Augustin OLD did such a great job in the free-style at Himberg-Gutenhof and we were rewarded with 79.80 percent which meant the State Champion title with a total of 154.74 points. I'm happy, not just because it's my ninth title in the general class but especially because the new free-style Augustin OLD presented for the first time went so well and was also appreciated by the judges and spectators. This new free-style is full of difficulties - so I was a bit nervous and wondered if it could be ridden so smoothly under competition conditions.  But even the transitions went perfectly. It can use some fine tuning still - and I hope that next time it will be as perfect as possible.

With a clear victory in the Grand Prix of Himberg-Gutenhof, Augustin OLD is attempting to win his first Austrian State Champion title. It would already be the ninth title in a row for me in the senior class: five times with Falcao OLD, once with Agrigento, once with Salieri OLD, once last year with Eichendorff and maybe once with Augustin OLD? Wait and see - the free-style tomorrow will decide! Something can - unfortunately - always happen ... but Augustin OLD is in such a great mood. The suspense is there!

Eichendorff did a fabulous job today at the invitation show in Rio des Janeiro/BRA and we ended up on second place. The judges gave us 71.60 percent.

We had some visitors in the stables. These creatures - see photograph on the right - licked up some treats that were placed in a tree extra for them. But they disappeared again real fast after they had eaten their snack.

If you are a real tourist in Rio, the cable car ride up the Sugarloaf Mountain is a must. And so that's exactly what we did - with Edward Gal/NED and Hans Peter Minderhoud/NED. It's too bad that the weather was so overcast. 

We asked ourselves in the beginning, whether it would really be worth all the trouble and effort to make such a long and strenuous trip just to compete in the CDI**** in Rio de Janeiro/BRA with Eichendorf. Well, Edi's performance today in the Grand Prix just eliminated any doubt we might have had.