NOnly the very last touches are still missing, then everything in the Festhalle will be ready for the international horse show again. “We still have time until Wednesday evening, then the first riders want to go into the hall,” said show director Matthias Alexander Rath on Tuesday. After a two-year Corona break, Kronberger and his family are relieved and full of anticipation that the 49th edition of the event can take place again at its usual place in the Festhalle.
In the fourth generation, the Rath-Linsenhoffs are now in charge of the traditional tournament, which – according to sports director Mike Josef – “is a highlight at the end of the Frankfurt sports year”. Josef stressed that it was not a matter of course how much planning and attention to detail the organizers had implemented the tournament for so long.
Numbers one and three in the dressage world rankings
The long tradition of the tournament also means that some of the most successful riders come to the Festhalle year after year. This time, the current numbers one and three in the dressage world rankings will compete with the Olympic champion from Tokyo, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, and the seven-time Olympic champion Isabell Werth. Among others, the former world and European team champion Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, who recently won the World Cup in La Coruna, Spain, has announced that she will be jumping.
Sönke Rothenberger is someone who is very familiar with both the course and the dressage arena. Before he devoted himself entirely to riding in tails and – at that time still – a top hat, the 28-year-old from Bad Homburg preferred to ride in the show-jumping saddle, including at the team competition of the district equestrian associations in the Festhalle. A few years later he competed with his horse Cosmo in the Louisdor Prize, a series for young dressage horses. In 2016, the two were part of the German gold team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, they became European and world champions with the team, and in 2017 they also won EM silver in the individual ranking. In 2019, Cosmo went to his last tournament for the time being due to injury. But he’s back in training and it’s a lot of fun, says Rothenberger.
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With Fendi he now has a horse with which he would like to build on this success. In April, the two won the qualification for the final of the Louisdor Prize, which takes place on Sunday at 9 a.m. in the Festhalle. The pair competes with some advance praise, because the renowned dressage judge Dr. In April, Dietrich Plewa described Fendi as a “world horse” with potential for the German championship squad. Rothenberger is also convinced: “He is a horse of great quality.”
The two found each other when Sönke Rothenberger and his family were going through the worst hours. A devastating fire destroyed her stud farm in Bad Homburg in 2019. Five horses were killed. Until the stables were rebuilt, the Rothenbergers and their horses were housed on the Rath-Linsenhoff family’s sheep farm in Kronberg. “When I asked if there was still a box available for Fendi, Matthias said: ‘Sure, bring it over,'” Rothenberger recalls.
In recent years, the two have grown together better and better. In preparation for the Festhallen horse show, they competed for the first time at an international show in the Netherlands, where they took third place in the Grand Prix and second place in the Freestyle.
Although the two horses look alike – brown fur, black mane and tail – they differ in character: “Cosmo was explosive, genius and madness at the same time,” says Rothenberger. “Fendi is someone you have to take a little by the hand and tell him: You’re doing really well.” While Cosmo was born with self-confidence, Fendi sometimes needs encouragement. The words of praise from the expert Plewa are an accolade: “Of course I’m happy when an experienced judge assesses the horse in this way.” Nevertheless, he first had to prove what he was made of. “As a rider, of course I want to support him and not be a handicap.”
They will contest their first test in Frankfurt this Friday at 11 a.m. in the warm-up test for the Louisdor Prize final. The international competitions begin on this day in the Festhalle, with Hessentag on the Thursday beforehand. As usual, the four-day tournament ends with the Hessen Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.
