Two years ago, Joschka Werdermann took the AMERICANA Ranch Riding European Open Championship with a bang. In the 2021 edition, with two horses entered, as draw #2 he set the bar with a 152 score aboard 12-year-old Ruff Commander (Ruf Lil Rascal x Peppys Especial Lena). No one was able to beat the score, not even Joschka himself with his second mount—last in the draw— the Criollo-bred CP Chaca Teso (owned by Jacqueline Gulden-Schütz) whom he came out of the arena with a 149 score taking the two highest scores of the go round.

The Buckskin stallion Ruff Commander, who has had a successful reining career among others, is owned by Leonie Mager. “I’ve had Ruff Commander in training for about four weeks now,” said Joschka. “He is an absolutely cool, laid-back horse, but of course I didn’t know how he would manage the atmosphere of the Show Arena here at AMERICANA. It is something special, after all. But he didn’t mind in the slightest and was right there with me from the beginning.”

Third place was shared by Lynn Troppenz aboard Kathrin Kühnel’s Dun It Primo Style and Maik Bartmann riding Yvonne Bonda’s 8-year-old Spark Spook sired by Smart Spook; both combinations scored a 147.5. Bartmann, highly successful in reining and cow horse disciplines as well as a renowned international judge, praised the pattern of this go-round: “It was exactly the right level of difficulty to put the rideability of the horses to the test and, on the other hand, also to make the horses look good.”  

Diana Royer & Cosima

Indeed, this AMERICANA Go round was a real showcase for the discipline Ranch Riding class which is gaining in popularity: 27 horse-rider combinations were at the start, including two mules August and Cosima. Diana Royer skillfully showed the two and came out of the arena with a 142 and a 142.5 respectively!

Photos by AMERICANA Official Photographer 8PhotoAgency.com

IHP Edited Press Release