Treffinger, Werth and Rothenberger Win 2025 German Dressage Championships

Dressage

2025 German Dressage Championships

Under 25 rider Moritz Treffinger and senior Grand Prix riders Isabell Werth and Sönke Rothenberger became the gold medal winners at the 2025 German Dressage Championships in Balve on 12 - 15 June 2025.

Like tradition dictates, the German Dressage Championships took place at Castle Wocklum of the Landsberg-Velen family.

The Under 25 championship was part of the Piaff Forderpreis qualification circuit, while the senior Grand Prix division counted as Germany's first team selection trial for the 2025 European Dressage Championships in Crozet.

Seniors: Grand Prix Special Gold for Werth

The German Championships for senior Grand Prix riders consists of two rounds. The Grand Prix test is a warm-up class which sets the tone, but it is in fact the Special which counts for a set of medals on a technical level and the Grand Prix Kur to Music is used to determine the Freestyle medals.

In the Grand Prix Special Isabell Werth picked up her 18th gold medal at the German Championships aboard the 11-year old Danish warmblood mare Wendy (by Sezuan x Soprano) on a score of 78.549% despite a mistake in the one-tempi changes.

"Every title is something very special! Every horse has its own story. There are great memories attached to every title." Werth continued with a joke, "I need some extra tuition in the single changes now. I made mistakes in the singles with all three horses today. It really sucks. Wendy really got away from me in the single changes today" Werth also rode Special Blend (by Sezuan x Hotline) to a fourth place with 74.490% and Valdiviani in a developing GP horse test.

Frederic Wandres and the 15-year old Oldenburg Bluetooth OLD (by Bordeaux x Samarant) clinched silver with a 77.627% earning test. "We did super rounds here on two days. Bluetooth is in top form, I'm super happy," said Frederic at the press conference.

Both Olympic team horses Wendy and Bluetooth will not be competing in Sunday's Kur to Music as the riders want to spare their horses for the CDIO Aachen where the second and last German team selection trial for Crozet takes place.

Bronze went to Katharina Hemmer and Nancy Gooding's 13-year old Oldenburg gelding Denoix PCH (by Destano x Pik Noir) with 76.647%. This is the first senior medal for the 30-year-old professional who works for trainer Hubertus Schmidt.

German team trainer Monica Theodorescu was very pleased with the performances in Balve. "Those were great rounds here. You could see that some of the fairly new pairs are still lacking experience, such as Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Diallo," said Monica.

Seniors: Kur Gold for Rothenberger

In the absence of Wendy and Bluetooth for the Kur to Music, Katharine Hemmer was staring at an open goal and she just needed to kick in the ball to score gold. Unfortunately she caved to the pressure in the final leg of the Championship with bobbles in the pirouettes and dropped to fourth place with a 79.675%.

It was a neck to neck race with the podium scores being between 81.600% and 79.850%. Sonke Rothenberger and Fendi got the gold, while Matthias Rath moved to a silver medal position aboard the Hanoverian stallion Destacado (by Desperados x Londonderry) on 80.250%. Isabell Werth collected her second medal of the weekend, a bronze, on Andreas Helgstrand's Special Blend (by Sezuan x Hotline) with 79.850%. She rode to Emilio's music.

Under 25: Treffinger Gets the Gold

The German Under 25 Championship featured two medals. The first for the short Grand Prix test, which also counts as a qualifier for the Piaff Forderpreis, and the second for the Kur.

U25 podium: Schölermann, Treffinger, Söder

While in the warm-up Intermediaire II Moritz Treffinger had to admit defeat to Anna Schölermann, in the short Grand Prix there was no getting past the 22-year old who rides professionally for Bonhomme Stud near Berlin. Aboard the 15-year old Hanoverian stallion Cadeau Noir (by Christ x De Niro) he claimed the gold medal by scoring 71.744%

The silver went to 25-year old Anna Schölermann on her second horse Springborgs Guardian, an 11-year old Danish warmblood by Hotline x Furst Romancier. The 24-year-old is an assistant rider at Hubertus Schmidt's Fleyenhof and scored 70.884% for second place. Schölermann also finished third on her number one, the 12-year old Hanoverian Bon Scolari (by Bon Bravour x Scolari) but only one horse counts for the medals.

This means that bronze went to fourth placed Selina Söder, daughter of Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder, on her newest acquisition, the 10-year old Rhinelander Vita di Lusso (by Vitalis x Weltano), previously shown at international Grand Prix level by Dutch Dinja van Liere. The 25-year-old Söder scored 69.535%.

On Sunday, Treffinger scored his second gold with a 76.300% earning freestyle, while Schölermann was back to silver. Kur bronze went to Bianca Nowag's student, 23-year old Elisabeth von Wulffen. She rode the 13-year old Westfalian Triple A (by Totilas x De Niro) to 71.975%.