Endurance at Kreuth

Saturday August 11 2007 KREUTH RIDE

Despite the fact that the German Championships were held just 2 weeks earlier, it was a large turnout of riders for the Kreuth Endurance ride, part of the 10th Show and Sportevent for Arabian Horses, put on by the ZSAA, the German National Breeding Association. Riders from 13 countries, and multiple champions from many countries showed up for the rides, including Italian Fausto Fiorucci (2001 European Champion), Frenchwoman Barbara Lissarague (2005 World Champion), Netherlands rider Carmen Romer (2007 Junior European Champion), Netherlands rider Yvonne Van Der Velde (2007 Dutch Champion), German Klaudia Al Samarraie (2007 German Endurance Champion, and wife of organizer Achmed Al Samarraie), and multiple German Junior Champion Annette Schwartze. (And I expect I probably left some champions out!)
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2007 Kreuth - Afternoon
Images by Merri Melde

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CEI*** 160 km
1.	FRA	Vincent Dupont	Ulysse De Suleiman
2.	FRA	Ludovic Saroul	Illoco Eldrocol
3.	ITA	Andrea Iacchelli	Djamina
4.	FRA	Guy Dumas	Idryss Du Melay
5.	GER	Sabrina Arnold	Toni Maccaroni
6.	FRA	Barbara Lissarrague	Persiah
7.	NED	Yvonne Van Der Velde	Joy Escobar
8.	FRA	Stephane Chazel	Istanboul
9.	HUN	Jozsef Toth	O Bajan Facer
10	FRA	. Julien Goachet	Jassan Timothy
11.	OMA	Prince Loay Bin Ghalib Al Said	Hedgard
12.	AUT	Karin Eisl	Farino De Montagna
13.	GBR	Anna Williams	HS Saboteur
CEI*** J-YR 120 km
1.	FRA	Nina Lissarrague	Aicha De Bozouls
2.	FRA	Anne Charlotte	Selik Ibn Shalimar
3.	FRA	Lisa Riou	Laquib Armor
4.	FRA	Clementine Manoha	Khalfa El Derkouch
5.	ITA	Maria Teresa Felice	Haras Ibn Halin
6.	FRA	Jean Daniel Aiello	Charia D'Alauze
7.	FRA	Sylvain Delpech	Le Rafleur
8.	OMA	Prince Khalid Bin Ghalib Al Said	Buddy D
9.	ITA	Alice Spinazze	Shampat
10.	FRA	Marion Valat	Gaicha
11.	ITA	Vittoria Ciuchi	Abisy'ncyzk
12.	ITA	Sara Pellegrini	Giorgia Delle Corse
13.	ITA	Iris Begher	Royal Mare
14.	NED	Jarmila Lakeman	Sattarov
15.	GBR	Charlotte Robinson	Puleski
16.	GER	Rahel Lewin	Ramadan Ox
17.	GER	Anna-Lena Weiershauser	SGW Jaba Ox
18.	GBR	Carri Ann Dark	Elmstead Poloistique
19.	GBR	Abigail Tennant	Chador
20.	ITA	Angelica Angeli	Linus
CEI*** 120 km
1.	- SUI	Sandra Bechter	Kalifa De Flauzin
2.	GER	Klaudia Al Samarraie	Ayman 2
3.	ITA	Simone Di Battista	Figaro De Murat
4.	NED	Jannet Van Wijk	Latino
5.	AUT	Alexandra Engleder	Huba
6.	ITA	Leonardo Bellaccini	Aklantis
7.	GER	Tanja Prieler	Selma Zett
8.	GER	Jan Oetjen	Ma Dona
9.	ITA	Elena Bertoni	Smooth Talker
10.	ITA	Carletto Bertoni	Fleche Al Maury
11.	GER	Karin Bartscher-Loffler	Kismet Al Thawi
12.	GER	Christiane Herkt	Orbit

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Images of the Day by Merri Melde

The Start	The Morning
The Afternoon	The Finish

KREUTH: PRE-RIDE DAY 0- Friday August 10 2007

I hitched a ride with the Dutch Lamsma family, my hosts in Holland for a few days, and Jarmila Lakeman, Junior rider, and equines Sattarov, who she'd be riding in the 120 km ride, and Sattarov's chaperone, 5-year-old Mini-Shetland pony (and endurance horse, after his first 8 km ride) Panter.

