For the very new and young Belgian Pony Team, the 2002 European Pony Championships were one to gain valuable experience and exposure at a top European level. Hosted at Ullrich Kasselmann's facility in Hagen, Germany, the Championships were perfectly organised and created an excellent atmosphere for Europe's top pony combinations to hold an interesting competition which was once again dominated by Germany. For almost a decade now, Germany has been the undisputed champion on pony dressage and this year the story would be no different.

The German pony team dominated every single test. Starting with the preliminary test, Germany covered four spots of the top six. Annika Fiege set the victorious pace by winning the preliminary aboard her experienced Euro-pony Konrad (by Constantin). In the team test, Germany dominated all the way and won the gold medal, Holland the silver and England bronze.

The Belgian pony team, consisting of Kim Windey with Pavarotti, Leslie Goethals with Thomas Epona, Joke de Belder with Nero Classic and Caroline Bommers with Winsome's Dukaat collected points good for ranking Belgium sixth in the nations' competition.

Windey and Goethals were selected to ride the consolation final. Windey and her Pavarotti scored 561 points and finished 7th while Goethals and Thomas Epona gathered 541 points and settled on an 11th spot.

Joke de Belder was the only Belgian combination to ride the individual finals. Aboard her German bred Nero Classic, De Belder scored 988 points in the individual test and placed 11th. Her overall ranking was on a 10th individual place. De Belder was already team member last year, but like most pony riders it took her until she was 16 to get her pony into top shape. "It's a pithy that it's our last year with the ponies," mother De Belder told Junior-riders.com, "but we are happy that we were able to end it this beautifully."

The team spirit in the Belgian camp was very well and the good performances of Joke de Belder inspired the rest to do their best. However, it's a pithy that it has been since the 1995 European Championships in Achselschwang that Belgium has been able to win a team medal.

Related Links
Van Campen and Volders, Individual Finalists at the 2002 European Championships for Young Riders
Scores 2002 European Pony Championships at Eurodressage.com