Pia Leuwer and Hanami Finish Sixth in the CCI3*-S in Charlbury, England

Hugo, the son of Ben and Pia Leuwer, who was born in mid-July, is getting to know the world at a very young age. At the end of August, Pia Leuwer and Hanami placed second in the CCI2* in Saulieu, France; this weekend, she moved up a level and used the CCI3*-S in Charlbury to kick off her competition weeks in England.

That was definitely a promising start. Out of 72 competitors in the open CCI3*-S, the pair finished sixth. They started with a strong second-place finish in the dressage (27.3 penalty points), then had one knockdown on the show jumping course but finished clear in the cross-country. On top of that, they incurred 8.4 time penalty points. In the end, their total was 39.7 penalty points.

The victory went to Lucinda Mesquida of Great Britain, riding the nine-year-old Irish horse DSH Golden Eye, who celebrated his first international victory with a dressage score of 30.9 penalty points—even though he already has four-star experience.

Second place went to Irish rider Ian Cassels, riding the eight-year-old Irish stallion Cooley Capri Sun. The pair posted a dressage score of 29.7 penalty points in only their second CCI appearance together. A 3.2-second time penalty in the cross-country cost them their first victory.

Three British pairs were sandwiched between the two frontrunners and Leuwer: Jack Pinkney on Carpo Vivendi (36.7), Kylie Roddy on Aqardente (37.5), and Alexander Bragg on Ardeo Premier (38.0).

Pia Leuwer wasn’t the only rider representing Germany in this competition. Phoebe Locke, who until recently rode for her home country of Great Britain but believes she has a better chance of competing in the championships under the German flag, presented the eight-year-old Irish horse Kilmanahan Ulisses, with whom she competed last year at the World Championships for Young Eventing Horses. There, the pair were eliminated in the cross-country after the horse refused jumps. This weekend, they finished without any jumping faults but incurred some time penalties, ultimately placing 39th.

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a promising young rider from Rodderberg

, and Ben Leuwer were also in action. He competed with the seven-year-old Hanoverian Alf PH by Alaba, bred by Katrin Ackerman-Voelkels, in the CCI3*-S for young horses and placed 26th out of 65 starters after a solid dressage performance (33.8), one knockdown on the course, and 15.2 time penalty points in the cross-country.

Ben and Alf have been a team since this season. Prior to that, the dark chestnut had been successfully presented by Johanna Voelkel-Hilbrich, and Pia Leuwer had also ridden him twice. At the two-star level, Leuwer and the Alaba son have already placed highly several times with their dressage scores. At the three-star level, they secured a top-ten finish in Strzegom at the end of July.

The victory in the Youngsters division went to Max Waburton’s Earl Dorado, a son of Diarado, who is ranked number one in the WBFSH Sire Rankings for eventing. After incurring 32.9 penalty points in dressage, first place didn’t necessarily seem likely, but the pair had a clear round in the show jumping and were one of the fastest combinations in the cross-country, with only 0.8 time penalties.

The next destination for the Rodderberg group traveling to England will be the traditional tournament in Blenheim this coming weekend.

You can find all the results here.