The 25th edition of the European Championship of American Quarter Horses is underway at the sprawling Gut-Matheshof facility in Kreuth, Germany. In early results, European champions have been crowned in cattle and halter competition.

Sven Oser nabbed the top spot in senior cutting with his gelding Blue Boons Choice, a 2004 bay gelding by Duals Blue Boon and out of Christy Lenas Choice by SR Instant Choice.

Robin Vluggen and Acres Of Shoes (Bob Acre Doc-Dandi Two Shoes by Dry Dandi Doc) earned second in the international group of participants with Wolfgang Domnick and Joys Bobbie Cat (Highbrow Cat-Joys Bobbie by Bob Acre Doc) taking home the bronze medal.

Silver medal earner Acres Of Shoes turned around and grabbed top honors when Janek Vluggen guided the gelding to a gold-medal performance in amateur cutting. Wild At Dawn and Carl Wuest claimed silver. Wild At Dawn is a 2004 sorrel mare by Wild Thing DNA and out of Dulce Quixote by Peppy San Badger. Bronze-medal accolades went to Joys Bobbie Cat and Wolfgang Domnick.

In senior working cow horse, Patrick Sattler and Smart Old Fox (Smartin Off-Nita Freckle by Colonel Freckles) took took the gold followed by Philipp Martin Haug grabbing second and third spots with Peppy Steppin Jac (Hes A Steppin Jac-Broadypeppy San by Broadway BH) and Charleys Silent Star (As Smart As Charley-Silent Anny Lee by Sheiks Silent), respectively.

Smart Old Fox showed just how good he was by also turning in a gold-medal performance for rider Sylvia Bate in amateur working cow horse.

In European Championship halter classes, the 2-year-old Oh What A Man (Only Invitational-Wincredible Ella by Wincredible) underscored his name – and proved his worth – sweeping the 2-year-old gelding categories with gold-medal honors earned in the open division with Sabine Thiemann, amateur division with Guenter Fischer and the youth division with Leonie Fischer.

Oh What A Man’s barnmate, Mister Potential (Disavowed-Fiona Perspective by A New Perspective), came just shy of notching identical sweeps in the 3-year-old categories. The son of Disavowed claimed two gold medals for his owners winning the open and amateur 3-year-old geldings for his owners.

“So far the quality of competition has been really impressive,” said judge Chris Thompson, who also judged the European Championships three years ago.“All of the judges have enjoyed the competition up to this point, and we are all looking forward to the finals. It’s great to see how much the bar has been raised since the last time I judged this event.”

Gold, silver and bronze medalists in all halter were:

Amateur 2-Year-Old Mares
Medal      Horse                               Exhibitor                 Owner
Gold        HR Classy Secret            Lisa Graebner          Dieter Graebner
Silver       Krymsun Kooper            Heinz Werz              Katrin Werz
Bronze     Miss Fancylicious          Kamila Skalicka       Helena Cesalova

Amateur 3-Year-Old Mares
Medal        Horse                             Exhibitor                   Owner
Gold         Potential Machine           Ludo Cools               Luno Kuhls
Silver        Puturhandsupintheair     Guenter Fischer         Britta & Guenter Fischer
Bronze      Einsteins La Bomba        Jean-Marc Tapiero    Jean-Marc Tapiero

Amateur Aged Mares
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                     Owner
Gold          Only A Glamourgirl       Sim Shiang-Fei           Sim Shiang-Fei
Silver        Not Dun Being Lazy       Johanna B Oswald      Martin Oswald
Bronze      Rev Up The Romance     Jessica DBartholatus   Ruediger Bartholatus

Amateur Performance Halter Mares
Medal        Horse                               Exhibitor                   Owner
Gold          Potential Machine            Ludo Cools               Ludo Cools
Silver        PutUrHandsUpInTheAir  Guenter Fischer        Britta & Guenter Fischer
Bronze      Einsteins La Bomba         Jean-Marc Tapiero    Jean-Marc Tapiero

Amateur Aged Stallions
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                           Owner
Gold          Aint It The Blues             Gesa Meier                        Gesa & Bidmon Meier
Silver        Dual Shot Of Whiskey     M. DeLosAngeles G.Poo  M / Garcia Poo Oetzinger
Bronze      Bevs Sujo                        Alexandra Klee                  Alexandra Klee

Amateur 2-Year-Old Geldings
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                           Owner
Gold          Oh What A Man             Guenter Fischer                 Britta And Guenter Fischer
Silver         Dressed Like Grandpa   Baerbel Gutthaeter             Baerbel Gutthaeter
Bronze      Krymsun N Kryptonite   Marie Jordan                      Marie Jordan

Amateur 3-Year-Old Geldings
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                           Owner
Gold          Mr Potential                    Britta Fischer                    Britta & Guenter Fischer
Silver         Potentializing                 Guenter Fischer                 Britta & Guenter Fischer
Bronze       My Rockstar Romance   Baerbel Gwinner               Baerbel Gwinner

