Under the title #EVENTERtobe, the Holsteiner Verband hosted a training and sales day for young (prospective) eventing horses in Elmshorn. Around 30 hopeful prospects were registered for this, and none other than the former national eventing coach, Hans Melzer, was secured for the training and expert commentary on the horses' suitability for eventing.

"Eventing has changed very dramatically in recent years," reports Melzer. "Dressage has become significantly more demanding, requiring high rideability scores. And today's horses have to jump even better. Due to more technical fences, tracks, and the increased use of fences with the MIM system, the demands on the horses' scope in jumping have also grown. Both rideability and jumping ability predestine the modern Holsteiner to be a top eventer," is the expert convinced, citing top athletes such as Olympic champion London by Landos-Quinar (Ocke Riewerts) or JL Dublin by Diarado-Canto (Volker Göttsche-Götze) as prime examples.

Both the promotion of young equine athletes and their marketing were the focus at #EVENTERtobe, with almost all horses offered for sale. Thus, several familiar faces from the scene came to Elmshorn's Fritz-Thiedemann-Hall. And trainer Hans Melzer was also delighted with the quality of the presented three- to eight-year-olds: "Very interesting horses were on display," he summarised. "A striking number of them possessed a very athletic type and good reflexes. Moreover, most of the horses are on a truly sound training path."

This will be repeated!
Hanno Köhncke, deputy chairman of the Holsteiner Verband and one of the organisers of the future day, was also very satisfied. "The achievements of Holsteiner eventing horses have been consistently excellent at the highest level for years. It is very close to our hearts to promote talented youngsters and to provide our breeders with even more targeted support in marketing horses suitable for eventing. Therefore, I look forward to a repetition of this future day."

The initiative was an idea of the full-time and honorary officials of the Holsteiner Verband, was planned by the eventing working group, and was supported by the CBV (Club of Owners of Eventing Horses) as well as the ZSF (Holsteiner Breeding and Sports Promotion). Participation free of charge was also made possible by the Holsteiner Verband.

If you are interested in one of the presented horses and have not yet made contact with the owners, please feel free to contact the Holsteiner marketing team at any time:

Photo: Kristin Bartels