It started raining as we left Holland, and it looks like it will never stop, ever. It will certainly make for cooler conditions for the 137 horses pre-entered in the rides.

The venue is a large beautiful equestrian sport center in Rieden-Kreuth in southern Germany. There are an abundance of stables, outdoor and indoor arenas, extensive riding trails, and hotel and apartments. This is the 10th year of the Show and Sportevent for Arabian Horses, put on by the ZSAA ? the German Arabian breeding association. Competitions include show jumping, eventing, dressage, and Western competition, with endurance as the highlight. Ahmed Al Samarraie is president of the ZSAA and the organizer of Kreuth, and Samarraie has pulled this event off without major sponsorship. He makes it look easy.

It either rained heavily, or threatened heavy rain throughout the day, so the decision was made to move the veterinary pre-inspection of tomorrow's entries into the large indoor arena. The humans and horses wouldn't melt, but the horse passports might, and there was no need to tear up the footing in the outdoor trotting lanes for tomorrow.

It's a truly international collection of riders, from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Oman, Slovakia, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemborg, Poland, Italy, France, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Great Britain.

Some riders to watch on Saturday include three Omanis riding horses from Jutta Schultheis's stable: Prince Loay bin Ghalib Al Said in the 160 km, his younger brother Prince Khalid bin Ghalib Al Said in the 120 km Jr ride, and Prince Ahmed bin Ghalib Al Said in the 60 km. Not because they are Princes, but because Prince Loay is riding one stunner of an Anglo Arabian horse, a gelding named Hedgard.

There's a Polish team here to support one Polish rider, Artur Landau riding Hint in the Jr 80 km. Maciej (say ?Machik?) Kacprzyk and Hannah told me there are only about 10 International Polish riders (it used to be better a few years ago), and maybe 30 national riders, and most of them are currently competing in Poland, so it's good to have a representative from the country here. Recently Polish riders have done very well in Germany and Hungary and Holland. Maciej is impressed with Kreuth, the area and the organization, and he's happy to see good international competitors came here, because it looks like it will be a good ride.

One of my previous endurance hosts Stephane Chazel is riding for Team France in the 160 km ride.

In addition to Jarmila Lakeman in the 120 km Junior ride, Netherlands riders Ingrid Langen is here with her gelding Amorin Star. It's his first time at such a big competition and he's not used to that, and since it was a long haul getting here, she's only doing the 80 km ride. ?That's far enough for him this time.? They were out before the vet check, touring around and looking at the outdoor vetgates and crewing area, and the tents that might be blowing a bit if wind comes up tomorrow.

Dutch rider Carla Romer is here with her good mare Fadilah R, who was raring to go during her trot out. Or, I should say rearing to go, as she did most of her trotting on two hind legs! In fact she had to walk around a bit to calm down before she trotted out again. Jannet van Wijk is here also with her little gelding Latino for the 120 km. Both are ultimately aiming for the European Championships in Portugal in September.

Margit Harman, Austrian Chef d'Equipe was here with a team of riders, 4 for the team 160 km challenge. Unfortunately, Daniela Entner's mare Kirim Karacbey did not pass the starting vet check, (they won the 120 km here last year) and that knocked the team out, leaving only France and Germany with teams. Margit said there's only about 100 Austrian riders, with maybe only 5 doing the 160 km rides. ?We don't go so fast as the French... we just come to finish!? And enjoy the rides, I expect.

Fausto Fiorucci is here to ride the 160 km on his mare Veronica Cap. Fausto, 2001 individual and team Gold Medal winner at the European Championships in Perugia, and organizer of Gubbio, Italy, got a big round of applause at the ride briefing. The ride briefing was indeed brief, Al Samarraie getting right to the heart of ride matters and ending the meeting by 8:15, so his riders could all get sleep! It was a beautiful evening, just a quiet, light drizzle, with misty clouds drifting in and out of the forest, setting for tomorrow's Kreuth endurance ride.

Merri Melde