The doubts of the start
Equestrian competition reached the Olympic Games in 1912, but the first FEI World Championship would have to wait until 1953, when the Spaniard Francisco Goyoaga achieved a victory. Four years later, in 1957, Rotterdam hosted the 1st edition of a FEI European Championship, although with conditions that are far from those of today. The competition was only individual, there was no team class and, after many controversies, it was decided that the final would be with a change of horse, which greatly limited participation. Only 8 riders from 5 countries accepted the challenge and it was the German Hans Günter Winkler, by then already double World Champion and Olympic Champion, who would take the title with Sonnenglanz, as he did not want to subject the complicated Halla, his best specimen, to the exchange of horses.
A year later, the FEI European Championship were moved to Aachen, but with one major change: there would be no change of horse in the final, which, added to the imposing scenery, caused the number of participants to rise to 24 riders from 13 countries. Winkler did then take Halla and won another medal, the bronze, behind his compatriot Fritz Thiedemann, and the Italian Piero D’Inzeo, who began that year an impressive streak that would lead him to add 4 consecutive medals, one of them gold with Uruguay in Paris 59, the year in which it returned to the change of horse in the final.
The Schockemöhles
To achieve his last individual gold, that year 1969, Broome had to overcome the stiff resistance of Alwin Schockemöhle, one of the greatest riders in history, who, by then, had already been Olympic team champion in Rome, but who was resistant to individual gold medals. In fact, the German climbed on his fourth European podium in Hickstead (2 silvers and 2 bronzes) and even climbed to a fifth before achieving in 1975 the long-awaited and deserved victory that had eluded him for so many years and that finally ended with some hurtful comments in the German press about his alleged inability to win.
That was the first year in which men and women participated together, as the riders had had their own FEI European Championship until 1973, and it was also the 1st edition with team classification, won by Germany. Schockemöhle thus added another medal with Warwick Rex, the horse that would end up giving him an individual Olympic gold in Montreal a year later and which, as he said, "jumped so high that, sometimes, I had trouble holding myself in the air".
1979 was another key year in the history of the FEI Championship since, after multiple ups and downs, modifications and controversies, the new regulations of the competition came into force that have been maintained to this day and that included 3 days with a Table C competition, a FEI Nations CupTM and a two round competition. The new format was so well received that there were 47 participants, a record number until then, representing 15 countries. The Germans dominated the individual competition and Alwin Schockemöhle's name was once again in the spotlight, this time indirectly, as his former pupil and protégé, Gerd Wiltfang, took gold, and his younger brother Paul took silver with Deister. Precisely this pair would be the great protagonist of the following years, as they took gold in 1981, 83 and 85, thus becoming the only one to have won the gold medal. Deister's story deserves to be known because, as a colt, it was discarded for a selection auction for "ugly", ended up sold for 15,000 marks for dressage, had to be recycled to jumping for its indomitable character and ended up in Paul Schockemöhle's stable after the fatal traffic accident of his previous rider, Hartwig Steenken.
The woman
Deister's last medal came in Dinard in 1985, the year in which Heidi Robbiani made history by being the first female rider to achieve an individual medal (silver) at a FEI European Championship. The Swiss had already won team gold 2 years earlier with the explosive Jessica V, although it was Britain's Debbie Johnsey and Caroline Bradley who opened the list of women's medalist (team) in 1977 and 79. Fourteen years after Robbiani escorted Schockemöhle, Hickstead hosted the most women's Championships in history, as the French Alexandra Ledermann was the first rider to take an individual gold with Rochet M and Lesley McNaught took bronze, thus forming a podium that, for the first and, so far, only time, had a majority of women. As if anything was missing, Germany won gold with a team that included Meredith Michaels, later European Individual Champion in 2007 with Shutterfly. Hers was the 4th consecutive individual title for the Germans and the 5th in 6 years, two of them were achieved by Meredith's brother-in-law, Ludger Beerbaum, winner in 1997 with Ratina Z and in 2001 with Gladdys S.
Constant growth
The numbers don't lie, and Germany overwhelmingly dominates the competition's medal table with 71 medals, of which 29 are gold and 18 are individual. Great Britain is 2nd in the ranking with 49, and Switzerland 3rd with 44. The number of participants has steadily grown in recent editions, reaching 85 competitors from 24 countries in 2023, 77 more than in the first edition. However, this is not the record, as Aachen hosted an impressive 94 competitors and 22 teams in 2015! These figures summarize the success of a fully established competition that has visited the most important arenas on the continent. Two of them are Spanish: Las Mestas in Gijón, where the edition won in 1993 by Swiss rider Willy Melliger was held, and the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, where Sweden's Rolf Goran Bengtsson achieved the title in 2001. Casas Novas will join this list in 2025 to once again welcome the best and add new names to the dazzling history composed of the small but great Jappeloup, the beloved and dazzling Milton, the powerful Quito de Baussy and Montender, the classy Ratina Z, the courageous Coster, the sensitive Shutterfly, the consistent All Inn, the solid Clooney, the exuberant Chakaria, the diva Dynamix de Belheme, and so many other animals that have brought prestige to a list of winners where not all who are, are present, but all who are present, are. A Coruña is already preparing for a new European Championship where new stories will be written that deserve to be told, known... and lived. We are waiting for you!
You can download the individual and team classifications from the entire history of the Championship.