Life Time FRH wins Nuremberg Burg Cup 2025

Life Time FRH – the class nerd

Charlott-Maria Schürmann and the Dunkelfuchs stallions are a match made in heaven. The first horse with which the rider from Lower Saxony won international medals was the Hanoverian World Cup I son World of Dreams. She became double European Junior Champion with him. She and her family then found the then five-year-old Breitling W son Burlington. With him, she won European Championship medals in the Young Rider class and triumphed for the first time in the Nuremberg Burg Cup Final in 2012. Now, 13 years later, the 33-year-old has long since made riding her profession and one of the horses that crossed her professional path was once again a dark chestnut stallion: Life Time.

He was four years old when he came to Charlott-Maria Schürmann. His owner had previously tried out another horse she had trained for sale and was so impressed by his solid training and riding feel that he immediately told Schürmann that he had another young horse that he would like to give to her for training. That was life time. Looking back today, Schürmann says: “I don’t think anyone expected this horse to win the Nuremberg Burg Cup. He was still a total baby, a rascal. He trotted normally, had a lot of rhythm and impulsion. It was all there, but it just wasn’t spectacular.”

In Schürmann’s view, however, this is not the decisive criterion for a future top horse. What is decisive is what happens “between the ears”. And in this respect too, there are parallels between Schürmann’s former star Burlington and Life Time. “This involvement, this attitude, that is so identical and is important to me. The final quality is not at all decisive. But if they participate, listen well and want to develop, that is worth so much more than if we have over-spectacular horses that are perhaps still too sensitive or overwhelmed.”

Life Time, on the other hand, is not easily rattled. Learning flying changes? Where other horses get excited and hot under the collar, Life Time understood what was going on after three days.

The stallion competed three times for Germany at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses. As a five-year-old, he still gave the impression that it was a feat of strength for him to maneuver his stately body through the difficult FEI task. But at least he made it to the final. He also made it as a six-year-old and the impression was already better. When he arrived in Ermelo as a seven-year-old in 2024, he already had his ticket for the Nuremberg Burg Pokal Final in his pocket and had become a real powerhouse. He became the outstanding world champion of seven-year-old dressage horses, leaving the previous year’s silver medal winner Vitalos with Leonie Richter and the super-talented former world champion of five-year-old dressage horses two years earlier, St. Paris, behind him. The rascal had become a dressage horse, officially the best seven-year-old young horse in the world.

Schürmann spared the stallion the 2024 Burg Pokal Final. He had done enough this season. He thanked her by securing his ticket for Frankfurt in outstanding style at the first Burg Pokal qualifier in Hagen in 2025. This was perfect timing, as it was also his first season at stud. The Celle State Stud had lined him up in Ankum. Schürmann trained him, traveling to Ankum every day to ride him, but without demanding much of him. When he returned to her stables after the breeding season, things continued. “He’s just incredibly clever and doesn’t forget anything, a real model pupil,” says Schürmann. As such, he has already looked at the material for the higher classes in the textbook. Piaffe and passage? “He’s got a real talent for it!” Charlott-Maria Schürmann beams from ear to ear. Sounds as if the now nine-year-old stallion will also be seen in the Frankfurt Festhalle in 2026 …

The other winners

Borja Carrascosa’s eight-year-old Hanoverian Manolo FRH by. Morricone was definitely one of the horses with the most potential in this final. Walk, trot, canter – all three basic gaits are well above average in this gelding. He is also beautiful. Unfortunately, however, this was not always as effective as it could have been because Manolo’s neck remained narrow, especially in the really impressive extensions. Other shortcomings that depressed the overall score were the not quite tactful collected walk, an inadvertent wrong jump-off when transitioning from walk to canter, still rather large pirouettes, faltering changes of series and a stumbled parade from canter to halt on the last centerline. This also had a negative impact on the backwards, which was rushed. Conclusion: great horse, but still has some homework to do. Result: 73.171 percent, fourth place.

For Laura Strobel, a former apprentice of Dorothee Schneider who now works as a rider at Gut Vorwerk, it was also the first time that she was able to qualify a horse for the Nuremberg Burg Cup Final. And not just any horse, but the first that she has trained from remonte to advanced level: the eight-year-old Westphalian Alvarinho GV by August der Starke , bred by Vorwerk Stud. In a way, the stallion was born as a Burg Cup horse. His sire was not only successful at Grand Prix level himself with Victoria Max-Theurer, the daughter of stud owner Elisabeth Max-Theurer. He also produced her successful horse Augustin, who won the Nuremberg Cup at the age of seven. And Alvarinho’s dam is a representative of the same mare family that had also produced Vicky Max-Theurer’s championship mare Blind Date two generations earlier, who topped the Burg Pokal Final in 2009. It wasn’t quite enough for Alvarinho to win. But it was a great fifth place for this stallion, who looks like a refined version of his half-brother Augustin. The smart bay scored 72.707 percent. For even more points, we would have liked the movements to be a little more flowing through the body towards the hand and the contact to be a little more constant and even for more lightness.

Beatrice Hoffrogge has her own personal superhero: Zuperman OLD by Vincent Maranello. She owns the Oldenburg stallion herself. Because he is not for sale, she calls him her “hobby horse”. However, this does not mean that Zuperman does not have all the prerequisites to compete at the top of the sport. He already proved this two years ago when he won bronze at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses. Zuperman moves with tremendous power from the hind leg, both in terms of impulsion and impulsion, but also in the movements of highest collection. Unfortunately, he did not always seem completely happy in the Festhalle in terms of contact, he was clearly bent several times and was restless in the mouth. The pair from Dorsten came sixth with 72 percent.

