spoga horse autumn recently came to a close after three successful trade fair days. In total, 432 companies from 33 countries (foreign share: 83%) presented the trends, highlights and developments of the equestrian sport industry.

"The trend toward innovative materials, recycling and sustainability was clearly noticeable both at the stands and from the entries to the spoga horse award. The quality of the concepts and products was very impressive," said Katharina C. Hamma, chief operating officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. "The fact that spoga horse autumn and spoga+gafa are held parallel to each other enables the synergies between the two industries to be exploited to the full." In total, around 40,000 visitors from 114 countries attended spoga horse autumn and spoga+gafa 2018. At 64%, the share of foreign exhibitors remains at a constantly high level.

From riding fashion, helmets, shoes, boots to saddles and bridles, through to care and feed products, accessories and services, once again this year spoga horse autumn offered a complete overview of the market.

More and more specialized dealers from the equestrian sports industry are additionally offering dog accessories. The exhibitors and the trade fair management of spoga horse have reacted to this development, which was recognizable from the offer at the stands and on a separate special zone dedicated to the theme. Furthermore, the market research portal, HorseFuturePanel presented the initial results of a survey on the theme of the buying behavior of equestrian sport athletes with regards to dog accessories, which was carried out on behalf of spoga horse.

The concluding highlight for the exhibitors of spoga horse autumn was the award ceremony of the spoga horse award. The expert jury examined just under 50 entries for the award, which is conferred jointly by Koelnmesse and the media partner equitrends in the three categories innovations, sales concepts and sustainability. Voss Faible convinced in the category innovations with the Gentle Groomer. MM Cosmetic Zedan was distinguished with the first prize in the category sales concepts. The company was also able to secure itself the winning prize in the category sustainability.