Piet Raijmakers

Petrus Josephus Raijmakers (born September 29, 1956 in Asten ), commonly known as Piet Raijmakers , is a former Dutch show jumper .

Career

Piet Raijmakers was born in 1956 as the sixth of nine children. Even as a young boy he was interested in horses. His parents ran a small farm in Bussel near Asten.

In his childhood he rode bareback, later he was given the opportunity to take riding lessons once a week. Raijmakers first went to secondary school in Deurne , later he switched to a technical school. As a teenager he got his first own pony named Jelke. With him, the only 15-year-old Piet became master of the Brabant region. During this time he went to the local farrier, who was also a horse breeder, to hand. In addition to shoeing horses, he also trained other riders. In 1976 Piet won the Benelux Champion title with King Rota van de heer Rolvink . In 1980 he became Dutch champion with Isocrates S. That year he rode horses from Jo van Schijndel, whose company was Piet Raijmaker's sponsor until the end of his career. After taking part in an international championship, the world championships, in Aachen for the first time in 1986, he finished fourth in the team ranking of the European championships with the Dutch team a year later .

In 1991 he and his family moved to Belgium to the Zangersheide stud owned by Léon Melchior , who hired him as a rider. This year he won the Nations Cup in Aachen and the European team title in La Baule with Ratina Z as part of the Dutch team . In the individual ranking of the European Championship, Raijmakers and Ratina Z achieved fourth place. A year later, the silver medal in the individual classification and the gold medal in the team classification at the Olympic Games in Barcelona . After the great success, Ratina Z was sold to Ludger Beerbaum . Raijmakers won 7 grand prizes with his horse Rinitou Z and was in the top 10 of the FEI world rankings several times. In 1996 Piet got a new sponsor: Jewel Court Stables. With his horse Jewel's Emerald he won the Dutch championship in 1996.

In 1999 he went into business for himself and took over the parental facility by a unanimous family decision. He converted these in a row and has been running a breeding, tournament and trading stable there ever since.

He ended his sporting career at the 's-Hertogenbosch World Cup (end of March 2010). His sons Piet Raijmakers junior (88th place in world rankings No. 108) and Joep Raijmakers (1291th place in world rankings No. 108) are also active in show jumping.

Horses

• Ureke (* 2001)
• Van Schijndel's Curtis (* 1995 Holsteiner )
• Van Schijndel's Now or Never (* 1995)
• Van Schijndel's Optical (* 1996)
• Withney H

successes

2007

• 2nd place in the Nations Cup in Calgary with Van Schijndel's Curtis
• 4th place in the Nations Cup in Lisbon with Van Schijndel's Now or Never
• 6th place in the Nations Cup - Super League in La Baule with Van Schijndel's Curtis

2006

• 1st place at the World Championships in Aachen with Van Schijndel's Curtis (team)
• 53rd place at the World Championships in Aachen with Van Schijndel's Curtis (individual)

2005

• 1st place in the Nations Cup in Falsterbo with Van Schijndel's Now or Never
• 1st place in the Nations Cup in Lisbon with Van Schijndel's Now or Never

1994

• 8th place at the World Championships in The Hague with Amadeus Z.
• 37th place at the World Championships in The Hague with Amadeus Z.

1993

• 5th place at the European Championships in Gijón with Rinnetou Z
• 16th place at the European Championships in Gijón with Rinnetou Z.

1992

• 1st place at the Olympic Games in Barcelona with Ratina Z
• 2nd place at the Olympic Games in Barcelona with Ratina Z

1991

• 1st place in the Nations Cup in Aachen with Ratina Z
• 1st place at the European Championships in La Baule with Ratina Z
• 4th place at the European Championships in La Baule with Ratina Z

1990

• 5th place at the World Championships in Stockholm with Zamira
• 47th place at the World Championships in Stockholm with Zamira

1989

• 4th place at the European Championships in Rotterdam with Zamira
• 10th place at the European Championships in Rotterdam with Zamira

1987

• 4th place at the European Championships in St. Gallen with jogger
• 10th place at the European Championships in St. Gallen with jogger

1986

• 8th place at the world championship in Aachen with jogger
• 39th place at the world championship in Aachen with jogger

Web links

• Piet Raijmakers in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait on riderstour.de
• Official homepage (Dutch)
• Piet Raijmakers in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The "Team Raijmakers" with reports on Piet Raijmakers' career ( memento of the original from May 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Piet Raijmakers: From farmer's son to world star - end of career , article from March 25, 2010
3. ↑ "Prachtig afscheid voor Piet Raijmakers" including several video posts message (Dutch), accessed April 1, 2010
4. ↑ FEI world rankings No. 108, contains the best 50 results of every internationally active show jumper from January 1st, 2009 to December 31st, 2009