Dutch rider Willem Greve unbeaten at horse change in 's-Hertogenbosch

And his name is Willem Greve. The Dutchman had brought the nine-year-old Sir Obolensky son Sir Mika Z to the “Best of Champions” jumping competition, the horse change at the Dutch Masters in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Here they were up against Richard Vogel with the nine-year-old Irish rider Greenacres Comilfo, Julien Epaillard (FRA) on Easy Up de Grandry and Gilles Thomas (BEL) with the French stallion Happy Landais, also only nine years old.

Greve with a white vest

In the end, Willem Greve was the only rider who managed to stay clear with all four horses. Richard Vogel only had one knockdown, with Happy Landais from Gilles Thomas. Julien Epaillard had twelve penalty points. Eight of these were on Vogel’s Irishman, who proved to be the key horse of the competition, as Gilles Thomas also collected eight penalty points on him. The other two third-party horses each had one penalty point, meaning that the European team champions ended up with 16 penalty points.

The exciting competition was commented on by Harrie Smolders and Jeroen Dubbeldam. The latter had campaigned for there to be a competition with horse changes in show jumping again. He himself became world champion in 2014, when the final was still held with the leading four pairs in the same format.

Voices

Willem Greve was enthusiastic after his victory: “This competition is really a lot of fun. As a rider, you have to try to read the horses well in a short space of time, to feel how they react and how they prefer to be ridden. You shouldn’t try to control them completely. We were all really looking forward to it. We are all very close to our horses and find it interesting to see how someone else approaches a horse. You exchange ideas and it’s fascinating to see how someone adapts to a horse.”

Greve later explained that he paid particular attention to Richard Vogel’s horse: “Richard said that his horse was still quite inexperienced, so I took a close look at it. It’s a sensitive horse that really wants to do everything right. Above all, I wanted to give him the confidence that I would bring him to the jump with the right distance.”

Jeroen Dubbeldam later said that this round was a demonstration of horsemanship.

Richard Vogel also likes to learn from this, as he admits: “I try to learn something with my eyes.”

For Harrie Smolders, this is typical of highly successful riders: “These riders also learn from this for the future. They exchange tricks. They are all artists, and that is what distinguishes top riders: There is so much to learn. This is our life, our passion.”

Or as Willem Greve puts it: “As a rider, you learn something new every day. That’s what drives us. The question of how you can understand a horse better or how it can understand you better can make you lose sleep. Ultimately, however, it’s the feeling that counts.”

You can find all the results here.