Stuttgart – A first ever in the final of the Piaff-Förderpreises: on Friday, Jenny Lang and Marion Engelen (both Germany) tied for first place in the Grand Prix after each rider scored 69.489 per cent. “It’s the first time it’s ever happened here,” said an amazed Gotthilf Riexinger, the director of the 26th International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS Horse Show, “but both were deserved winners – and the judges were united for once!” Third place in the Prize of Liselott and Klaus Rheinberger Foundation went to Kirsten Sieber (Germany), who was given 65.787 per cent for her performance on Charly WRT.
Fourth to go, the 23-year-old student Jenny Lang and the ten-year-old Holstein gelding Loverboy took the lead in the final after being awarded 69.489 per cent by the five international judges. Favourite Marion Engelen, the 2008 winner and second last year, was the penultimate rider to go. After her ride on the ten-year-old Holstein gelding Diego the judges added up her scores – 69.489 per cent, first place was shared. Today’s ride was the 25-year-old student’s last appearance in the Piaff-Preis as she is now “too old” for the dressage series for young riders. “I’ll be riding in the Grand Prix Tour next year,” said Engelen, a former eventer, who once won a state championship. “The competitions here in the Schleyer Halle are experiences that one will never forget.” Jenny Lang has two more years to go in the Piaff-Preis and she started riding her Loveboy five years ago. “Initially we jumped in the A class but then we swapped to dressage, it’s fun with him.” The “part-time rider” studies in the morning and is in the stables in the afternoon – and fits everything in perfectly.
German U25 coach Jürgen Koschel thanked the Liselott and Klaus Rheinberger Foundation for the support they have given the series and is delighted that it will also continue next year. “We’re on the right road. After all we had Christoph Koschel and Matthias-Alexander Rath, two former Piaff-Preis competitors, in the German equipe at the World Championships.” The coach was pleased with the standard of the class saying, “The international judges are naturally more demanding that the national ones and the percentages could have been a little higher. But all-in-all it was definitely okay.”
