Christiane Henrichs & Cornelia Henrichs

Lindenstrasse 4, D-57614 Berod, Germany

!!! Congratulations !!!

The new IFSHA World and Grand National Champions
of 2008

Bernhard P. & Christiane Henrichs

Grand National Champion Prix St. George

World and Grand National Champion Senior Stallion 6 and over Professional/Open

World and Grand National Champion Senior Stallion 6 and over Amateur

Reserve World and Grand National Champion Baroque Stallion

Ygram Fan't Emsland & Silke Henrichs

Grand National Champion Third Level

Reserve Grand National Champion Second Level

Reserve Grand National Champion English Show Hack - Open

Reserve Grand National Champion Dressage Hack - Amateur

Reserve World and Grand National Champion Senior Stallion 6 and over

Yes we can !
And we did. It was an incredible journey and it happened against all odds. Christiane and Bernie flying all the way from Germany to New York. Silke flying in from San Diego and driving all the way from St. Louis MO to New York to pick them up after an odyssey of getting special permits to make this happen and using the probably worst agent in the history of importing horses for (not) making the arrangements. We heard a lot "... that is impossible ..." but we also had some friends and professionals helping and supporting us in our mission to become World and Grand National Champions. When we arrived at the Equestrian Center and checked in with the show office, we saw the beautiful ribbons and cups and we were only hoping at that point that we could maybe win one of them. Despite being terribly nervous, we had three loveley rides on dressage Wednesday and we also won our way through Thursday morning in the halter classes. As if all pressure had fallen off our shoulders, we had an incredibly nice and flawless perfomance on Friday and Saturday night and Silke & Imke even got Reserve Champion in one of the Hack classes which we entered unprepared and in between our performances for the first time trying to figure out what "hand-gallop" was supposed to be. We all agrred that it was the best week ever and we had as much fun as we could.
Here is the list of people we want to thank especially:
Jim & Trish Wehr for letting me ride the incredible Imke in this show and letting me borrow their beautiful truck and trailer for so long!!!
Dr. Ellen Bach - USDA Head-Veterinarian for signing the special permit.
Dr. Wilcox - Missouri USDA Head-Veterinarian for checking us in and out.
Dr. Marylin Finke - Gateway Animal Hospital - for boarding our horse.
Dr. Jennifer Hough for checking us in and out of training.
Evereybody else at the friendly vet hospital who helped and cared (Kathy).
Rocky at Gateway Manor for letting us train our horses at his place.
IFSHA representatives Garrett Selwood and Susan deBoer for inviting us and helping us with the paperwork and formalities.
Nancy Nathanson for answering patiently all of our daily questions.
Liz for helping us at the Equestrian Center with the horses (and the cats).
Super 8 Motel in Wentzville for pampering us during our stay.
Bandanas Restaurant for the best spareribs and food in St. Louis.
... and everybody else that helped to make this happen!