Victory in the team competition for junior dressage at the European Championships in Olomouc
Germany’s Junior Team Wins Gold at the Olomouc Quadrangular
from Dominique Wehrmann 
Martha Raupach and Francis Drake OLD—who scored less than 70 percent in the FEI team competition at the Future Champions (photo)—are now part of the European Championship gold medal team with a score of just over 71 percent.
Photo: Mirka Nilkens If the competition had hoped that the withdrawal of the pairs Eve Catherine Bartels/Villeneuve and Ava Osing/Destacado —who were originally scheduled to ride for the German team—would give them a chance to overtake the girls with the German eagle, they were proven wrong over the past two days. Already yesterday, the replacements—Birte Niessing on Destino (70.243) and Greta Louise Wagner on Vanessa H (72.333)—had put the German team in the lead, each setting a new personal best. Their teammates sealed the deal today.
Martha Raupach and Francis Drake OLD didn’t quite match Wagner’s top score, but they delivered a solid performance with 71.151 percent. And then came Clara Kohoutek and her Dark Dancer, who once again demonstrated how the FEI team test for juniors should ideally be ridden. It was a seamless performance, characterized by beautiful contact, great harmony, and a willingness to take risks when called for. The “Prize of the Best” winner was rightly awarded a whopping 74.545 percent.
In the end, the German juniors took first, third, fourth, and seventh place in the individual standings. There was no getting past them—which is all the more remarkable given that this is the first European Championship for all four of them.
The Other Medals
With a score of 218.029 percent, the German quartet prevailed—as it had in the other age groups—over Denmark (212.302) and the Netherlands (210.454).
One pair in the Dutch team deserves special mention: Annabell de Bock with her seven-year-old Vivaldi-Hofrat son, Ostilio. As the last pair to compete, they were under particular pressure, as the Swiss had set a high bar with 209.546 percentage points. Were they fazed by the pressure? Not 16-year-old Annabell. Riding with a beautiful, steady seat, sensitive aids, and excellent contact, she achieved a new personal best of 70.818 percent, securing the bronze medal for her team. The cheers were loud—and well-deserved given her beautiful ride.
Children
The colors of the stripes on the flags of the four top-ranked children at the end of Part Two of the warm-up round were all the same (yellow, red, and black), though in different sequences and alternating between vertical and horizontal stripes.
The winner was Belgian rider Emilija Rucinskaite on her eight-year-old gelding Nice Guy STW by Just Wimphof. She received a strong 91.50 percent from Thomas Lang and Knut Danzberg, who judged the riding performance in the E class. In terms of technique as well, the ride in the Children’s class—at the L-level—was impressive. They even received 79.107 percent from Maarten van der Heijden (judge H). Their total score was 83.548 percent.
Second place went to Linda Schuchmann and her Fürstenball son—also just eight years old—with a score of 81.066 percent. Their score for E was 91 percent. The Belgian “overnight leaders,” Shirley Vanerom and her Sir Donnerhall daughter Ogami van het Beukenhof, managed to stay in the top three with their 81 percent.
Fourth place went to the dark horse of the German delegation, Jasper Rasche, riding Limoncello, a son of Lord Loxley (E: 87.250/79.697). The fourth German rider, Antonia Hansmeyer riding Gentle van Wittenstein—who had already competed yesterday—finished in seventh place.
The first competition for the Children’s division was, in fact, just a warm-up event. In the 12- to 14-year-old age group riding full-size horses, there is no freestyle event; only team and individual competitions are on the schedule for the coming days.