Amateur Aged Geldings
Medal        Horse                               Exhibitor                          Owner
Gold          HC Follow Me                 Martina Braun                 Martina Braun
Silver        Notice Im Hot                  Roberta Gianformaggio   Roberta Gianformaggio
Bronze      SeeYouTonite                   Lena Niebelschuetz         Claus Niebelschuetz

Amateur Performance Halter Geldings
Medal        Horse                               Exhibitor                         Owner
Gold          Al Ways Right                 Cathrin Gutmann            Cathrin Gutmann
Silver        Grey Asset                       Eleonora Bordellin          Eleonora Bordellin
Bronze      InvestIn TheWildCard     Pia Lipps                         Pia Lipps

Open 2-Year-Old Mares
Medal        Horse                               Exhibitor                         Owner
Gold          HR Classy Secret             Lisa Graebner                 Dieter Graebner
Silver         Iamsexyandiknowit         Julia Orth                        Julia Orth
Bronze       TFR Cool Lookin Lady   Ria Vikum                      The First Ranch

Open 3-Year-Old Mares
Medal        Horse                                Exhibitor                       Owner
Gold          Potential Machine             Christel Poels               Luno Kuhls
Silver        PutUrHandsUpInTheAir   Sabine Tiemann           Britta & Guenter Fischer
Bronze      Einsteins La Bomba          Janina Scherf               Jean-Marc Tapiero

Open Aged Mares
Medal        Horse                               Exhibitor                       Owner
Gold         Only A GlamourGirl        Sim Shiang-Fei             Sim Shiang-Fei
Silver        Not Dun Being Lazy       Johanna B Oswald         Martin Oswald
Bronze      Aint Gonna Dance          Nina B Obermueller       Nina B Obermueller

Open Performance Halter Mares
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                        Owner
Gold          Certain Tobe Good         Alexandra Jagfeld          Jagfeld Quarter Horses
Silver         Just Feel Good               Phillip Dammann           Petra Lojkovic
Bronze       Xtreme Asset                 Barbara Ceusters            Daniel Poulayon

Open Yearling Stallions
Medal        Horse                                Exhibitor                      Owner
Gold          MJK Glo Exquisite Leo    Barbara Ceusters         Leila Belkheier
Silver        QP Boon O Matic Cat        Rene Opitz                 Melanie Georg
Bronze      Addicting Loper                Nina B Obermueller    Nathalie Haese

Open Aged Stallions
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                       Owner
Gold          Good N Magic                Johanna Grabner           Guenter Ing Poeck
Silver        My Rods Chipped          Andrea Schmid              Andrea Schmid
Bronze      Aint It The Blues            Gesa Meier-Bidmon      Gesa & Bidmon Thomas Meier

Open 2-Year-Old Geldings
Medal        Horse                               Exhibitor                        Owner
Gold         Oh What A Man               Guenter Fischer              Britta & Guenter Fischer
Silver        Krymsun N Kryptonite     Marie Jordan                  Marie Jordan
Bronze     Dressed Like Grandpa       Baerbel Gutthaeter         Baerbel Gutthaeter

Open 3-Year-Old Geldings
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                         Owner
Gold          Mister Potential              Sabine Thiemann            Britta & Guenter Fischer
Silver         Potentializing                 Guenter Fischer               Britta & Guenter Fischer
Bronze       My Rockstar Romance   Andrea Schmid               Baerbel Gwinner

Open Aged Geldings
Medal        Horse                              Exhibitor                         Owner
Gold          HC Follow Me               Martina Braun                 Martina Braun
Silver        Krymsuns Affair             Arne Kuehn                     Hans Wach
Bronze      Notice Im Hot                 Massimilian Guerri         Roberta Gianformaggio

Youth Aged Mares
Medal        Horse                             Exhibitor                          Owner
Gold          Diva Donna                    Luisa Webersinn              Luisa Webersinn
Silver        Radical Invitation          Vanessa Parisi                  Vanessa Parisi
Bronze      Miss Zippo Principle      Guglielmo Passoni          Guglielmo Passoni

Youth 2-Year-Old Geldings
Medal        Horse                            Exhibitor                          Owner
Gold         Oh What A Man            Leonie Fischer                 Britta & Guenter Fischer
Silver        Seek My Blues              Lisa Graebner                  Dieter Graebner
Bronze     Krymsun N Kryptonite  Sophie Jordan                  Marie Jordan

Youth Aged Geldings
Medal        Horse                            Exhibitor                         Owner
Gold          Cats Hot Image             Stella Peter                     Manuela Schmoelz-Peter
Silver        Simple Invited               Lisa Paulke                     Lisa Paulke
Bronze      Hot Blazing Junior        Leonie Fischer                Britta & Guenter Fischer

Youth Performance Halter Geldings
Medal        Horse                            Exhibitor                         Owner
Gold          GC Dressed In Gold     Giulia Fasani                  Giulia Fasani
Silver        CoolDressedInvester     Lea Sophie Peters           Lea Sophie Peters
Bronze      Talk About This Chip    Tabea Schnauder           Dagmar Schnauder

Finals for remaining classes start August 15 and continue through August 17. View the list of finalists here.

For complete results, news and a live Web feed, go to www.ecqh.org.