Kaya Ehning and Olympia Noordenhoek win the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters

The winners were delighted – and so was the event organiser. “I’m absolutely thrilled with the quality of the horses. We have an outstanding field of exceptionally talented young horses here, and not simply the same horses you see competing week after week at the major venues such as Peelbergen,” said Holger Hetzel. It was particularly gratifying for the founder of the Young Horse Masters that many of Germany’s leading training and trading stables embraced the opportunity to compete at the event.

Two championship finals were decided on Sunday, with the five-year-old horses and the seven- and eight-year-olds taking centre stage and producing sport of the highest calibre.

The prestigious final for the oldest young horses was won by Switzerland’s Kaya Ehning aboard the Dutch mare Olympia Noordenhoek. The mare is owned by Hannah Meyer, who entrusted her to Kaya Ehning. Kaya lives and trains together with her husband Johannes in Stadthagen. Their victory earned them the largest share of the €100,000 prize fund in the Hetzel Horses GmbH & Tiemeyer Automobile, Gelsenkirchen Prize.

Second place went to Hendrik Dowe (Heiden) with the Westphalian gelding Unglaublich by United Touch S, while Marco Kutscher (Bad Essen) claimed third aboard Carlo, a son of Conthargos owned by Heinrich Dowe.

The title for the five-year-old horses went abroad. Lithuania’s Nojus Chmielauskas, a member of RSG Niederrhein, guided the Lithuanian-bred mare Dita to victory in the jump-off. With a faultless round in 38.52 seconds, the pair secured the championship title.

European Champion Richard Vogel (Bensheim) finished second with the Hanoverian stallion Elton, owned by Vogel & Will Equestrian GmbH and bred by Jens Löhden. The talented stallion had already impressed during the qualifying rounds. Third place went to the hosts, Hetzel Horses GmbH, as Laurens Houben, a rider for the Hetzel stable, presented the AES gelding Golden Earring. Richard Vogel also secured another top placing with the Westphalian stallion Maroon.