getting enough air over the jump; he had a fault right at the second obstacle, stepped into the water, and in the triple combination, he refused to jump the final fence. Meyer-Zimmermann didn’t even attempt to ride him again. Messi was clearly not himself. She gave up. Since then, things had gone quiet around him. So it’s no wonder that the former World and European team champion is happy to be able to ride him in competition again.

About Messi

Messi van’t Ruytershof is a 14-year-old BWP gelding by Plot Blue out of a For Pleasure dam. His granddam is one of the most famous mares in Belgium, Diamantina van ‘t Ruytershof by Diamant de Semilly, the full sister to Emerald van’t Ruytershof and numerous other horses that have enjoyed success in both competition and breeding. As the name suggests, the Ruytershof stable is responsible for breeding Messi.

The gelding was six years young when Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann began riding him. She trained him carefully, and success wasn’t long in coming. In Hamburg, at her home tournament, the Schenefeld native competed Messi at the CSI5* level for the first time at age nine and placed him in the Grand Prix right away with just one time penalty point. Shortly thereafter, they took second place in the Hagen Grand Prix.

In 2022, they won the Hagen Grand Prix, laying the groundwork for the “Rider of the Year” title, which Meyer-Zimmermann went on to win in 2023 for the second time, following her victory in 2015. During the 2022 season, they also recorded two clear rounds in the CSI5* Nations Cup in Sopot, Poland, placed second in the Grand Prix, and were selected for the Nations Cup team in Aachen, where they also jumped two clear rounds and led the team to victory. Later that year, they represented Germany at the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona. In 2023, they qualified for the World Cup Final in Omaha, where they finished 15th.