22 Apr Horses & Dreams meets the Netherlands 2025: Olympic team and show jumping stars in focus
(Hagen a.T.W.) The German dressage team of Isabell Werth, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Frederic Wandres, who won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Paris, are leading a top-class field of participants for Horses & Dreams meets the Netherlands from 23 – 27 April 2025. The equestrian festival at Hof Kasselmann is known for bringing together the stars of the sport at the start of the outdoor season and this year’s event will prove to be no exception. Jeroen Dubbeldam, the only Dutchman to have won Olympic gold as well as individual world and European championship gold, is an icon in show jumping, and is therefore the perfect representative for this year’s host country, the Netherlands.
The German riders Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, Jörne Sprehe and Katrin Eckermann as well as Zascha Nygaard Lill (DEN) and Olympic participant Luciana Diniz (BRA) are also known for clear rounds on the course – they all recently triumphed on the prestigious stages of the Global Champions Tour. With Patrick Stühlmeyer, Mario Stevens, Tobias Meyer, Philipp Weishaupt, Felix Haßmann, Marco Kutscher, Mylen Kruse and Laura Klaphake, eight German show jumping champions have announced their participation. Hot on their heels will be the young German talents Teike Friedrichsen, Enno Klaphake, Marie and Philipp Schulze-Topphoff, along with many other top international riders. The show jumping programme includes international tours at two- and three-star level, a youngster tour and an amateur tour. At national level, the opening leg of Germany’s U25 Show Jumping Cup organised by the Stiftung Deutscher Pferdesport and Holger Hetzel will be held. The highlight of the jumping programme is the Grand Prix of LVM Versicherung, with prize money of 70,000 euros, on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 pm in the jumping stadium.
Star line-up and young talent in the dressage arena
The dressage gold trio will also face strong competition in the dressage arena, with eight riders from the top 25 of the world rankings among the national and international lists of participants. The highlight of the dressage programme is an international four-star competition with Grand Prix Special or Freestyle Tour. The German colours will be represented by eight-time Olympic champion Isabell Werth, Ingrid Klimke, Katharina Hemmer, Sönke Rothenberger and Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier, among others. The Olympic participants and World Cup finalists Patrik Kittel (SWE), Borja Carrascosa (ESP) and Maria von Essen (SWE) should not be underestimated either. Hof Kasselmann rider Evelyn Eger will also be endeavouring to repeat her good performances from Wellington, USA, in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
Double Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, her brother Benjamin Werndl, FEI Dressage World Cup bronze medallist Isabel Freese (NOR) and Frederic Wandres will primarily be presenting their youngsters for the big sport this year. Von Bredow-Werndl is relying on the eleven-year-old Dancier son Diallo in the CDI3* Tour and Got It BB in the Louisdor Prize final qualifier. Wandres will be presenting his Louisdor Prize 2024 finalist Joy Game, among others. Freese will attempt to qualify another candidate for the final of the Nuremberg Burg Pokal with the stallion Fürst Zonik PS by Fürstenball. The traditional German dressage series Nuremberg Burg Cup and Louisdor Prize regularly offer a showcase for world-class equestrian talent and are often referred to as the unofficial German championships for future Grand Prix stars for good reason.
Varied supporting programme
A total of 375 riders and 614 horses from 24 nations have registered for Horses & Dreams. Crowd favourites such as the Sparkasse Osnabrück Cup, the Nürnberger Burg-Pokal lead rein competition and the Sparkasse Osnabrück equestrian biathlon are of course part of the event. In addition to the lifestyle expo with almost 100 exhibitors, the varied supporting programme also includes performances by the Waldbühne Kloster Oesede on Saturday and Sunday as well as a joint elite foal show auction of the Oldenburg and KWPN (Koninklijk Warmbloed Paard Nederland) breeding associations on Friday evening at 20:30 in the jumping stadium.
90-minute evening show with social media stars
Young equestrian fans – but also their older colleagues – will be particularly interested in the performers of the evening show on Saturday. The Röcken siblings Lisa and Matthes, who have built up a large fan base with their spectacular mix of show, free work, dressage, jumping, driving and horse training and regularly sell out entire stadiums, have invited their friends and co-stars Hella Gabbert, Tom Stein and Emilia Schlotterbeck to create an exclusive 90-minute evening show together for Horses & Dreams meets the Netherlands. Hella Gabbert, known for the board game HOPPi GALOPPi and the horse camp, will host the show. The young Oldenburg native has almost 400,000 subscribers on YouTube and is currently living the pony dream on Mallorca that her enthusiastic followers want. The successful young show jumping and eventing rider Kristy Snepvangers from the Netherlands will also be making a detour to Hagen a.T.W. and will be fighting an exciting jump & drive duel with Lisa Röckener to determine the winner of Germany vs. the Netherlands. The evening show is only available as a separate ticket and the programme is suitable for the whole family. However, fans should secure their seats early to be part of this unforgettable experience!
