The 2026 National Champions among three-year-old riding horses have been crowned

The elegant black mare Moon River by Maxim-Escolar (bred and trained by: Gestüt Gut Neuenhof KG) had already swept the board at the Westfalen Week in Münster-Handorf, becoming the winning mare and state champion in the riding horse arena. Now she repeated her success in Warendorf as well. With long strides (10.0), gaits (9.0), and jumps (8.5), she marched unchallenged to the title under Danica Duen.

Judges Wolfgang Egbers, Reinhard Richenhagen, and Catrin Wingender awarded a 9.5 for the mare’s age-appropriate fulfillment of the criteria on the training scale—known as “rideability.” They were particularly impressed by her natural movement. In addition, the mare was the only one in the group that, when the reins were taken out of the rider’s hands, allowed the horse to chew and at least began to stretch.

The exterior received a score of 8.5 yesterday. Under the new scoring system, this score is combined with the overall impression—each accounting for 50 percent—to form a single rating for “harmony and functionality.” That rating was 9.0. Final score: 9.15.

Aringer Presents a Pair

Sina Aringer presented two horses in this class, both of which are descended from Secret. One was Sixpack, the bronze medalist at the Hanoverian Championships, who has a Sir Donnerhall dam (breeder: Mathias Schulze, owner: Moormann-Hanke GbR). The judges were particularly impressed by the chestnut’s drive, dynamism, and hind-quarter engagement, which they rated 8.8 in trot and 9.0 in canter. He received an 8.7 in walk, an 8.8 in rideability and final score, and a 7.8 for conformation. Final score: 8.72.

The second Aringer horse was the Oldenburg champion Spotlight, whose dam is by Fürst Romancier; she was bred by Laura Brandenburg and is also owned by Moormann-Hanke GbR. The mare has plenty of potential and showed better balance in today’s class than she did yesterday during the mandatory training session. The judges awarded an 8.3 for trot, an 8.5 for canter, an 8.2 for walk, an 8.5 for rideability, and an 8.5 for the final score. Her conformation was rated 7.5. Final score: 8.3.

The judges withdrew two horses from the competition because they were still unable to handle the tasks today.

Presented in their age group

. Two riders who deserve special mention were Christina Winkler on the DSP mare Vaiana by Va’Pensiero-Loving Dancer (breeder and trainer: Josef Rief) and Alexandra Julia Vilmar riding the Oldenburg mare Ambers Tilly Idaho by Tomahawk-Florencio (breeder: Tanja Reinke, trainer: Martin Höck). Both horses were still struggling to find their balance, showed moments of tension, and weren’t always secure in their contact—as is normal for three-year-olds. But the riders didn’t try to give them stability through the hands; instead, they continued to ride them into contact. The scores were nothing to write home about, but the age-appropriate performance certainly was.

Family Horse Named National Champion

The 2026 Champion of Three-Year-Old Riding Horse Stallions is named Flacon, a licensed Hanoverian who was born to the Schenk family and presented by Jacob Schenk—just as he was at the Hanoverian Championship, where he won the bronze medal. Flacon carries Florestan blood on both his sire’s (Fontane) and dam’s (Floris Prince) sides. The tall dark bay moved with good elasticity and appeal in his lively basic gaits and displayed a rhythmically steady walk with sufficient reach. However, he occasionally lifted his tongue. The judges awarded an 8.5 for trot, a 9.0 for canter, an 8.0 for walk, an 8.4 for rideability, and an 8.7 as the final score, to which an 8.1 for conformation contributed. Final score: 8.46.

Silver for DSP

An impressive horse—both visually and in his lively basic gaits—is the chestnut stallion DSP Québec by Quaterback-Fidertanz (breeder: Lutz Jaap), owned by Rothenberger Ventures GmbH. Leslie Rohrbacher presented him. In the trot, the judges awarded an 8.7; in the canter, a 9.5. The walk, by contrast, falls short: while it is steady and diligent, its reach is limited. Rideability was rated 8.0. His conformation received a 7.8 yesterday, contributing to an overall impression score of 8.2. Final score: 8.38.

Bronze for the only Oldenburg horse

The bronze medal went to the Oldenburg stallion, who had also won bronze at the State Championship in Höven and was the only representative of his breed association in today’s competition: Obsidian Cadillac by Obsession Taonga-De Niro, bred by Gert Laisbo, owned by Karsten Schuck, and ridden by David Taylor.

Helgstrand’s Trakehner Champion

The Trakehner champion Hannu Haakon ND did not place in the medal standings. The “ND” stands for Nicole Derlin, who owned the Scaglietti Millennium son—bred by the Trakehner stud Gut Staffelde GmbH—before he was acquired by Helgstrand Dressage a few days ago. Mette Sejbjerg, Helgstrand’s number one stable rider, was in the saddle of the black horse.

At the Trakehner Championships, he had received the perfect score of 10.0 for walk (in the qualifiers) and canter (in the finals). Today, he scored an 8.3 for trot and canter. The walk—extremely ground-covering, though not always with a clearly discernible V-shape—received an 8.5. This drew loud boos from the stands, though it wasn’t entirely clear whether the audience thought the score was too high or too low. Rideability and conformation received an 8.1, and the overall impression an 8.4. Final score: 8.29. The most beautiful moments of the tests occurred during and after the “letting the horse chew with the reins out of hand” exercise. Before that, the contact had been very firm.

You can find all the results here.

Note: A detailed report on the new format of the National Riding Horse Championships and the participants’ impressions will follow in a separate article.