Any suggestions for horse-related stuff to visit in Koln/Cologne, Germany? A Google search showed an expo in September and a few tack shops. My trip is in late June. Daytrips by train to other cities is possible…I speak very limited German but lived in Nuernberg in the 80s and managed to get around fine…even took a few lessons at a small eventing barn.
They have a bunch of state run breeding facilities. We visited one of them that was within driving distance of Stuttgart, but they are all over Germany. I would definitely recommend trying to find one to visit!
Loesdau (a tack shop – check them out online) is huge, well-priced, and I believe they have a shop near Cologne.
If you’re interested in watching any competitions, you can search for what’s happening during the dates you’re there on this site: http://www.pferd-aktuell.de/turniersport/veranstaltungen/veranstaltungen
A visit to Warendorf (http://www.landgestuet.nrw.de) should be do-able in a day. Actually, depending on how ambitious you are with day-trips, you could look at other state studs too. They should all have event calendars somewhere on their sites.
Local shows may be hard to reach by train/public transit alone, but I don’t think renting a car is all that expensive (if it really piques your interest). I’ve also rented an e-bike (it has a little bit of electric power to make pedaling easier) to get out to the countryside easily, so if you can find that and enjoy biking, I’d highly recommend it. Not horse-related, but biking (or taking a train or boat ride) down the Rhine to Bonn and beyond to see the castles is really lovely!
search for ‘gestuet’ reitsport, sattlerei, reitstall, etc
Also turnier.
There is a show every weekend in driving distance.
You would also be near a lot of the traditional big TB farms. They have impressive facilities.
Good - my daughter moved to Cologne this month and I was wondering what would interest me in the horse field. Studs and shows.
