July 18, 2025 
If there’s an obvious undercurrent so far to the 2025 FEI Jumping European Championships, small mares with big hearts might be it.
While Course Designer Santiago Varela’s deceptively challenging course on Day 2 played to the strengths of super-scopey, seismicly-strided stallions (see: United Touch, Ermitage Kalone, and Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z), he left plenty of options for other varieties of talent as well.
A total of 25 combinations jumped clear on Varela’s 14-fence, 17-effort track on Thursday, leaving all the poles in the cups for the second consecutive day of competition. Of these, three special partnerships proved that what they lack in stature, they more than make up for in spirit.
Scott Brash & Hello Folie
No question, Scott Brash and Hello Folie win the award for the most spectacular recovery at the European Championships so far, a position they found themselves in on account of the 10-year-old mare’s greenness.
According to Brash, Folie, in her eagerness to please, has a habit of snatching at the bit while on course. All well and good, of course, until that habit causes you to drop your reins, just seconds before rounding the corner in front of the course’s notoriously difficult triple combination.
“I don’t know why, but I managed to lose my rein after the green oxer. I felt like I’m amateur, there,” the rider for Great Britain joked after the class.
“I managed to grab it back at the last moment and ask Folie to jump the triple from where I was, and what an amazing attitude and fight and spirit she showed to be able to jump through that triple clear.”
This is the first major championship for the much-buzzed-about chestnut Selle Français mare, who joined Brash’s string in May of 2023. As of Thursday’s competition, they sit in fourth place on the leaderboard on a score of 1.08.
In January of this year, Brash and Folie earned their first CSI5* 1.60m Grand Prix win in Doha—a preview of what is likely to be many more to come if the numbers are any indication. According to Jumpr Stats, they currently maintain a 60% clear rate in five rounds at 1.60m, finishing in the top 10 80% of the time.
Janika Sprunger & Orelie
Swiss Olympian Janika Sprunger and her mount of three years, Orelie, are competing as individuals at this year’s European Championships. But that hasn’t stopped them from logging some of their strongest performances to date.
At press time, they’d jumped three, consecutive clear rounds, and were still sitting on a score of 2.41. According to Sprunger, trust in her mare—and a little help from her partner, longtime former World no. 1 Henrik von Eckermann (SWE)—made all the difference on Day 2.
“I’m happy that Henrik was here today, and also the other [Swiss] team members were a great support. But [Henrik] knows me a little better, and the horse as well,” Sprunger said, laughing.
“[Today started] with a little bit of long distances for [Orelie in the lines], so [to the] water vertical and the orange combination, I added a stride to keep her together—and also to make sure she could shape the jump and [didn’t] get too long,” Sprunger explained.
Like other cat-like, quick-of-foot horses, the 11-year-old Belgian mare by Emerald comes with her own playbook (see also: Caracole De Roque). A cross-canter stride here or trot step there aren’t unheard of for Orelie—even while navigating a 1.60m, championship track.
When Sprunger first tried her as an 8-year-old, she found her unconventionality somewhat challenging on the flat. But that all changed when the jumps went up. “When I approached the jump, she just balanced herself. I could also feel how easily she jumped. I felt safe, I felt home,” Sprunger told the FEI in March.
The pair, who made their championship debut at 2023 FEI Nations Cup™ Finals, have been a regular fixture for the Swiss on Senior Nations Cup teams for the last two years.
In 2024, they finished third on the podium in the CSI5* 1.60m Grand Prix in Coapexpan, Mexico, and second in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ qualifier in Basel. And when they are clear, Sprunger and Orelie are reliable fast, finishing in the top 10 47% of the time at 1.60m, and at 54% at 1.55m.
“I’m really proud,” Sprunger said on Thursday. “She gave it her all, and I tried to support her the best I could.”
Wilma Hellström & Cicci BJN
It was unfortunately raining poles for the Swedish Team during Wednesday’s initial competition. Despite winning this championship in 2023, and taking Olympic team gold at Tokyo in 2021, the squad got off to a rocky start at the Europeans this week.
Not so, however, for their youngest member, 32-year-old Wilma Hellström, who is making her second, senior championship appearance aboard Cicci BJN. The pair earned back-to-back clears over challenging tracks on Days 1 and 2, with one pole down on Friday.
Not only is the 14-year-old Swedish mare on the petite-side, she also has only one, working eye—the result of an accident that occurred when she rolled into a screw in a horse show stall when she was seven.
“[Cicci] has always had a lot of character and is very clear with what she likes and dislikes,” Hellström told World of Showjumping in 2022, noting that she didn’t notice any difference in how Cicci rode or jumped after the now-14-year-old mare lost her eye. “She is very special to me, and when she is not okay, I’m not okay.”
The pair was part of the winning Swedish teams at the CSIO5* Nations Cup in Falsterbo in 2024, the European Championships in 2023, and the second-place Swedish team at FEI Nations Cup Finals in Barcelona in 2022. They also placed second as individuals in Grands Prix at CSI5* Stockholm City in 2024 and CSIO5* La Baule in 2023.
According to Jumpr, in 57 rounds at 1.60m, Hellström and Cicci finish in the top 10 at 54%.
