For the new face on the German Dressage Team, dressage is very much a family affair. Both his parents rode at an international level, his father Sven for Germany and Holland, his mother, Gonnelien Gordijn for Holland – and the horse that he made it on, Cosmo, also has a family connection…

Starring at Jerez, Sönke and Cosmo – the gelding is by the jumping superstar, Van Gogh

“My grandfather bought Van Gogh when he was two and then the vet at my grandfather’s place had a brood mare, and in return he got a breeding to Van Gogh, and that is Cosmo. It’s quite extraordinary. We saw him as a four-year-old for the first time, and we liked him, we really liked how loose he was in the trot and the canter, it looked so easy for him.”

“I have been riding him since he was six. Before that my father rode him for one year. I took him over and we did Young Riders, now Grand Prix.”

When I interviewed Sönke in Jerez where he starred, Rio was still just a dream…

“My dream is to compete at the Olympic Games. I don’t know if I’ll make it this year because we have a lot of really good combinations in Germany, especially this year, but it is my dream and I think the horse has the capability to do it, and we are now trying to find the right buttons to make it happen in the ring and on the spot. It is a lot of fun with this horse, every day is something new, it is a pleasure to have him.”

Your father helps you with the training?

“My father helps me at home and then we have the German national coach, Monika Theodorescu, we try to arrange it once a week or every two weeks, that we train with her. My mother of course also helps me at home.”

You are a student as well?

“I study international business in Frankfurt, and have one and a half years to go, then hopefully I have my bachelor degree. I don’t know yet what I want to do, I first of all want to have all the qualifications for business, then if it works out well with horses – horses are my passion, but I think I can still do that as a hobby, but if it ends up a job, that is also nice, I just like spending time with horses.”