Germany’s Jérôme Robiné and Thorsten 3, his Jump & Drive partner this weekend. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
“Manage your expectations with this first horse inspection,” I told EN Managing Editor Sally Spickard, who has made her first trip over to CHIO Aachen this year, and, as such, has to deal with me, an Aachen stalwart, explaining every little detail to her. (“This is an arena,” I tell her, helpfully. “This is a selfie zone. This is a piece of wall art illustrating that this year’s partner country is Spain. Spain, in case you didn’t know, is a country in Europe. Ah, brilliant, here’s what I wanted to show you — this is a horse!”)
So Sally’s had a nice first day, I think, walking the buzzy, twisty, relentlessly intense cross-country course; exploring the unrivalled shopping areas (“I found a stand that sells lingerie and halters, in case you need both right now,” she tells me, which, like, maybe, actually); setting eyes on the 40,000 seat main stadium for the first time; taking baby steps along the equine Walk of Fame. We’ve eaten in the Champions Circle, where we queued for a salad with Christian Kukuk (backwards baseball cap; hot, despite that) and watched Marcus Ehning hopefully eye up the dessert bar and then leave, disappointed and empty-handed. We’ve visited the VIP Lindt installation and eaten free Dubai chocolate (irritatingly, it is very good and we have to concede that TikTok was right). We’ve lived like slightly sweaty queens at equestrian sport’s greatest court. Everything is opulence. If you cut us we will bleed Veuve Cliquot and gold bars. We are money.
Yeah no I actually love being in a hedge thanks for asking. Luckily Will Coleman and Off The Record don’t mind me lurking. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
But then we come swiftly back down to earth when we arrive at the first horse inspection for the eventing competition. This bit’s not really intended for public consumption, and so you have to sherpa your way through a shelving system full of toy horse bridles to get stables-side, swapping the luxury for a much more workmanlike set-up. And that’s fine! I always quite enjoy hiding in a hedge like the village pervert, having a minor crisis that I don’t know how to do anything because I can’t expose for both the horses and the glaring white stable wall. It’s fine! We’re fine. You can’t have it all, and that’s okay.
After all, a horse inspection is meant to do a job, and that’s exactly what this one did. We saw 45 horses and riders present for the CCIO4*-S competition, and a further handful present for Saturday night’s novelty relay Jump & Drive class, in front of ground jury members Katrin Eichinger-Kniely of Austria, who’ll serve as President this week, Sandy Phillips of Great Britain, and Joachim Dimmek of Germany.
Emma Brüssau and Dark Desire GS. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Now, though, we’ll go into tomorrow’s busy day of dressage and showjumping with just 44 horses and riders in our main class. That follows a withdrawal from young German talent Emma Brüssau and her longtime partner Dark Desire GS, who were set to make their Aachen debut after a second place finish in the German National Championships CCI4*-S at Luhmühlen last month — but after the sixteen year-old mare was sent to the holding box, Emma opted to withdraw her without representing and save her for another day.
Phillip Dutton and confirmed bad boi Denim, in happier and more upright times. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
That was our only hold of the entire inspection, but not quite our only drama: Phillip Dutton fell victim to a bit of sideways spookery while presenting his first horse, Denim, and took a tumble into the border hedge — but we’re pleased to report he looked no worse for wear, and about as sound as we can expect an event rider to, when returning to trot up Possante a moment later.
Felix Vogg and Frieda. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
With the trot up behind us, and arena familiarisation in the Deutsche Bank Stadium also now complete, it’s time to look ahead to tomorrow’s competition — and what a day of sport it is. We’ll start strong with the dressage phase beginning at 8.30 a.m. local time (7.30 a.m. BST/2.30 a.m. EST), which will carry us on until a late lunch break at 14.30 local/13.30 BST/8.30 a.m. EST. Then, we’ll head to Aachen’s famous main stadium, the Turkish Airlines Stadium, for an evening of showjumping from 18.00 local time/17.00 BST/12.00 p.m. EST. All of it will be live-streamed via ClipMyHorse.TV, and we’ll be bringing you full reports after each phase, plus a jam-packed cross-country preview ahead of Saturday’s fast-paced finale.
In case this is all too confusing for you: a hint.
You can deep-dive into the main players and plot intrigues of this week’s entry list in our preview here, and make sure you tune in to our Instagram stories, too, where Sally’s been sharing some of the best bits of the competition so far. Will she share the lingerie and halter stand? Is there something worse and weirder available in the shopping village? How will Christian Kukuk wear his hat tomorrow? There’s only one way to find out!
CHIO Aachen: [Website] [Program/Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]
