Juliette Ramel and her rising Grand Prix horse Buriel KH made an impressive international show debut at the 2016 CDI Drachten on 8 - 10 January 2016. They launched themselves as the biggest shooting stars for Sweden this Olympic year by winning the Drachten Grand Prix and Special with 73.460% and 72.627%.
With results like these the pair can certainly start eyeing off a team spot for Rio.
“It was Buriel’s first time in this kind of arena so it was all really new for him,” Juliette told Eurodressage. “He was a bit overwhelmed, but did his job so well. He really wants to work for and with me.”
Less than three months ago the young duo made stand-out Grand Prix debut with a score 76.45% at the national competition in Ermelo, The Netherlands, and the pair has now proved to carry that on to the international stage. Ramel and the 9-year old Dutch warmblood gelding (by Osmium x Krack C) are now a pair to watch for team selection.
"Buriel is a very sensible and intelligent horse that wants to work with the rider. He doesn’t really like to have a day off and prefers to be ridden," Ramel told Eurodressage. "However, he of course goes out in the field every day.”
The bay gelding was discovered by Juliette's trainer Nicole Werner at a sales yard in the south of Holland in 2013. Nicole knew he would be the perfect horse for Ramel.
“I have been based for several years in The Netherlands and I train five days a week with Nicole Werner. We went to try Buriel twice and decided to buy him," she said.
Although she was unsure how the horse would perform in an international, electric indoor atmosphere, Juliette expected that it would go pretty well, given the way he performs in training. “But I really didn’t know how he would react with the audience," she admitted.
As if she is afraid to jinx her future by saying the Olympic word out loud, Juliette is not putting anything specific in the agenda. She acknowledges that Buriel is still a bit ‘green’ and that he will need to get more experience.
“For that we need to ride at a few more shows," she added. "Rio, is offcourse on our mind and I will ride some more competitions to get the necessary experience, but my main goal is to train and keep improving together. We still have a lot to improve upon, and I will see where that brings us. If that’s Rio, that will be nice, but I have still many years together with him, so if not Rio, there will be more nice shows and championships to ride.”
by Sarah Warne - Photos © Digishots
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