A GOLD medal on his first European championship appearance. The script couldn’t get more fairytale-like than that for Andre Thieme who became the fifth German rider, alongside Ludger Beerbaum (2001. Gladdys S), Christian Ahlmann (2003. Coster), Marco Kutscher (2005. Montender) and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (2007. Shutterfly) to win European gold this century.

DSP Chakaria, his champion, is another chesnut mare to break stereotypes, in a similar way to DSP Alice’s World Equestrian Games gold medal at Tryon. Both mares are registered with the Deutsches Sportpferd studbook.