HIPPOLOGICA inspires trade fair audience
In front of full grandstands, equestrian athletes showed their skills at the Green Week horse show. The HIPPOLOGICA continues until Sunday.
The pole wobbled, the next one too. A murmur went through the audience. Ludwig Sternberg from RFV Niederwerbig e.V. in Brandenburg was going fast on his 13-year-old German sport horse mare Charistea, very fast. "Is this exciting. I could sit here for hours," said one visitor. In the end, all the poles stayed down. No faults and a time of 57:66 seconds earned Sternberg and Charistea a lot of applause as well as first place in the 1st M** class show jumping competition, the opening competition of HIPPOLOGICA.
At the Green Week horse show, the best equestrian athletes from the region and surrounding states compete in the disciplines of jumping and carriage driving against each other. The competition program in Hall 25 consists of six show jumping competitions and three driving competitions for pairs. Dressage and vaulting are not part of the show program this year. On Saturday at 10 a.m., however, there will be a one-hour presentation of the Berlin-Brandenburg vaulting sport.
Engaging the audience
"We had to focus," says Peter Fröhlich, managing director of the Landesverband Pferdesport Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. (LPBB). The show jumping program was expanded, firstly because it was more worthwhile for the athletes to travel for six competitions. In addition, the competitions should be understandable not only for equestrian sports, but also for the fair visitors of the Green Week. "Show jumping is exciting," says Fröhlich, as is carriage driving, in which the two-in-hands have to be steered at breakneck speed through cones and fixed obstacles on which balls are placed. If a ball falls, there's a time penalty. "It's incredibly engaging for the audience," Fröhlich says.
The highlight is the Grand Prix
The show jumping tournament culminates on Sunday in the HIPPOLOGICA Masters Jumping with the Grand Prix, the sixth class S** jumping competition with obstacles at a height of 1.45 meters. The Grand Prix is endowed with 6,000 euros in prize money, of which 1,200 euros will go to the winner. "On this scale, it is the only indoor riding tournament to be held in Berlin this year," says Peter Fröhlich.
In the HIPPOLOGICA Masters Driving, the times from all three competitions count. The award ceremony for the winners will take place on Sunday after the last competition, the combined obstacle driving for M class pairs, at 4 pm.
The complete program can be found on the HIPPOLOGICA website: https://www.hippologica.de/de/das-turnier/.
Those who wish to be informed about the latest results can do so at https://results.equi-score.de/event/2023/21450/de.
