The Rhenish equestrian sport associations in Quadrille Championships, the Prize of Handwerk did everything they could to turn the Dressage Stadium into a Fiesta España on Friday evening. The assortment of costumes included everything from toreros with bulls, through to typically Spanish fly straps for the horses’ manes. But at the end of the day, the quartet from Neuss was the most convincing.

Gipsy Kings, Alvaro Soler, Montserrat Caballé, Ravels Bolero and Eviva España – in terms of the music alone the Prize of Handwerk offered a colourful potpourri of fiery rhythms that  were brought to life by the respective choreographies of the quadrilles. It was fantastic!

The international Grand Prix trio of judges Katharina Wüst, Christof Umbach and Nicole Umbach obviously found it difficult to come to a decision. But they found the most praise for the District Association from Neuss and awarded them 92 percent: “As judges one wanted to clap along, but one can’t. So, it is a good job the crowd did,” said Wüst after the second salute by Nico Falk with Rudi Rotgold, Janina Lichtenberg with Fahrenheit’s petite fleur, Anke Roeb with First Silvano and Sabrina Stocks with Sir Bernstein. The team was led by Anja Mede, whose ears must have been ringing after Wüst’s words. “They were four good horses, that are ridden in keeping with the training scale. The technical execution was perfect,” was how they justified the A-Note of 8.8. But above all how the horses and riders were dressed  in typically Spanish costumes like Montserrat Caballé and Freddy Mercury accompanied the walk section with the Olympic hymn “Barcelona”, impressed the freestyle specialist, Katrina Wüst. B-Note: 9.6. That made the decisive difference.

Because the technical execution of the Mettmann District Association’s quadrille comprising of Vera Haug with Tenterhofs Hofmeister, Christina Konings with Milady N, Lena Manikowsky with For Fashion and Lisa Malin Schöning with Side by Side was slightly better than Neuss’. They were the only club to receive a 9 for the A-Note. But they hadn’t paid as much attention to their costumes and the show elements are also an important part of the competition,” said Wüst. That led to a small deduction in the B-Note: 9.3. The overall score for the team of Elke Buddenberg was thus 91.5 percent.

The Flamenco dancers from Wesel District Association led by Dr. Nina Keiser were delighted at coming third. Wüst praised the high degree of difficulty of their quadrille routine and the creativity invested in the choreography. The club received an 8.4 for the technical execution and a 9.2 for the artistic impression, i.e. a total score of 88 percent. This association was represented by Clara-Sophie Abeck with Fritz Kola, Lisa Behr with Allways Magic, Martina Binnenbrücker with Be Mine Forever and Leonie Seuken with Fevita VDL.

The team from Neuss also received the prize for the best costume: Tickets for the Horse & Symphony concert in 2026.