Complication M and Laurens Houben win the Young Horse Masters for six-year-old show jumping horses

The name didn’t reflect the performance: Complication-M is the name of the young Westphalian mare with which Belgian rider Laurens Houben won the final for six-year-old horses at the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters. Quite the opposite — her performance was anything but complicated: two clear rounds and a fast jump-off in 40.14 seconds. The Casco Bravo daughter, bred by Christoph Mevenkamp and owned by Dr. Dagmar Detzel, impressed with her speed and ability in the Prize of Hetzel Horses and Frankonia Eurobau.

And Houben’s boss, Holger Hetzel, was also more than satisfied. Earlier, he had briefly switched disciplines and taken the saddle on a polo pony. After all, nothing beats trying it out for yourself — and on Sunday, before the final competitions, the Arena Cup of the Polo Park Heisterfeldhof will be held at the showgrounds. What started as a show performance last year has now become a fully-fledged cup. Whether the tournament director has already received inquiries for the fast-paced team sport remains unknown. One thing is certain: the show jumper clearly had a great time playing polo.

The Top Trio

A total of 49 pairs competed in the first of three finals at the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters. Behind the winner, Johannes Ehning (from Stadtlohn) secured second place with the mare Bylosh-K van Kattenheye Z. Northern German rider Jonte Hansen (from Behrendorf) took third with Maverick. Tom Schewe — who had won Friday’s second qualifier for six-year-olds with Merrie W — followed in fourth place, this time riding a different horse: Jour J.

While Johannes Ehning had already made his mark with Bylosh by placing eleventh on Thursday and fifth on Friday, delivering two immaculate rounds in the final, Complication-M and Maverick took a bit longer to find their form.

The final winner, Complication-M, who is trained at Holger Hetzel’s facility in Goch, placed eleventh in the second section on Friday, while a single fault on Thursday had kept her from placing. Jonte Hansen’s Maverick also needed some time to settle in at Goch. But the final pairs proved impressively that true quality under saddle needs patience — something they clearly had in abundance during the grand final, a two-phase M** class with jump-off and a remarkable prize pot of €50,000.

For the second time, the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters served as the stage for a foal auction. The venue, where top young show jumping horses are auctioned internationally each November at the Hetzel Auction, has proven to be an ideal location for the organizers of the Flanders Foal Auction. A total of 30 foals were presented in the lot, and the top price on Saturday evening was achieved by a colt by Untouched out of a Comme il Faut dam, which found new owners in China for €60,000.

First Polo, Then Two High-Stakes Finals

Sunday brings the finals for the five-year-old horses as well as for the seven- and eight-year-olds. A total of 41 combinations are set to compete in the special show jumping class (M* with jump-off), starting at 12 noon and offering €25,000 in prize money.

The final highlight of the event is the Prize of Hetzel Horses & Tiemeyer Automobile — a show jumping class at S level with jump-off**, boasting a prize fund of €100,000.

And once again, Laurens Houben will be in the mix — this time riding not just one, but two horses.