There is some sort of a joke about famous Belgians. I can’t actually remember what it is, except that the point is that there aren’t any. Excepting Agatha Christie’s moustachioed maestro, Hercule Poirot, of course.
In eventing, however, there have been several at-least-quite famous Belgians, primarily Karin Donckers and now Lara de Liedekerke-Meier. And team manager Kai Steffen-Meier – himself not a Belgian, but a German – is attempting to increase that number by giving some of the country’s up-and-coming riders the exposure and mileage that only comes from riding at (proper) five-stars.
While Lara is best placed of the Belgians after dressage at Badminton, scoring 31.7 on her Luhmühlen winner Hooney D’Arville, three others have crossed the Channel in search of big-event experience.
Kai, who rode at Badminton twice, says: “We had some plan behind [coming to Badminton en masse]. I really think that we are, let’s say, a growing nation – but I still think that to make the next step, we need to try to make the development into a five-star nation. I want to make it more normal [for Belgian riders] to go and aim for five-star. So over the winter, we’ve really tried to push for that for this year.
“The timeline this year is very good for us with Badminton, because it gives us enough time to regroup and get to Blenheim [for the European Championships] – it’s not one or the other. I think that’s actually helpful – it’s another bit of exposure and a chance to work under pressure.”
It’s always said that it is key to be working “above the level” at which you are competing, so that you are in your comfort zone when the intensity and pressure are dialled up.
He continues: “It’s absolutely also about being able to feel like we’re stepping down for championships, rather than punching up. I’m trying to make it more normal for them to ride a big track and test that out a bit and learn about it here, rather than at the championship itself. I want my riders to get to a championship and say, ‘huh, it’s a lot easier than what I’ve done already.’”
Lara had double-entered her homebred mare at Kentucky and Badminton, but the decision as to where to run was simple: “Money.”
She elaborates: “Even if you finish third, then you still almost don’t have any money after your transport costs. And when I saw the field… it was not a packed field, but it was a really consistent and strong field. She won Luhmühlen, but I’m not arrogant enough to feel like I could do it again, so I thought, ‘I’ll come here to get the experience’. I keep learning every single day. I hope she’s going to enjoy it and I’m not going to regret my choice!
“I wanted to go to Kentucky because I think it’s a little bit more of a European way of building – Derek [di Grazia] builds a little bit more what she has been used to in the past. Here it’s really big, and she’s really a careful horse, so sometimes she takes a look. I hope she won’t be too careful and lose confidence around the track; I would have maybe liked to do another five star before coming here, but she has surprised me a lot of times in the past, so hopefully she will surprise me again on Saturday.
“It feels really good to be back. I forgot how much atmosphere there is – it’s so special, and I still think of it as the pinnacle of the sport, so I’m so happy to bring her here. It probably wasn’t my first plan – and who has Badminton as a plan B?! Only me, probably! – but she feels really, really good and she tried really hard in the dressage despite having so much stamina right now. I think she’s never felt as fit as she feels here.
“Not that long ago, I wasn’t thinking I was going to win a five-star, and so I’m not thinking about [winning] now. I just tried to do my best, and I could have done better; I don’t think she could have herself. I hope I’ll have nothing to report for myself on Saturday. That’s my mission. It’s a big course for her – it’s another league from Luhmühlen and the crowds are huge. She’s done Le Lion twice, though, and Boekelo, so she can cope with an atmosphere, but nothing beats Badminton. There’s a lot of questions, and we’ll see how she answers them.”
Seppe Vilain and Kawa de la Cour Z. Photo by Cealy Tetley.
Second-best Belgian at Badminton (doesn’t that sound nice?) is 24-year-old Seppe Vilain, an amateur rider who works as a civil engineer. He scored 33.9 on Kawa De La Cour Z for equal 34th place.
“He’s a blood horse, but he stayed very calm, and I was able to ride him as I wanted,” says Seppe. “It was perhaps not our best test, but here I thought it was best to play it safe; it’s not a dressage competition. He did pretty well – I was a bit scared of how he’d deal with the atmosphere. It’s the first time he’s seen anything like this, but he was focused and he did the job. He’s 17, and he knows that once he enters the arena it’s time to do a job.”
Wouter de Cleene and Quintera. Photo by Cealy Tetley.
Wouter De Cleene, a manager with a road construction company, is in 61st place with 38.1 on Quintera. Fascinating fact: Wouter’s uncle, Dirk van Mieghem, was the first Belgian to complete Badminton 45 years ago.
“I thought I rode a good test, but the flying changes came too early, and so I got bad marks and a bad result. I thought they were good, other than being too early, though!” says Wouter.
“The event is amazing – it’s nice to be here, and with all these people, tomorrow will be a special day. For me, the course is big enough, but I wanted to come and so I’ll just get out there and ride it. I have a good horse, I think.”
Senne Vervaecke and Google van Alsinger. Photo by Cealy Tetley.
Squaring off the Belgian quartet is Senne Vervaecke, 62nd with 38.4 on Google Van Alsingen.
“I was very pleased,” says Senne. “She gave me, actually, a really great feeling. The first half of the test went amazing and then halfway through, she got really scared of one of the cameras. It was just really close – halfway, she had seen it and then every time she had to pass it, was like ‘oh, what’s happening here?’ But then we passed there, and she was really well behaved again. So considering the situations, I’m super-pleased.”
He has had the 14-year-old Watch Me mare since she was four.
“She was incredibly difficult to ride and difficult to work with when she was younger. It took us months of training to be able to get out of the stables and get to the arena without landing into one of the fields, stuff like that. I remember the first competition I did with her was like, an 80cm track. We did fence number one and that was good, and then there was a little road to fence number two, and halfway she stopped and turned around and I said, ‘No, no, let’s go back’. And she turned around again, and I said ‘no no, go back’ and tried five or six times, and then halfway when I said, ‘No, turn back’ she turned 90 degrees and was like, ‘I don’t want to go back. I’ll just go this way’. “There was a metal wire fence there, and so she started leaning against it, and I could feel her go to a standstill and she pushes and pushes, and a few seconds later, it goes bang. She goes through it and after that, she was like, ‘I made my point.’ And then I just trotted back to tell the organisers that I broke their field’s fence, and they were like ‘Okay, you can go ahead and continue’.
“All the rest of the course she did perfectly, and she passed that spot like a charm – she just had to make her point that she was the boss and she was going to decide what’s happening.”
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