Germany Wins Team Gold at 2025 European Para Dressage Championships

2025 European Para Dressage Championships

-- FEI press release, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Digishots

In a thrilling day of competition, it was down to the final athlete of the day to determine the team medals at the FEI Para Dressage European Championships 2025 in Ermelo (NED) on Saturday 6 September 2025.

The morning session saw the Grade V competition culminate with the final scores for the German and Dutch teams, completing on 224.454 and 223.362 respectively. Thus, throwing down the gauntlet and leaving only room for the Danish and British teams to try and catch them, when their team scores were being calculated at the end of the Grade IV competition this afternoon.

The Netherlands’ Britney de Jong rode into the arena today with a point to prove after a slightly disappointing test with Caramba (by Tuschinski x Gribaldi) on Thursday. The pair produced a dynamic and active test, laying down a score of 74.395, and bringing a team medal closer into sight.

“As soon as I entered that arena, I knew what I needed to do. I am really happy about our test, as it was more forward and we got more expression into it,” she said of her ride with the 18-year-old gelding whom she has partnered for seven years. “We still have a pretty long wait to find out the results until the end of the competition, but it feels good to have put in a strong score for the team.”

It was then down to the individual Grave V champion, Regine Mispelkamp riding Bayala (by Barroso x Seld Made) to see what they could do to close the gap, knowing she had to score higher than 73 to put the Germans into the gold medal position above the Dutch.

When the combination finished their test and Regine beamed a winning smile as her final score of 74.105 was announced, it was clear that the German team were the ones to beat. Gold was all but secured.

“She felt so great. She was so light in the hand and really concentrated more on me, which is what makes me so happy, she is beginning to talk with me in the arena, and we are communicating so well,” she spoke proudly of the 10-year-old Oldenburg mare.

The stakes were high for Regine as the last athlete in the team to compete, but she remained calm and collected as she entered the arena.

“Yes, there was pressure, but when you are sitting on your horse, you forget about everything else and just trust them to do their best. As long as you are with your horse, all will be good,” Regine said.

Suspense until the last minute

It was a long wait until Denmark’s Pia Wulff Jelstrup entered the arena with Zafia (by Zee Me Blue x Carentino) this afternoon for the Grade IV competition, to see if they could shake up the leaderboard. With a couple of small errors in their test, it just wasn’t quite enough to top the team rankings, scoring 72.108 to give a final team tally of 221.974. This left them more than two points adrift from the top, and over a mark behind the Dutch. But all was not lost, the bronze medal was still within their grasp.

“I’m pleased with my horse, but I had a few not-so-good moments myself, which let her down. It was me who was at fault, not the horse, she was great as always,” Pia said of her test with the 11-year-old Danish warmblood mare.
It was then down to the final athlete to enter the arena after two days of stiff competition, Great Britain’s Nicola Naylor, to determine the medals.

Riding with the pressure of a possible team bronze medal on her shoulders with Humberto L (by Cachet L x Haarlem), Nicola did remarkably well to settle the sudden nerves of the 13-year-old gelding. Ultimately, the combination fell just short of the required score to secure a medal, finishing on a mark of 71.406 which put the team on a total of 221.267, less than a mark off a podium finish. It wasn’t to be for the Brits.

“It’s been such an exciting couple of days for all the nations, which is just how it should be,” Nicola said of the standard of competition.

“The sport has revolutionised in terms of the quality of the horses and what riders are now able to do thanks to the right backing, which can only make the sport better, if everybody is really fighting for their place on the podium. It’s going to make it more exciting, more encouraging and hopefully more nations will want to take part in the future.”
German team make Para Dressage history

And so, for the first time in Para Dressage history a new team are being crowned European champions, and it is Melanie Wienand with Lemony’s Loverboy (by Lemony's Nicket x Fürst Piccolo), Heidemarie Dresing and Poesie (by Furstenball x Kostolay), Isabell Nowak and Siracusa OLD (by Sir Donnerhall x Blue Hors Don Schufro), and Regine Mispelkamp with Bayala taking the gold for Germany in yet another extremely close competition at this year’s Championship.

“The outstanding ladies of the team and their horses did an amazing job.” Chef d’Equipe Nico Hörmann started, as he spoke of the team’s historic win. “Thank you, the Netherlands, Denmark and Great Britain, for a great two days of sport. The closeness of the competition means that the world is really shifting together in performance improvement. We’re happy that we won a tough competition and we’re really proud of our team, but we are also proud of all Europeans for putting up such great competition.”

Team silver for home nation, The Netherlands

Host nation, the Netherlands rose to the occasion with their new team of equine Championship first timers in Happy Grace (by Royal Dance x Casanova) for Tessa Baaijens-van de Vrie, Fonq (by Fuerst Fohlenhof Sire Lissaro van de Helle) with Rixt van der Horst, Happy Hero (by Hohenstein x Weltmeyer) for Loes Cevaal and Caramba with Britney de Jong, to claim the team silver medal.

“I’m very proud of the whole team that we accomplished this, I think it’s very special to win a team medal in our home country,” Rixt said of their success.

Team bronze was secured by the sterling performances of Denmark’s Karla Dyhm-Junge with Miss Daisy (by De Noir x Future Cup), Tobias Thorning Joergensen and Jolene Hill (by Schufro Hit x Winsor), Katrine Kristensen on Goerklintgaards Quarter (by Quaterback x Don Schufro) and Pia Wulff Jelstrup with Zafia.

“We are really very excited about the outcome, all our riders had been in the arena and we had to wait for the very last result to come before we knew whether we had a medal or not,” team trainer Astrid Gemal said of the team performance.

“It was very tense, but all the riders did such a good job and in the end the team had done enough, which was a fantastic result.”

Time to put on their dancing shoes

Tomorrow sees the culmination of the Championship with the Freestyle competition, where the top eight combinations from the Grand Prix B test in Grades I, III, IV and V, and the top six in Grade II, choreograph their own floorplans and perform them with their equine partners set to music they have designed to accompany their test.

First in the arena at 08:30 is Grade III, followed by Grade II at 10:00, Grade I at 11:15. After the lunch break it will be the turn of the Grade V competitors at 13:45 and finishing up, Grade IV competitors will be the last to dance from 15:15.