Anna Siemer’s FRH Butts Avondale. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
If there’s any such a thing as Mecca for horse people, it can be found within the grounds of CHIO Aachen. Tucked away in an unassuming bit of an overlooked city (at least since the end of the Frankish Empire in the ninth century), where Germany meets its Belgian and Dutch neighbours, it isn’t just the rallying point for top-level equestrian sport across five disciplines, it’s also the pride and joy of the city itself. You can ride one of a fleet of buses emblazoned with Scott Brash or Marcus Ehning to the front gates; you can pick up horse-shaped gingerbread at the bakeries in the city’s historic centre. You can watch fleets of Quarter Horses (this year, the show’s partner country is the USA) parade over the cobblestones outside the cathedral; you can catch, for some reason known only to the gods of one-hit wonders, Lou Bega of Mambo Number 5 fame striding down a red carpet on the show grounds. For a couple of weeks of the year, everything in the city centres around horses — and for the rest of it, it anticipates it richly.
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier sums up how we all feel to be back on CHIO Aachen’s hallowed turf. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
CHIO Aachen, styled as the World Equestrian Festival, isn’t just a horse show — it’s THE horse show. Its CSI5* Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious in the world, and a leg of Rolex’s Grand Slam; its CDI4* and CDI5* dressage Grands Prix and Freestyles attract the biggest names in the sport; its combined driving competition is packed with stars, as is its week one vaulting programme. And its invitation-only eventing, our focus this week, is a showcase of the crème-de-la-crème of horses and riders, held in a Nations Cup format that its constituent nations use as a barometer of their performances on the world stage.
In an Olympic year, Aachen’s CCIO4*-S becomes even more interesting. Will nations send their Paris horses and riders for an eleventh-hour tune-up over Rüdiger Schwarz’s notoriously tricky, fast, and technical course? Or will they, instead, keep the ‘A’ team at home and use Aachen as a way to develop strength in depth and develop the next generation of Olympians?
Michael Jung and Kilcandra Ocean Power – Michi’s team ride for the week. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
This week, across our field of 45 competitors, we’re seeing a bit of column A and an awful lot of column B. Home nation Germany is on the Olympic-preparation mission; their line-up is helmed by Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH, 2022 winners Sandra Auffarth and Viamant du Matz, and World Championship team members Christoph Wahler and Carjatan S — the very same riders who make up Block A of the country’s Olympic shortlist. They do, though, benefit from being able to host more riders than any other nation, and as such, we also see them following the pipeline mission: Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice, Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K, and Calvin Böckmann and The Phantom of the Opera are among the very strong ‘up and comers’ here to gain experience this week and, in the process, make their bid for the reserve slot at Paris.
Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The Brits and Americans are two nations who are mixing big-name talent with developing horses; the former brings forward heavy-hitters such as Laura Collett and Dacapo, Kirsty Chabert and Classic VI, and two-time Grantham Cup winners Emily King and Valmy Biats with rising (equine) stars SBH Big Wall, ridden by Izzy Taylor, and Kenzo Power B, ridden by David Doel.
James Alliston and Karma. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The latter has an Aachen frequent flyer in Liz Halliday-Sharp, riding the inexperienced Shanroe Cooley, as well as West Coast favourites James Alliston and Karma, British-based Hallie Coon and Cute Girl, who come here with two four-star wins to their name already this season, and European Development Tour rider Alyssa Phillips and Oskar.
Hallie Coon and Cute Girl. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
There are eleven nations in total represented in this competition, and eight of them will field teams in the Nations Cup competition. Three – Denmark, Austria, and Belgium – are represented by individual riders, though the latter could make up a team from recent Luhmühlen winner Lara de Liedekerke-Meier’s entrants alone: she’ll ride two horses, Ducati d’Arville and Hermione d’Arville, in the CCIO4*-S, and her young talent Pumpkin de la Liniere will contest the Jump + Drive. You can take a look at the entries in full here.
This afternoon, we saw the competition kick off with the first horse inspection, held alongside the whitewashed stable blocks and overseen by a ground jury consisting of Austria’s Christian Steiner, the USA’s Robert Stevenson, and Germany’s Edith Schless-Störtenbecker. 51, rather than 45, horses were presented – beyond those 45 taking part in the CCIO4*-S, we also saw the horses that’ll contest Saturday night’s Jump + Drive relay competition, which brings together teams consisting of an eventer, a show jumper, and a combined driving team apiece.
Peter Flarup and Impressed. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Two horses were held in the course of proceedings, both of which are contesting the CCIO4*-S competition. Those were Impressed, the ride of sole Danish entrant Peter Flarup, and Valmy Biats, Emily King‘s Thoresby winner. Both horses were accepted after a short period of deliberation from the ground jury.
Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Now, the competition proper will unfold over the next two days – tomorrow is a jam-packed day of dressage, beginning at 8.30 a.m. local time (7.30 a.m. BST/2.30 a.m. EST) in the Deutsche Bank dressage stadium, and showjumping in the main stadium, which starts at 5.45 p.m. (4.45 p.m. BST/11.45 a.m. EST). On Saturday, it’s all about the cross-country finale: we’ll see that start at a cheery 9.55 a.m. (8.55 a.m. BST/3.55 a.m. EST) and culminate with the crowning of our new champion. That champion will have their name emblazoned upon the entryway to the 40,000-seat stadium forever, and will designate them as one of the greats of our sport. Greats who include the likes of last year’s winners, Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir; Will Coleman and Off The Record, who took a historic victory for the US in 2021; two-time winners Ingrid Klimke and SAP Hale Bob; Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH… in short, it’s kind of a big deal.
New Zealand’s Ginny Thompson and Capitaine de Hus Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Our pathfinders for the week will be Ireland’s Sam Watson and Ballyneety Rocketman, who start us off in the ring tomorrow bright, early, and hopefully not too bleary-eyed. The US team will be second in the draw, and will be led off by James Alliston and Karma. You can check out the times in full here – remember, British time is one hour behind the local time, while EST is six hours behind.
All the action will be available to follow live on ClipMyHorse.TV, and we’ll be bringing you full reports after each phase, so keep it locked onto EN for interviews and analysis across the next two days. Go Eventing, and Go Aachen!
EN’s coverage of CHIO Aachen in 2024 is brought to you with support from Deirdre Stocker Vaillancourt Real Estate, your prime choice for Aiken, SC property!
World Equestrian Festival CHIO Aachen: [Website] [Program – All Disciplines] [Program – Eventing] [Entries – All Disciplines] [Entries – Eventing] [Live Stream] [Results – All Disciplines] [Results – Eventing] [EN’s Coverage]
