Chipmunk FRH

The Hanoverian Contendro son Chipmunk out of Havanna by Heraldik xx – Ramiro Z – Sandro – First Gotthard was born at Dr. Hilmer Meyer-Kulenkampff’s farm in the district of Diepholz, Lower Saxony. Chipmunk’s dam line has been in the family for generations. The foundation mare came from East Prussia back in 1905, explained Meyer-Kulenkampff in an interview with the Lower Saxony agricultural magazine “Landvolk”. He named athleticism, willingness to perform and intelligence as his breeding goals – qualities that can be attributed to Chipmunk with a clear conscience. However, the athleticism took a while, as the lanky first had to grow into his body.

Krajewski era

Chipmunk was tall, long-legged and narrow-chested when he came to Julia Krajewski as a four-year-old. He started competing at the age of five. His first show jumping and cross-country tests were very promising. The season was crowned by the title of Bundeschampion in Warendorf.

Chipmunk competed in his first international tests at the age of six and was immediately successful. However, he was so big that he needed a lot of time to find his balance, explained Julia Krajewski in an interview with St.GEORG magazine in 2018. She also always had the feeling that – unlike with Samourai du Thot, for example – she always had to keep an eye on Chipmunk so that he could get everything sorted in the terrain. A lot of uphill and downhill riding in the terrain contributed to this. The gelding, everyone’s favorite in the stable because he is “like a puppy” (Krajewski), got better and better.

At the age of seven, the pair took part in the World Championships for Young Eventing Horses. After a very good dressage test, they suffered a knockdown in the cross-country, which put an end to their first medal dreams.

But as an eight-year-old, Chipmunk secured his first four-star successes, finishing second in Wiesbaden and winning the CCI4*-L in Strzegom at the end of the season. A milestone. Chip demonstrated that this was no fluke the following season with another second place in Wiesbaden, seventh place at the DM in Luhmühlen and, to top it all off, third place in the CCI4*-L in Blenheim.

Thus prepared, they tackled the 2018 season. Chipmunk was now ten years old and in top condition. He showed this right at the start of the season in Marbach, where he made his rider the professional riders’ champion with a victory in the CCI4*-S there. He then won the CCI4*-L in Bramham and went one better in Aachen: victory in the Soers, Krajewski’s most beautiful joint success. And the last.

Disappointment in Tryon

The pair were nominated for the World Equestrian Games in Tryon. Chipmunk and Krajewski arrived in the USA in top condition. They set the standard in dressage with a result that no one could top: 19.9 minus points. Then the cross-country day. The first part of the course went like clockwork. That smelled like a medal. But Julia Krajewski’s bad luck, which had already plagued her at previous championships, would not leave her in Tryon. At obstacle 14, a combination consisting of two corners, the pair came too close to the second element. Chipmunk could no longer jump off. The dream of precious metal was over. Tryon was the pair’s last show. After that, Chipmunk was to be sold. He still belonged to his breeder. It was said that he had decided to sell him for personal reasons. No wonder. The gelding was ten years old, in his prime, and the 2020 Olympic Games were just around the corner. Every four years, this is a regular booster for the global horse trade with hopefuls for the three Olympic disciplines.

Michael Jung era

Hilmer Meyer-Kulenkampff must have received several offers. In the end, he accepted the offer from the Fischer family, who secured the gelding for Michael Jung together with the DOKR. Since then, Chip has officially been called Fischerchipmunk FRH. The three-time Olympic champion, world champion and multiple European champion with one of the best young horses in the world – if that doesn’t work out!

It became something. Michael Jung was able to build on Julia Krajewski’s solid basic training and seamlessly build on Chipmunk’s earlier successes. In their very first season, the pair won team gold and individual silver at the 2019 European Championships in Luhmühlen. 2020 would actually have been an Olympic year, but a small virus almost brought the world to a standstill that year.

Then the 2021 Olympic season: Radolfzell, Marbach, Barborowko, DM Luhmühlen – Chip and Jung won everything they competed in. Finally the time had come, the Olympics in Tokyo. The pair took the lead after the dressage with 21.1 minus points. They flew through the cross-country. Right to the finish. No time faults, and certainly no passing. Problem: The pair triggered a MIM at obstacle 14. Jung later said that he had heard Chipmunk touch the jump, but would never have thought that the impact was so strong that the MIM could break. But it was. The jump collapsed and Jung had eleven additional penalty points on his account. The next day, they picked up another knockdown in the final jumping competition, which meant they finished eighth in the individual classification. The eleven penalty points from the cross-country were all the more annoying in view of the fact that even with the four faults in the course, the pair would still have been Olympic champions after their superb dressage. But it didn’t help.

The following year, the pair had another chance to win a major title, this time at the World Championships in Pratoni. With 18.8 minus points, they were once again in the lead after the dressage. This time everything went smoothly in the cross-country. It looked like a start-to-finish victory. However, they had to jump zero to do so. One down and it would be silver, two and they would be out of the medals. They ended up with two. But at least they still won gold with the team.

A stumble in the water shattered dreams of the 2023 European Championship title. Then the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Jung and Chipmunk once again performed a top dressage routine. But one pair was a touch better: the British dream team Laura Collett and her Holsteiner London, team Olympic champion in Tokyo and record badminton winner. Jung had 17.8 minus points (equivalent to 82.2 percent), Collett 17.5 minus points (82.5 percent). In the cross-country, however, the British duo was two seconds too slow and Jung managed a precision landing in time – advantage Germany. As the overnight leader, Jung was the last to go into the final jumping competition. As two medals may not be awarded for one performance at the Olympic Games, two courses are jumped, the first for the team classification and the second for the individual classification. Collett and London collected one knockdown. Michael Jung and Chipmunk did likewise. They could not afford another one. You could hear a pin drop in the park at Versailles as the pair tackled the final course. They tackled jump after jump. Only their determination not to disturb the pair’s concentration prevented the spectators from letting out a collective sigh of relief every time they completed an obstacle. After all, there was only one obstacle left. And they also completed this without any faults. Michael Jung and Chipmunk had finally made it! The first title – and Jung’s fourth Olympic gold medal.

Aachen is calling

Chipmunk is fitter than ever at the age of 17, as he first showed in 2025 with his start-to-finish victory at the CCI5*-L in Kentucky and then again at the European Championships in Blenheim. This time they had to admit defeat to Laura Collett and London and took silver (and gold with the team), but the way Chip played with the demands of the terrain should have taken the wind out of the sails of any doubters who think the gelding is too old to still be at the WEG in Aachen in 2026.

This would be Chipmunk’s eighth championship, he has been in the team every year in top sport. This is also an outstanding achievement, not only for the horse, but also for the management.