Regine Mispelkamp competed a total of three times at the Deutsche Bank Stadium at the Aachen Soers at the weekend. As part of the first CHIO Aachen CAMPUS Dressage Show, the para-rider was able to claim victory in the Para Grand Prix and Para Grand Prix Test Freestyle. "It's great that we are getting this opportunity and that para-dressage is being integrated into the regular sport here in Aachen," said the 53-year-old about the event, which celebrated a successful premiere. "It is an honor for everyone to be able to ride here in Aachen."

After several training camps at the CHIO Aachen showgrounds, these were the first two competitions for the para-riders to take place in the large Deutsche Bank Stadium. "We were able to use the opportunity to prepare our horses here in this atmosphere for the upcoming championships – and hopefully also for the Olympics," said Mispelkamp with a focus on the Games in Paris this summer.

The first staging at the Soers was also important for another major event that is due to take place in the coming years. "I am very pleased that para-dressage will be part of the 2026 World Championships in Aachen and that our discipline will gain public attention on a big stage. There are no better conditions than here, Aachen offers a dream setting for para-dressage," enthused Regine Mispelkamp.

The organizers are happy to hear such words of praise. "We saw great sport all weekend and the feedback from everyone involved was consistently positive. This of course encourages us in our efforts to ensure that the para-riders are offered such a stage more often in the future, they deserve it," emphasized Birgit Rosenberg, member of the managing board of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein.

The organization of the CHIO Aachen CAMPUS Dressage Show worked out perfectly. "There are experts at work here," emphasized the 53-year-old professional rider, who has been active in para-sport since 2018 due to her MS (multiple sclerosis). "I have a coordination disorder and a weaker left side of my body, but I am very stable in my upper body, which puts the whole thing into perspective," she explains her impairment. Her horses have known her from the beginning and grow with her.

Regine Mispelkamp doesn't see any major differences between para-dressage and regular sport. "Rider and horse always have to fulfill their individual tasks. A well-behaved horse alone is therefore not enough in para-dressage, we also need one with quality and ambition." However, the bond between horse and rider is often closer. "Our horses have to know us really well in order to be able to compensate for our limitations."

Para-dressage to be a permanent element at the CHIO Aachen in the future

For the organizers, the first para-dressage competitions at the Soers were a successful beginning, because in the future para-riders will be guests in Aachen more frequently. "In the time frame of the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026, we are planning various infrastructural measures for the general further development and future positioning of the equestrian sport in Aachen. Para-riding will play a central role in this," explained Philip Erbers, member of the ALRV managing board. In the long term, the CHIO Aachen is to remain the flagship of the entire equestrian sport worldwide and Germany's largest sports event. With the expansion of the traditional showgrounds in the coming years, the necessary infrastructure will be created in order to offer riders and horses the best possible conditions and to eventually integrate para-dressage into the CHIO Aachen permanently.