For over 35 years Piet Raijmakers Sr. has been part of the absolute top of the Dutch equestrian sport. He is known as a very likeable Dutchman from Asten, a town in the southern province called Brabant. With the help of his family he runs a successful and internationally renowned show jumping and training stable.

The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona were a highlight in the sporting career of Piet Senior. He not only won an individual silver medal with the legendary mare Ratina Z, he also helped the Dutch team achieve victory and the gold medal to match.

In Japan the name Piet Raijmakers is well-known. Which is why Seiji Ninomiya decided to come and train in Asten with his horse Survival in preparation for the World Cup finals in 2003/2004.

The collaboration between Piet Sr. and Seiji soon grew into a strong team. Piet guided Seiji not only at home in Asten, but also during competitions worldwide. Their work together is based on mutual trust and equal partnership. And even though Piet and Seiji both originate from vastly different cultures – they understand each other like no other. All these years later the partnership between these two gentlemen is as solid as ever.

Seiji Ninomiya runs the Narita Riding Club with his sister Takako in Chiba. Within his Japanese Riding Club Seiji operates on the same level as Team Raijmakers does in Europe. This method of training has already resulted in successes. A number of students of the Narita Riding Club took part in the World Cup competitions, the Asian Games and the World Championships. Seiji also has an agreement in place with ‘Crane’, the largest riding club of Japan, joining forces to enable Japanese talents to perform at their best at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

In the future Seiji wants more Japanese talents to train at Team Piet Raijmakers. This way they can bring back their gained knowledge of European equestrianism to Japan and share it there. The goal is to eventually end up with well-rounded Japanese equestrian experts, who know what is needed to reach the top.