Donaueschingen: With the sun come the visitors: This is how the new start of the Donaueschingen horse show is going

Four days of horse riding tournaments are over. Four days of a new beginning in the castle park grounds of Donaueschingen. After the canceled tournament in 2023 and the reduced requirements due to the pandemic, it is now returning to its former size – only the weather luck was a little slow to arrive and attracted most visitors in large numbers only at the weekend.

Athletes and visitors had to contend with several rain showers, particularly on the first two days of the tournament, Thursday, September 12th, and Friday, September 13th, which meant that fewer visitors flocked to the venue on those days. This also affected the gala show for the tournament’s 70th anniversary.

On Thursday and Friday, rain showers will repeatedly pass over the horse show grounds; here a team drives through the rain on Friday. | Image: Roger Mueller

A terrific review

However, the missing visitors missed a fantastic retrospective. Two cheerful presenters, Kai-Christian Warnecke and Arnaud Petit, led the evening with great eloquence. The evening began with the silver herd from the Marbach State Stud with their free-running thoroughbred Arabian mares.

City councilor Jens Reinbolz (from left), Christian Fürst zu Fürstenberg, Oliver Eckerle from the Fürstenberg Brewery and Lord Mayor ... — City councilor Jens Reinbolz (from left), Christian Fürst zu Fürstenberg, Oliver Eckerle from the Fürstenberg Brewery and Mayor Erik Pauly open the free beer round on the occasion of the 70th horse show in the castle park. | Photo: Roger Mueller

The Central Black Forest Horse Breeding Association demonstrated a ribbon dance. This was followed by a vintage car show by Südstern Bölle. Laury Tisseur with his performance on horseback with the Garrocha, as well as Anne-Gaelle Bertho with her liberty dressage, impressed the visitors in the stands.

Frenchman Laury Tisseur shows his skills at the gala evening with his spectacular Hungarian contribution. | Image: Roger Mueller

Hobbyhorses are back

In September 2023, the hobby polo players competed against each other in a tournament, and now they met at the tournament. In two exciting halves, they played a committed match, which was controlled by referee Erik Pauly and humorously commented on by Christian Fürst zu Fürstenberg.

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Donaueschingen

A gala that deserved more visitors

The gala was accompanied by a series of clips with impressive images from the early days to the modern era of the tournament in the parks. The contemporary witnesses of that time were driven through the show jumping course in carriages during talk sessions.

List for next yearIt was the first tournament in Donaueschingen for Schafhof Connects. And so a list was kept of what could be improved. This includes a slightly different layout of the stable area, improved rest and catering options for the grooms and even coffee stands in the warm-up area. According to Schafhof Connects, the route guidance could also be partially optimized, especially with a view to welcoming even more people in the coming years than this time.

The finale was the Fürstenberg carriage of the Frohsinn carnival guild, with Christian Fürst zu Fürstenberg and Erik Pauly, who then opened the free beer round by tapping the keg. What the organizers somewhat underestimated, however, was the lighting of the square, which does not have floodlights. The small floodlight masts that were set up quickly reached their limits when it got dark, so that the show program could not be followed properly from all sides of the square.

The skydivers from the Fürstenberg Team will create a special moment on Saturday and Sunday with their landing in the jumping stadium. — The skydivers from the Fürstenberg team ensure a special moment on Saturday and Sunday with their landing in the jumping stadium. | Image: Roger Mueller

The sun is coming – and so are the visitors

The second half of the tournament was, however, more conciliatory. This was especially important for the cross-country marathon, the absolute crowd puller and one that has not been seen in the castle park for five years. And this year it was once again a crowd puller: the visitors marched through the park, from one cross-country obstacle to the next.

With the sun come the visitors, here on the fully occupied standing area opposite the seating area. — With the sun comes the visitors, here on the fully occupied standing area opposite the seating area. | Photo: Roger Mueller

And Sunday was also a pleasant day, the sun even came out and attracted large numbers of visitors to the spectator areas. Matthias-Alexander Rath was very satisfied: “We don’t want to talk about the weather any more now,” laughs the tournament organizer. “Saturday and Sunday make up for it somewhat, we’ll end up with around 25,000 spectators.” On the whole, they were really happy with the first event: “It’s a huge area where you obviously have lots of opportunities to develop the tournament even further in the coming years. “Perhaps you’d like to integrate other disciplines as well?”