Beautiful, more beautiful, Frankfurt - Part 2

The second part of a three-part series from Johanna's blog on the Frankfurt Festival Hall Riding Tournament.
After Friday already contained some highlights, I could hardly stop my anticipation for Saturday. In my opinion, Saturday held the most beautiful competitions of the weekend.

After getting up early, it was time for a small breakfast at the hotel. After this refreshment, I set off for the show hall. The international Grand Prix Special was on the programme. Many recognised riders went to the start and showed some really fine riding. I was particularly impressed by the performance of show director Matthias Alexander Rath. First of all, I found it respectable that he had time for the preparatory training and then also the show riding in addition to his duties as show director and host at the Frankfurt Festhalle Show! A fabulous achievement. With his stallion Destacado FRH he showed a solid test. Especially the strong walk was an absolute highlight. Destacado showed himself to be completely relaxed and loose. The judges were also impressed and awarded scores up to 9.0, which meant victory!

After the "old hands" showed what great Grand Prix sport should look like, came one of the highlights of the weekend. The final of the "Nürnberger Burgpokal".
On the website of the Nürnberger Versicherung, which sponsors the tournament series, it says: "We support equestrian athletes on their way to the top, e.g. with the NÜRNBERGER BURG-POKAL. The well-known tournament series for 7- to 9-year-old dressage horses has been the centrepiece of NÜRNBERGER Versicherung's commitment to equestrian sport for three decades.
The starting lists for the competition read like a Who's Who of international sport: Olympic, World and European champions compete in the arena with their young horses. Numerous pairs that were sponsored by the NÜRNBERGER BURG-POKAL were successful at national and international level. In total, horses from the show series won 155 medals at national and international championships."
Personally, I am always very happy to see the talented young horses. They are the young stars of the future. Many horses, including Destacado, who won the Grand Prix Special shortly before, have already won the Nuremberg Burg Cup.
Every horse, regardless of its performance in the final, was a feast for the eyes and had certainly earned its place in the final.
Dorothee Schneider was considered the favourite with her gelding "Dantes Hit". The Swiss rider Andrina Suter had already shown a strong performance with her two horses "Del Curto" and "Briatore NRW". Unfortunately, Dorothee Schneider and "Dantes Hit" made some expensive mistakes, so that they ended up in fifth place.
The winner, Andrina Suter, could hardly believe her luck at the press conference: "I wouldn't have believed that Briatore, as a seven-year-old, could steal the show from the nine-year-old Del Curto. He did such a great job. I'm just over the moon."
Suter thus finished first and second in the Nuremberg Burg Cup Final. There has rarely been such a sensation! Third place went to Thomas Wagner from Hesse with his gelding "Wynton's Son".

After the impressive dressage performance, the show continued with an international Longines Ranking jumping competition after faults and time with a unique winning round over a height of 150cm. When I was still inspecting the course, I thought it was going to be a challenging jumping competition. But for the top international riders competing in Frankfurt, the requirements set by course designer Frank Rothenberger were no problem. A total of ten of the eleven clear rounds made it into the winning round. This was true to the motto "Fast, faster, fastest". After almost every round of the riders, I thought to myself: "Gosh, so it can't go any faster!". But every time another rider came along who could beat the time of the previous rider. In the end, a Frenchman, Julien Anquetin, stood at the front. He had already won the opening jumping competition on Friday and was also successful in the Youngster Tour.

A few weeks earlier, Anquetin had already been on the podium in various World Cup competitions. When asked about the secret of his success, he answers simply: "I don't really know myself. I just do it!". Apparently, his tactics seem to work. Second place went to the well-known Dutch show jumper Kevin Jochems, who presented his future hope "La Costa". "I hope that I can participate in some heavy jumping with La Costa in 2023. So far he jumps all the heights effortlessly."
Third place went to the British rider Donald Whitaker, who is based in Hesse.

Afterwards, there was another Youngster Tour competition, which once again featured some great youngsters.
In the meantime, I looked around the show and looked for potential Christmas presents for me and my family. The Frankfurt show simply has endless things to offer. From bits and saddles to jewellery and riding clothes. You can find everything here.

Another highlight at the Frankfurt Festhalle horse show is the charity provided by the team around Matthias Alexander Rath and his stepmother Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff. Every year, the "Purple Horse" collects donations for institutions in Frankfurt. The website says: "Since 2016, the Purple Horse has been an ambassador of the International Festhalle Riding Tournament Frankfurt and collects donations for charitable projects every year. The life-size Purple Horse gets its uniqueness from golden handprints of prominent riders and personalities.
With the Purple Horse charity campaign, the partners of the tournament show their solidarity with the Frankfurt Metropolitan Region and bundle their commitment for a good cause."
For me, this also distinguishes the Frankfurt Festhalle Horse Show. It is not only riders or visitors who are thought of, but also those people who need help in Frankfurt and the surrounding area. Frankfurt is and remains simply unique!

The next highlight, which kicks off the evening programme, should also be unique: the "Final Freestyle" of the Nuremberg Burg Cup, which is ridden at the rider's own discretion.
What sounds strange at first glance is unique in this world. Three of the top pairs from the Nuremberg Burg Cup Final have the chance to present themselves in a freestyle at their own discretion. An absolute highlight, with the Festhalle going wild.
This year Susan Pape, Thomas Wagner and Andrina Suter competed. The latter, however, did not ride her winning horse "Briatore". "Briatore is only seven years old and has already done a lot this weekend and this season. That's why I chose Del Curto." In the final, Del Curto was then a little exciting. But that was no problem for the sensitive Andrina Suter. Again and again she calmed the horse and was thus able to show a solid performance in spite of everything.
In the freestyle, Thomas Wagner and his Wynton's Son, who came third in the final, won. The nine-year-old Wynton offspring did not mind the cheering audience or the loud music. A real "showmaster".

I fortified myself with a portion of noodles before the evening show jumping. A Longines Ranking jumping competition with a jump-off over 145cm. In the end, another man stood in front who already knew the podium in Frankfurt very well: Tim Rieskamp-Goedeking. With his gelding Coldplay, he left the competition behind.
We ended the evening in a cosy bar in Frankfurt.