The Junior Riders Kur to Music championships at the 2007 European Junior Riders Championships were all about the victory of Dutch Chantal van Lanen aboard Beaujolais (by Bright Speed). The horse that get referred to the holding box at the trot up and only accepted during the second vet check ended up winning team silver, individual bronze and kur to music gold.
The happiness on Van Lanen's face was a pure joy in contrast to the many placid facial expressions of the other medallists that stood on the podium during the weekend.
Chantal van Lanen has been training with Tommie Visser for quite some time but recently switched to a different Anky van Grunsven ephebe, Dominique Filion. Dutch junior rider team trainer Tineke Bartels was very happy about Chantal's performances: "There was no one at the Championship with so much control as Chantal! She was the only one at the E.C. who rode three good and consistent tests. In the kur she waited very professionally for the music and executed every exercise to the rhythm of the music. These kinds of rides motivate me enormously to work with young riders. I can see a mentality growing which is necessary for their perseverence as senior riders at top sport level," Bartels said.
Chantal's sister Michelle van Lanen also won team silver and always ranked in the top ten in each junior riders' class. Aboard the experienced medal winning young riders' horse Incredible (formerly owned and ridden by Annemiek van der Vorm), Michelle did a super job at her first European Junior Riders Championship.
"But I don't have a medal", Michelle van Lanen said to me when I asked to take a shot of her and her sister with all their medals -- and she completely forgot her team medal. Credit where credit is due!
Photos © Barbara Schnell
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