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“I was happy just to get the ticket to ride in Aachen – everything that happened while there was a bonus,” Germany's Gerrit Nieberg tells about his week at CHIO Aachen 2025, where his charming Ping Pong van de Lentamel (Emerald x Toulon, bred by Hulde aan de Bok B.V.B.A.) stole hearts in his debut at Soers.

While Nieberg is a former winner of the Grand Prix of Aachen, this was the first time the 10-year-old gelding did a show of this calibre and only his second five-star appearance. Nevertheless, Ping Pong impressed in the CSIO5* 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix with a double clear round to eventually end 9th, after a fence down in the jump-off. The pair also jumped double clear and placed 8th in Wednesday’s CSIO5* 1.60m Turkish Airlines-Prize of Europe – one of the qualifiers for the Grand Prix.

Owned by Karin Ernsting, Ping Pong is a horse that Nieberg has been riding since the end of 2023 – thanks to a co-operation between Nieberg’s boss Hendrik Snoek and Ernsting. “I am thankful for this co-operation and all the trust Karin has placed in me and my team,” Nieberg says. “Weeks like the one we had in Aachen wouldn't be possible without her and the entire team behind us.”

“We started our co-operation with the goal being the 2026 World Championship in Aachen,” Nieberg explains. “This was the first part of our journey towards that goal: We wanted to make sure Ping Pong gets to compete in Aachen this year, so that he could go into the arena and get used to the atmosphere. I didn't expect that we would come home with these kinds of results!”

“I just wanted to give Ping Pong a good feeling,” Nieberg explains about what he aimed for. “In the first big class on Wednesday, I was already really happy with the feeling I had on him and little bit surprised that he jumped double clear. I then jumped him again in Friday’s Grand Prix qualifier, which in my opinion was already a really tough class.”

“What Ping Pong did on Sunday was incredible,” Nieberg says about the gelding’s performance in the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen. “He really gave everything and I never had a feeling like this before. I knew that we had no chance to get the other times in the jump-off, so my plan was to ride a normal, smooth round.”

“I thought it was, as always, a tough and big class, and by far the biggest class for Ping Pong as this was only his second five-star show ever,” Nieberg tells about his impression of the Rolex Grand Prix. “However, in the days leading up to the Grand Prix, Ping Pong had given me such a good feeling, so I felt confident going in with him. I wanted to do my best to give him a good ride and a comfortable feeling in the ring. He did everything that I asked for and jumped better than ever.”

In 2022, Nieberg blazed to the win in the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen with the then 11-year-old Ben 431 (Sylvain x Quincy Jones). Last Sunday, even though again in the jump-off, he was in a totally different position, riding a green horse, with bigger goals to come. “Ben was a totally different horse than Ping Pong is, and we are in a different phase in our relationship,” Nieberg reflects on the feeling in his winning round in 2022 compared to that of last Sunday.

“That was also the reason why I didn't go fast in the jump-off; I knew we had no chance to catch the others, and it would have been stupid to try something that could have weakened his confidence. Building our relationship further was more important to me than trying to win. He is inexperienced at this level and him leaving the arena with a really good feeling was all we wanted.”

13.7.2025 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.