Dr. Reiner Klimke, the inventor of the Burg Cup competition, would have been proud of his granddaughter Greta Busacker! The daughter of Ingrid Klimke had qualified for this final at the first attempt with the eight-year-old Hanoverian mare Frieda NRW by For Dance . When Busacker got Frieda under the saddle as a six-year-old through a friend of her mother, the mare was placed at A level. And that corresponded exactly to her level of training. But she learned quickly. In their first season together, the former U21 European eventing champion presented the mare in an elementary class dressage test for young horses and won. A year later, they won silver in glorious style at the Bundeschampionat for seven-year-old dressage horses. And as an eight-year-old, the mare was in the Burg Cup final. Greta had already won the style prize three times this season alone. And this time, too, it was for a harmonious, expressive ride. If all riders worked so finely with the curb bit, the supporters would have better arguments. Nevertheless, the mare could have pulled more clearly towards the hand, especially in the strong walk. What affected the result the most, however, was the parrying in the second canter pirouette when Frieda felt an urgent need. Too bad! The result was 71.903 percent and seventh place. Incidentally, Greta has not given up eventing, as she later revealed in conversation. In keeping with the tradition of her mother Ingrid Klimke, she wants to continue competing in both disciplines, but is currently lacking a top horse for the bush. But there are some promising youngsters on whom she has high hopes, said Busacker.

Speaking of Ingrid Klimke – one of the horses with which the riding champion was able to make a lasting impression in dressage was the black horse Dresden Mann, who had to be retired from the sport prematurely due to an injury. He had sent his nephew to this year’s Burg Cup Final: the nine-year-old Westphalian Dynoro by Danone I. The dam Dresden Doll is a full sister to Dresden Mann. Dynoro has been trained by Jessica Süß since he was four years old. His victory in Mannheim gave her her first start in Frankfurt, where Süß presented the tall gelding full of dynamism and harmony. It will be even better if she succeeds in pushing his nose even more clearly in front of the vertical. Unfortunately, the pair had a mishap in the four-in-hand changes, which depressed the score. The result was 71.512 percent and eighth place.

Anyone who likes elegant ballerina-type horses will love Juliane Brunkhorst’s Bayside AK ! The eight-year-old dark bay Hanoverian mare is clearly influenced by the genes of the line founder Sandro Hit, who appears twice in her pedigree, via her sire Bon Coeur, who has a Sandro Hit dam, and via her dam’s sire Sir Donnerhall by Sandro Hit. Like the second-placed Vaida-Girl, Bayside AK was a latecomer to the final. Her rider had already said before the final how exciting the atmosphere in the Festhalle was for the mare. This was also evident in the final. Brunkhorst let the mare relax once more during the light trot before she began her task. The mare’s light-footedness and natural cadence were impressive. But you could also see that Bayside really did find it as exciting in the arena as Brunkhorst had predicted. She looked here and there, didn’t get completely relaxed in walk, jumped into canter once in strong trot, but still didn’t fall completely out of her role, which was probably due to her trust in her rider, who led her through the task very sensitively, tapping her neck again and again to give her security and calm her down a little. Conclusion of this first appearance in the Festhalle: a horse with all the potential, but with whom everything is still in the making. Result: 69.390 percent and ninth place.

The 2024 Bundeschampion of six-year-old dressage horses came tenth in the 2025 Burg-Pokal Final: Be Sure FRH by Benicio with Leonie Richter in the saddle. At seven years old, the Hanoverian stallion was the youngest participant in this final. For him and his trainer, it was both a highlight and a farewell, as Be Sure belongs to Helgstrand Dressage and Leonie Richter has started her own business in the new year. Some horses stay with her, but Be Sure is not one of them. The bay trots with an expressive front leg and elasticity. In canter, however, he has problems jumping uphill over his back. The tendency is recognizable, but the stallion does not jump from back to front over the loose back. This causes him problems in the exercises, especially in the pirouettes. With a score of 69.195 percent, the pair took tenth place.

Once a premium stallion at his licensing, the beautiful dark chestnut Bon Courage FRH by Bon Coeur, bred and owned by Dr. Christina Feichtinger, has now found his rider in Thomas Schulze. Bon Coeur , bred and owned by Dr. Christina Feichtinger, has now found his rider in Thomas Schulze. Schulze is one of the riders who took part in the Burg-Pokal Final for the first time in 2025. With Bon Courage, he has a horse with all the potential. But for all his dynamic movements, one would have liked to have seen a little more collection and uphill tendency due to the load absorption. The walk was particularly expensive. Although Bon Courage marched off in a strong walk with plenty of scope, the “equilateral but not simultaneous” in the footfall sequence was not always clear. In the collection, his feet were sometimes clearly short-long. This is doubly expensive because, as in all tests, the walk score counts twice. The result was 69.049 percent.

Dorothee Schneider presented her 23rd horse in Frankfurt with the eight-year-old Westphalian Voller Emotionen by Vitalis . In a way, she was standing in for his owner Stella Charlott Roth during her pregnancy. This was an obvious choice, as Roth had once completed her training as a horse manager with Schneider and Dorothee Schneider’s first Olympic horse, the mare Diva Royal, also belonged to the Roth family. Now Stella and Thomas Berger’s son Piet Emil has been born healthy and his mother will soon be riding her “Vinz” herself again. The farewell ride with Schneider showed that the two have not known each other for very long. They began full of expression, the gelding clearly enjoying his work. But then small mistakes crept in, such as a short jump-off in the strong trot, unplanned series changes before the first pirouette and jumping around too early and then changing back and forth after the strong canter over the diagonal. So it really was a ride full of emotion with highlights, but also moments of oh, what a pity. The result was 68.146 percent and twelfth place.