The Longines FEI European Jumping Championship started on Tuesday in Riesenbeck with the constitutional test of the horses and a warm-up jumping. As reported by the German Equestrian Federation, it is still unclear who will make up the German team for tomorrow's speed competition at their home tournament. Maurice Tebbel's Don Diarado was was not accepted at the horse inspection on Tuesday morning. In the evening he canceled his start. but the four other German pairs made a good impression at their first appearance in the newly designed stadium at the Riesenbeck International facility. The clear objective for the coming days is set by national coach Otto Becker: "We want to have a say in the medals."
Maurice Tebbel (Emsbüren) rightly had high hopes for these European Championships. It is his fourth championship for Germany, after his starts at the FEI European Championship in Gothenburg, the FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Tryon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. But the day started with a scare for the 27-year-old. With a suspected hoof abcess, his stallion Don Diarado was not accepted at Tuesday morning’s (8am) horse inspection. Marcus Ehning (Borken) will be able to compete with Stargold. "I have to try to concentrate on myself. On the one hand, you already want to ride, sure. But when it happens like this, it's not so nice in the end," said Ehning.His Oldenburg Stargold had trotted fresh through the horse inspection in the morning, as had the three other German horses, David Will's C-Four, André Thieme's DSP Chakaria and Christian Kukuk's Mumbai.
For the 31-year-old Kukuk and his young stallion, it is not only a home European Championship, but a real home game, as the two are based at the Riesenbeck International facility. A lot has changed there in recent months. "I have already followed this over the last few weeks and seen in small stages what has changed and what is new. So I've almost gotten used to it now," Kukuk said. "It's a home advantage, of course, because there are quite a lot of people there that you know, that are part of the team and part of the family. They can all be there this week, and I'll count that as a home field advantage." On his return from the Olympics, he said, "Mumbai did great on the trip. He had a bit of a rest afterwards, went out into the field with his groom. I was looking forward to the food in Germany. And it was nice to be back home in other ways, too."
Also in Tokyo was André Thieme (Plau am See). He returned with many new experiences in his luggage. He now wants to attack in Riesenbeck with his mare DSP Chakaria: "My goal is to do one or two things better here. There can't be more pressure than in Tokyo. That's why I want to try to keep my cool. Chakaria didn't go to any tournaments after Tokyo. We have jumped on grass once or twice since then, which felt very good. She came through the trip and everything great. Before Tokyo I felt a little less pressure, that increased during the event. With this previous experience, it's like I'm going into this championship with a lot more pressure, but that's how everyone feels, you have to be able to handle that."
Making their championship debut in Riesenbeck will be David Will (Marburg) and his 13-year-old Holstein gelding C-Four. "To be part of a championship for the first time is something very special," said Will (33). "C-Vier and I became pretty good friends last year. It all happened pretty quickly. The objective is to be as good as possible, but of course not just by the motto, to be there is everything." Will last saw the facility in Riesenbeck in 2020. A lot has changed since then: "Last year there was the new sand arena, which was already a significant improvement because you can now prepare the horses really well. Now there is a second large sand arena and permanent stabling, which of course makes a huge difference, especially for the well-being of the horses. The stalls are huge, everything is really well thought out with washing areas for the horses. It's hard to do that better."
National coach Otto Becker is also full of praise for the event team: "Hats off to Ludger and his team for what they have put together. With the grandstands, it has a real stadium character. The whole facility is great. It's worthy of all honor what they have achieved here in the last few months." Such a facility, which has already hosted the German Youth Championships and the German Senior Championships, would be good for Germany as a tournament location, said Becker. "I have to give a huge compliment to Riesenbeck and Hagen, where the European Dressage Championships will be held next week. Both have put on European Championships within a few months. We could easily add two or three more facilities with these conditions, so that Germany remains one of the main bases in Europe. We have a huge tradition with events and a facility like this, and hopefully a few more, would of course underpin that for a long time to come."It is not only the great conditions in Riesenbeck that make the national coach optimistic about this championship: "I see the advantage here in contrast to Tokyo in the fact that we have a drop score again. If a round goes wrong here, you can make up for it the next day. That helps, of course. That's the tried-and-tested system that we know and like. I think we are well prepared and of course we are aiming for a medal. We saw in Tokyo that it's not a dream come true. But we want to have a say in the medals."His review of the Olympic Games is mixed: "Tokyo did not go optimally for us, of course. In the singles, the newcomers in particular paid a price. A mistake happened quickly, which is of course not bad, but it was still not good enough to qualify for the individual final."
The disappointment after the team final was also great, according to Becker: "After the team qualification, in which we had three faultless rounds - apart from one time fault - we naturally expected more in the final. That was disappointing for everyone. But we have a new chance here, a new championship, it's back to square one. And as André said, they gained experience in Tokyo. Maybe we missed that a little bit there. If I think back to Rio, afterwards we had a European Championship with the newcomers, where they learned something. And the year after in Tryon, we won gold and bronze."
source: Press Release