This weekend at Riesenbeck International a premiere will take place, which should already whet the appetite for a big event next year: The three-star dressage tournament for riders with handicaps (CPEDI3*). This event is the test tournament for the European Championships of Para dressage riders, which will be held in September 2023 at the same time as the European Dressage Championships of regular riders.
On Friday morning it starts at 8 o'clock with the team competitions in the five starting classes ("Grades"), which are divided according to the severity of the physical disability. On Saturday, the individual competitions will continue and on Sunday, the freestyle competitions will be on the program.
Twelve nations have confirmed their participation at the riding facility at the Surenburg. 39 riders will saddle 43 horses.
Of course, Hannelore Brenner, who starts for Germany, will come to Riesenbeck. The most successful female para-dressage rider is a figurehead of this sport and a role model for many young athletes.
Other prominent names will be entering the arena from a German perspective: The three-time German Champion Regine Mispelkamp (Grade V), who won fifth place in the individual classification with her Highlander's Delight at the World Championships in Herning a few weeks ago, now wants to achieve a good result with Cijaano. World Championship sixth-placed Anna-Lena Niehues is riding her stallion Feuerherz in her class, Grade IV. The two Grade II riders Gianna Regenbrecht (World Cup sixth place) and Heidemarie Dresing (World Cup seventh place) will be saddling Fürst Sinclair and Responsible for me.
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The German Para-Dressage team finished sixth in the World Championships team competition, directly qualifying for the 2024 Paralympics. For the second time after 2018, a Dutch team won the World Championships title. Three riders from the Netherlands will compete in Riesenbeck. Silver went to the hosts from Denmark, who will now be on site with six riders.
Spectators can also expect exciting sport in the freestyle: Germany took fourth and fifth place at the World Championships.
"It is something very special for us to have been awarded the European Championships in this discipline of equestrian sport," says Show Director Karsten Lütteken. "We will do our best to ensure that riders and horses feel comfortable with us and find good conditions to practice their sport."
For this purpose, this weekend's tournament should also serve as preparation. "We would be pleased if some spectators would come to visit our facility to appreciate the performances that the athletes with physical disabilities deliver with their horses every day."
Para Dressage
Dressage is the only discipline in Paralympic equestrian sport and has been part of the competition program since 1996. The goal in Para Dressage is to achieve harmony between athletes and horses. The sport is practiced by athletes with various disabilities, including wheelchair users, people with visual impairments, and athletes with functional limitations in the upper or lower extremities. This requires a strong sense of physical awareness. The absence of hands, legs or feet is compensated by compensatory aids so that communication with the horse is possible. Riders with visual impairments receive outside assistance for orientation in the test arena.
In total, there are five starting classes in Para Dressage, so-called "Grades", depending on the severity of the physical disability, so that athletes with comparable limitations can compete against each other. There are separate tasks for each grade.
Depending on the grade, the tasks are ridden by heart either in a 20 x 40 meter or a 20 x 60 meter dressage arena. The riders first complete a compulsory program with predefined lessons and lines. In the second part, an individually developed freestyle is presented, consisting of self-selected lines and music, in order to emphasize the strengths of the pair. In addition to the individual competitions, there is a team competition. Each team is composed of three or four athletes from different grades. The team competition is scored by adding the team task and the championship task.
All info at: www.riesenbeck-international.com
