With Casanova, Holstein has a new Bundeschampion. Reason enough to honour the likeable winner with the title "Holsteiner of the Month". Casanova was born at Reimer Detlef Hennings' in Bendorf – just like his sire Cascadello once was. And just like Cascadello, Prof. Dr. Bernd Heicke also purchased Casanova at the auction in Neumünster. However, Casanova entered Prof. Heicke's ownership under the name Camiso Negro via the auction of unlicenced stallions.

Ben Leuwer later took over the training of the bay, whose dam is a Contender-Lasino mare out of Holsteiner stem 3858, and developed the five-year-old in dressage, showjumping and eventing classes. Qualification for the Bundeschampionat was therefore a mere formality. And so the two travelled to Warendorf at the beginning of September. When you deliver top performances in all three disciplines, you become Bundeschampion with a comfortable lead of almost two full points. And that is exactly what Casanova did: already performing well in sixth place with a mark of 8.2 in the final qualification, he signalled his title ambitions in the showjumping arena with an 8.6. And the bay gelding showed that he can also do dressage with an 8.4 in the dressage arena. Everything went according to plan in the cross-country phase, too. The judges awarded not only an exceptional 9.5 as the overall mark, but also high praise for the powerful, energetically stepping canter, the above-average jumping ability and the rideability – "which could not have been better" (10.0).

Photo: Equitaris/Dr. Tanja Becker