Strolling tickets, seat reservations for the covered grandstand at the Springstadion and tickets for the evening show are available from Ticketmaster’s online ticket shop, https://www.ticketmaster.de/artist/horses-dreams-tickets/1151674. The advance sale has been extended until Easter Monday, 21 April and offers savings of up to 20 per cent on all regular day tickets. Further information on ticket sales and the programme can be found at horses-and-dreams.de.
Francois Kasselmann – Overview of the event
‘We can look forward to top-class sport in the dressage arena and show jumping course. As things stand at the moment, there are participants from 24 nations, but I think there will be 2 or 3 more nations – the phone is ringing off the hook. In dressage, we are expecting the German Olympic team from Paris, who will be showing their young horses here and perhaps have a look at how they are placing internationally in the run-up to this year’s European Championships. A good friend of mine, Olympic champion Jeroen Dubbeldamm, will be here and will certainly represent the Dutch colours well.’
Ulli Kasselmann – What makes the event special
‘The special thing about Horses & Dreams is that we sell dreams, horses and dreams. We’re trying to ‘put the sport up from behind’, trying to inspire other people who have no real connection to equestrian sport. And I think we’re doing that quite well.’
‘This year we are also focussing on a charity event again. We always have the ‘Riding against Hunger’ initiative as our charity partner, and we have a 10-year partnership with Mrs Gudrun Bauer. At the last P.S.I. auction, the painting ‘Olympic Dreams’ by the artist Simone Beckmann was auctioned off. We have obtained the copyright from the artist and will be auctioning off a print of the original as part of the Elite Foal Show Auction on Friday and raffling off another painting over the weekend.’
‘Above all, we have to stay in touch with the grassroots. We can only present top-class sport if we also promote young talent. One example is the Sparkasse Osnabrück Cup, the atmosphere among the young riders is immense and they are delighted to be given such a big stage.’
Isabel Freese – dressage competitor
‘I qualified my first horse for the final of the Nuremberg Burg Cup at Horses & Dreams, which was Riverdance in 2013 and my first big success. The show has such a family atmosphere, it’s the first outdoor show of the season and everyone is looking forward to the reunion here in Hagen. Hof Kasselmann offers the perfect conditions for riders and horses, it’s simply a highlight of the year.’
‘I’m bringing Fürst Zonik PS with me, an 8-year-old Zonik x Fürstenball offspring. He is also a stud stallion here in Mühlen and has been nominated for the Nuremberg Burg Cup final qualifier. Fürst Zonik has the nickname ‘Dragon’ at home, but he is incredibly talented and I hope that one day he can follow in the footsteps of Total Hope OLD. The Nuremberg Burg Cup is a good opportunity for young horses to get a taste of competition, gain experience and take a step into the big sport.’
Patrick Stühlmeyer – Jumping competitor
‘I was travelling with eight horses in Arezzo, Italy, many of them new horses. I would like to take five horses from this team to Horses & Dreams. My horses feel great now. Over the next two weeks we’ll be doing a bit of fine-tuning and then I hope to ride successfully in Hagen. I would like to ride in the three-star and two-star tour as well as the youngster tour.’
‘Two years ago I won the Grand Prix here with Drako de Maugre, and the year before that I won the BEMER Riders Tour. Hagen is always a very important show, it’s the start of the green season and if you want to ride Nations Cups for Germany or recommend yourself for Aachen, then you have to have a successful show in Hagen. However, there are a lot of good riders competing this year.’
Matthes Röckener – Show act evening show
‘My family has been coming to Horses & Dreams for years, I even helped out here at the stables back then. From there, it developed from there and at some point I was even here on the showground myself and presented my first show. This year, Lisa and I are doing a complete evening programme, a whole show, and of course we can show a lot more.’
‘We wanted to go one better for Horses & Dreams and are doing extra new shows. I don’t want to give too much away yet, but there will definitely be some fast-paced acts, but also some really great, harmonious elements with liberty dressage, driving, versatility and definitely a lot of humour. That’s the great thing about our shows, people know that too. It’s not a stiff event, people have fun. We bring a real dynamic to it and I think that’s what the children find so great, but also the people who normally have nothing to do with equestrian sport. Of course, we’re all the more pleased to be able to put on this evening show here and perhaps get one or two people excited about equestrian sport again.’