The 2025 Nations Cup season came to a close in Vejer de la Frontera (POR), with a total of 766 clear rounds recorded across 34 tournaments worldwide. In the exclusive ranking compiled by Swiss equestrian magazine PferdeWoche, Germany’s Sophie Hinners emerged as the standout performer of the season, earning the title of ‘Ms. Nations Cup 2025’ with an impressive 14 clear rounds.
As in the previous year, second place went to Britain’s Ben Maher with 12 clear rounds, while Paris Olympic champion Christian Kukuk (GER) finished third with nine. Germany also topped the country rankings convincingly, recording 83 clear rounds, ahead of Ireland with 74 and Belgium with 69. (Top Canadian was Nicole Walker, who tied for 28th with five clear rounds, while Canada ranked 14th with 17 total clear rounds.)
In total, riders produced 766 clear rounds in Nations Cups this year (compared to 768 in 2024), achieved across 34 competitions, including the two rounds that counted towards the team competition at the European Championships in A Coruña. One rider, however, stood out above all others. With 14 clear rounds to her name, Germany’s Sophie Hinners claims the title, succeeding Cian O’Connor (IRL), who topped the ranking in 2024 with 15 clear rounds.
The 28-year-old Hinners, who lives in Pfungstadt in southern Hesse, excelled in eight different Nations Cups. She rode three horses in her 14 clear rounds. With the ten-year-old Swedish gelding Iron Dames Singclair, she recorded a total of seven clear rounds, including three double clear rounds in Abu Dhabi (UAE), Ocala (USA) and Calgary (CAN). Hinners also recorded double clear rounds with the eleven-year-old Argentine mare Iron Dames Combella in Mannheim (GER) and St. Gallen (SUI). With her actual top horse, the 13-year-old Belgian gelding Iron Dames My Prins, she had a clear round in Rotterdam (NED) and a double clear round at the European Championships in A Coruña (ESP), where her partner Richard Vogel won gold in the individual competition and bronze with Hinners and the German team.
Hinners was delighted with the honour on the sidelines of the CHI Geneva. “It’s something incredibly wonderful. It’s always special to ride in a Nations Cup, to represent your own country and to do so together with a team. I look forward to it every time. And yes, the fact that this season has gone so well is a great joy. Of course, I also have the great team behind the scenes to thank for that. First and foremost, my wonderful horses and also the owner, Deborah Meyer from Iron Dames, for giving me the opportunity to have such horses in my stable. We also have a team in the Global Champions League, but it was still very important to her that I also ride in Nations Cups.”
She competed in her first Nations Cup in 2021 at the EEF semi-final in Budapest. “It was incredibly wonderful, especially because I had never competed in a Nations Cup as a pony rider, junior or young rider. I always dreamed of being able to wear the red jacket one day. It was all the more wonderful when it finally happened.”
Her team debut at five-star level came this year in Abu Dhabi. What makes the Nations Cup special, she says, is “that you can achieve something together as a team and also represent your country. That’s something to be proud of. It makes it special that we all pull together and support each other. This sense of togetherness is a wonderful feeling.”
In 2025, 325 riders from 37 different countries achieved a total of 766 clear rounds in the 34 Nations Cups (three to five stars, European Championships). That works out to an average of just over 22 clear rounds per tournament. In 2024, there were 25 clear rounds in 768 attempts at 30 tournaments. In the team classification, Team Germany won convincingly with 83 clear rounds. A total of 32 German riders competed.
Hinners commented: “Of course, I am all the more pleased that Germany is also ahead in this respect. We had a very good year with ‘Ritschi’ as European Champion and the team medal at the European Championships. I would say we are doing well…”
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