Pentecost was quite lucrative for Daniel Deußer from Wiesbaden, who lives in Belgium: On Saturday, the show jumper won 100,000 euros in a single competition.

However, not at his pretty home tournament, the Whitsun tournament in the state capital.

But on the French Riviera, in Cannes, when jumping the lucrative Global Champions Tour.

He had actually been announced for Wiesbaden, but he changed his plans and you can guess why: the top class alone, which he won, was worth a total of 300,000 euros.

That's just a little less than the full endowment in Wiesbaden over four days with 343,000 euros.

One could now continue with the sentence: That says everything about the importance of the Wiesbaden Whitsun Riding Tournament in the calendar.

But that would only be part of the truth.

It is true that due to the abundance of competitive events - in St. Gallen a Nations Cup was also ridden, last week the elite competed in Hamburg, the German championships in show jumping and dressage are coming up next weekend - very mixed starting fields emerged, from which some well-known names stood out.

Finally out again

But the audience has changed.

Many people finally want to get out again after the dreary months in which they had to largely do without events and meetings.

Such details as starting fields are of lesser interest.

After the two-year forced break due to Corona 2020 and horse herpes 2021, the horse people recaptured the castle park in Biebrich.

Despite an unfavorable weather report, 53,000 came, a number that is surprisingly close to the 2019 figure of 60,000.

And that despite the fact that some tests had to be canceled and there were no vaulters at the start.

Due to precautionary measures against the spread of equine herpes, the stable could not accommodate enough horses for the full program.

But the true star of the Whitsun tournament has always been the castle park with its relaxed charm.

With its tall, venerable trees and the exotic parrot calls.

With the opportunity to walk around with an ice cream in hand, to have a picnic in the meadows, to take the dog with you.

With the colorful displays of the horse night on Friday, the country atmosphere during the cross-country ride on Saturday and the special atmosphere during the floodlit freestyle of the dressage riders on Sunday evening in front of the picturesque castle facade.

Of course, this tournament is also struggling with the current rate of inflation.

But if the impression is not deceptive that sporting events are increasingly developing into events where the audience celebrates themselves less than the top athletes and their performance, then the Wiesbaden tournament is well positioned for the future in terms of spectators.