Martha Raupach is the 2022 European Children Champion

The 2022 European Children Championships came to a conclusion at Stable Unikornis in Pilisjaszfalu, Hungary, early Sunday morning 28 August 2022 and German Martha Raupach confirmed her supremacy by winning the individual gold medal. 

Triple Win, Team and Individual Gold for Raupach

The 14-year old Martha Raupach made a full conquest of the 2022 European Children Championship, scoring a triple victory in all three classes and taking home two gold medals. 

Aboard her 8-year old KWPN gelding Jack Sparrow (by Expression x Vivaldi), Raupach won the warm-up preliminary test with 86.548% and led Germany to team gold by posting the high score of the day in the team championship test (83.509%). In the individual test finals on Sunday, Raupach continued her winning streak. Judges Thomas Kessler, Maria Colliander, Cesar Torrente, Magnus Ringmark, and Elisabeth Max-theurer favoured her ride and rewarded it with a winning total of 83.596%. She scored 74.691% for the technical part and got a quality score of 92.500% of which 9.5 was for seat, 9 for aids and precision and 9.5 for general impression.

"Dreams came true," Raupach took to Instagram. "We were able to get 83% today so we could win with 5% distance and become European champion. Thank you to everyone who made this possible."  Martha trains with Sandra Kötter.

Raupach began her international show career in 2020 in the FEI pony division with Mad Max, but switched to Children in 2021 after acquiring Jack Sparrow in Denmark. This year she added the WCYH finalist Francis Drake to her collection of horses, but it was steady-eddy Jack Sparrow who put her back on the German Children team.  The chestnut gelding is bred by Herman Veurink from Bergentheim, The Netherlands, and was presented by Riekus Veninga at the 2017 KWPN Stallion Licensing in 's Hertogenbosch, but got rejected because of in-breeding (twice Vivaldi in the pedigree). The stallion sold privately to Denmark at the licensing and was approved for the Oldenburg and Danish warmblood society. However, he ended up being gelded to be focused on sport and sold to the Raupach family.

Silver for Plaas

For German Lotta Plaas the 2022 Euroepan Children Championship must have been a rollercoaster of emotions. Originally named the German team alternate, she was called for duty just a few days before the Europeans kicked off as team rider Zoe Hachmeier and Sir Piccolino had suddenly dropped out. 

Plaas fulfiled her role as alternate admirably and did even more. She turned out to be the second best rider of the show! On the 20-year old Trakehner Balsamico (by Hertug x Anduc), she was third in the preliminary test with 79.756%, third in the team test with 81.150%, and second in the individual test for the silver medal with 78.707%. She scored 71.914% as a technical score and 85.500% as a quality mark with 8.8 for seatn 8.5 for aids and precision and 8.4 for general impression. 

"I'm absolutely speechless," Plaas said with tears in her eyes. "Basil was fantastic in the Individual test. It was an amazing performance and our personal best. At the end we won the silver medal. I still can't believe it, it's like a dream which never ends. I'm blessed with the best."

German team trainers Caroline Roost (Children) and Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen (JR/YR) both praised Lotta's 20-year old schoolmaster Balsamico. "This horse is the best example of good horsemanship. From the moment Balsamico noticed that this is an important event he was wide awake. Lotta is very concentrated and focused on the task at hand and both worked together," said Roost. Meyer zu Strohen added, "Sometimes you have horses that are special. Balsamico is such a horse. He is friendly and interested 24 hours a day, a very sympathetic horse that really does his best for his rider. The tests in the arena were incredibly harmonic and secure in the movements."

Plaas and Balsamico were already German team members for the 2021 European Children Championships in Oliva Nova, Spain, where they won team gold and finished 8th individually. As a youngster, Balsamico was first competed by Eva Zieglwalner who rode him in the 2007 Bundeschampionate qualifiers. In 2013 the gelding resurfaced on the competition scene with Eva Plaas, before Lotta took over in 2021. 

Bronze for Sophie van Norel

The individual podium was not entirely dominated by German riders. Dutch Sophie van Norel scored the bronze medal with the 9-year old KWPN mare Itrina (by Dream Boy x Vincent), owned by John en Corine Bambacht-van Wijk.

The 14-year old Van Norel was on strong form at Pilisjaszfalu, placing second in the warm-up preliminary test with 80.798% and fourth in the team test with (79.684%), leading The Netherlands to team silver. In the individual finals, the judges rewarded her test with 78.551% for a third place. She got a technical score of 71.852% and a quality mark of 85.250% with 8.8 for seat, 8.3 for aids, and 8.5 for precision and general impression. Sophie felt the heat from Belgian Amber Hennes breathing down her neck as the team bronze medal winning Belgian was fourth with 78.059%, just a fraction less. 

"I didn't expect that this test was good enough for a medal," Sophie van Norel admitted. "There were a few small mistakes. Itrine went well, but she wasn't as sharp to my leg anymore. I'm super happy though"

Sophie grew up around horses as a descendant of the famous Dutch Van Norel stallion keeper's family. She made her CDI debut in the children division in 2021 aboard Giovanni and has also been competing pony Spekbosch Dickens. In 2022 she focused exclusively on Itrina,

"I've been riding Itrina since last December," Sophie explained. "She had done ZZ-Zwaar with Corine Bambacht, a friend of my mom's. Last year I rode Children with Giovanni, but he got sold and then Corine offered me to try out Itrina and that went really well from the start. This is my last year in the Children division. I'm also riding FEI pony level internationally."

Text © Astrid Appels - Photos © Lukasz Kowalski

Related Links
Scores: 2022 European Children and Under 25 Championships
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2022 European Children/Under 25 Championships
Raupach Ushers Germany to Team Gold at 2022 European Children Championships