Although some small shows are held before, the Bavarian Spring Classic is the first major show and marks the beginning of the show season in Europe. From April 18th to April 23rd, the “Crème de la Crème” of European All Around and Reining competitors made their way to Kreuth, Rieden, in Bavaria to show in a wide range of events, including the Golden Series Classes. The Bavarian Spring Classic consists of two AQHA shows with two judges respectively which gives competitors the opportunity to show in each class twice with two different judges. The show is hosted by the VWB, a German association, that also offers a wide range of Western events which are available to all breeds of horses. It is the VWB who came up with the Golden Series events: Exhibitors can show in Golden Series Trail, Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Showmanship, Ranch Riding and Reining, as well as Limited Western Pleasure and Trail. The Golden Series classes are among the most highly-paid allround events in Europe. For each class, two prelims are held at the Bavarian Spring Classic and the Bavarian Championship in May. The finals are taking place in July at the Summer Show which also incorporates the NSBA European Championship.

When the show started, the first thing people posted on Facebook were not winners pictures, but pictures of the facility – covered in snow! The Bavarian Spring Classic surprised everyone with “typical April weather”, as Germans say. Amateur exhibitor Cathrin Gutmann even posted on Facebook that the BSC was the coldest show she has ever experienced, even colder than the Congress. However, that did not stop everyone from showing: “I am actually surprised by the number of class entries – we had years in which almost nobody travelled to the show because of the weather,” some exhibitors told us. The VWB actually actually could not accept late entries due to the number of people that came to Kreuth.

Fortunately, the big arena, the Ostbayernhalle, is heated and those who were showing in the smaller arena somehow always found a horse blanket to warm themselves, so the show could take off on Tuesday, April 18th. It was not until Friday when the Golden Series classes started. The first class on the schedule was Golden Series Horsemanship. This class is open to Amateur, Youth and Open riders which makes it especially fun, because when are you able to compete against the top trainers in pattern classes? “My good friend Whitney Lagace persuaded me to enter the Horsemanship,” trainer Arne Kühn said with a laugh. However, the winner was no trainer, but one of the most accomplished Amateur All Around teams in Europe: German competitor Pia Lipps and Investin Thewildcard beat out 14 other riders. This pair has been named Amateur All Around Champion at the European and German Championship in 2016 and started the show season 2017 by living up to their reputation.

The BSC is a highly popular show and exhibitors from a variety of European countries travelled to Kreuth. It is amazing that exhibitors from different nationalities won the Golden Series classes and that Paint Horses were as successful as Quarter Horses. Youth competitor Tereza Ranná from the Czech Republic won the Golden Series Trail against 34 other exhibitors with her Paint Horse. The Golden Series Trail was one of the first Golden Series classes and is very popular. Congratulations, Tereza on winning this deep class as a youth rider!

The Swiss exhibitors had reason to celebrate after the Golden Series Showmanship: Philipp Roos who is no stranger to the US AQHA circuit took home the win in the first go-round with his gelding Technical Nat Image. The pair knows how to do Showmanship – Philipp and “Tech” were the bronze medalists at the 2016 Adequan Select World Show in Showmanship and are under the guidance of Michael Colvin and Jagfeld Quarter Horses.

French native Alan Vincent and Only Because Im Cool are known as one of Europe’s top teams in the Western Pleasure. On Sunday night, they could add another success and were named the winners of the first Golden Series Western go-round in 2017. This class, in contrary to Golden Series Showmanship and Horsemanship, is only open to Youth and Amateur riders which does not mean that it easy to walk out as the winner: Among the horses in that class were Futurity, German and European Champions in Western Pleasure. The Reining classes at the shows in Kreuth are always big and so was the Golden Series Reining. In the end, Lena Wolf and Maganic from Germany could beat out over twenty Amateur and Youth riders.

Ranch Riding has developed to become a sort of “trend event” in the European show industry and is therefore also part of the Golden Series program. This year’s winner of the first go-round were Diana Art and Peppys Art Attack.

Just recently, the VWB has decided to add a Limited division to the Golden Series program, in order to make the shows more attractive for novice riders or exhibitors who show green horses. To slowly introduce the new Limited classes, the VWB chose Trail and Pleasure as their “guinea pig events”. The winner of the Limited Trail was no stranger at all: The 2016 Golden Series Trail champion Carolin Lenz piloted the young stallion OneHotPieceOfBlues owned by Maria Till to the win.

When the winner of the Limited Pleasure was announced, Italian riders were cheering: Francesca Romana Faro from Italy and Am I A Hot Krymsun walked out as the winners, adding another champion to the list of trainer Mark Shaffer whose clients won a lot of classes, for example the 3/4 AQHA Amateur Horsemanship and Showmanship.

The Junior Pleasure on Sunday night was the last class to be held. After he named the winner – Arne Kühn and Good Hot Krymluv – announcer Boris Kook said good-bye to everybody and those who were still there made their way home – fortunately the weather conditions had improved and there was no snow on the streets any more.

Congratulations to all the winners and we are looking forward to seeing you at the Bavarian Championship in a few weeks. A big “Thank You” to our judges Sylvia Jäckle (Germany), Johanna Grabner (Austria), Trigg Rentfro (USA) und Rick Bordignon (Italy) and the staff of the VWB!

For candids from the show Click Here.