Now that’s never happened before: a horse planting its hoof in the MOWOS cement!

For the gelding “Semper Libero”, the whole event was somewhat frightening, but eventually his curiosity got the better of him. He first sniffed the cement, then, like the well-behaved horse that he is, planted his front hoof in the concrete slab. Visitors to the shores of the Olympic lake can now look forward to a horsy footprint on the Walk of Stars. And for his efforts, the MOWOS crew treated “Semper Libero” to a large helping of red beet.

 

The reason for the celebrations was ten successful years of the top-class riding tournament Munich Indoors. And even in its tenth anniversary year, the Olympic Hall was again packed with 40,000 riding enthusiasts.

 

To mark the close of the Riders Tour, the crème de la crème of the international riding scene come to Munich year after year. And this year, a 90 x 90 slab has immortalised the multiple-times Olympic winners Isabell Werth and Ludger Beerbaum.

 

World-class rider Ludger Beerbaum at first couldn’t believe that he was going to be immortalised in cement and his first thought was that it

was a joke being played by a TV programme such as Candid Camera. However, he was soon delighted to learn that his prints would be situated on the same walk of fame as Franz Beckenbauer and Boris Becker, on the banks of the Olympic Lake. He also donated a horseshoe from his Olympic horse “Goldfever”, which has now also been set in the cement.

 

And just one last curious aside: after the stable tent had been dismantled, the MOWOS slab lay right in the centre of the big car park behind the Olympic Hall. Had an equine enthusiast tried to steal the 100-kg slab but was unable to lift it into the car?