Anna Teibel Raben and Sparaday Make it a Hattrick at 2025 CDI Tolbert

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2025 CDI Tolbert

Danish duo Anna Teibel Raben and Sparaday made it a hattrick at their second CDI of the year in Tolbert, The Netherlands, on 10 - 13 April 2025. The pair has recently moved up to Young Riders level and was able to claim a triple victory with personal best scores.

New Face

The 18-year old Raben is a rather new face on the international show scene. Her partner in crime is the 8-year old Sparaday.

Last year she and Sparaday placed fourth at the 2024 Danish Junior Riders Championships and then made her CDI debut in Hagen with solid 72% scores. There they secured a Danish team spot for the 2024 European Junior Riders Championships in Opglabbeek (BEL). The pair took a flying start at the Europeans with a second place in the team test (73.909%) and won team silver. In the individual test, however, they had some miscommunications and landed 21st place with 68.118%. The pair finished the year by placing fourth at the 2024 Danish Young Horse Championships for 7-year olds.

In 2025 the pair moved to Young Riders level and travelled to Lier (BEL) in February to win two out of three tests. Two months later in Tolbert they upped the ante with a triple win in a very strong field of no less than 34 competitors. They scored 74.117% in the team test, 73.480% in the individual and 75.375% in the Kur to Music.

"Sparaday is developing a lot at the moment. He is only 8 years old, so we are working on getting him stronger and working on self-carriage," Anna told Eurodressage. "This week I really felt that we also managed to get everything we practice at home with us into the arena! He was amazing, he felt fresh and happy and did his best for me all three days!"

When asked if she considers the transition from junior to young riders' level challenging, she replied "it is not easy. Sparaday and I are both new on this level, and we have to learn together. I still find the pirouettes difficult. We are working on them, and we are getting better, but still not perfect, but he is getting stronger and stronger, so I am convinced that we will get there."

No Show Rookie

Danish Gold on cat 2 pony FS Calimero in 2021

Even though Raben's international career is just getting started, the young rider has plenty of experience competing nationally on multiple ponies and horses and is no rookie at riding shows.

Her first taste of success was in 2020 when she won silver on category 2 pony FS Calimero (by FS Dior de Luxe x FS Challenger) at the Danish Pony Championships. A year later there was gold for the two. In 2022 she was ninth on category 1 pony Hilkens Cosmo (by Cosmopolitan x Danny Gold).

While most riders have to make do with one horse, Raben has been competing a string of ponies and horses but the majority of them were owned by different people. She has ridden for Stutteri Lykkehøj for 3 years and got to show FS Calimero for them until he sold. She then rode stallion Mangold for Stutteri Følle Strandgaard until her pony time was finished.

"Since I was 12 years old I have been riding breeding stallions and sales ponies for Danish pony stud farms. My family do not have the finances to buy talented horses for me, so I am grateful for the stud farms that have given me the opportunity to ride their ponies and horses," said Anna.

When she moved into the junior division in 2023 she competed a string of sales horses such as Quickstar, Kazano HS, Zhobel, Koket Olav, and Kvisgaards Lady Gaga with whom she was 11th at the 2023 Danish Junior Championships.

Helle Wibe and Sparaday

Sparaday joined the queue in January 2024. He is a Danish warmblood gelding by Torveslettens Spartacus out of Daytona Beach (by Don Frederic x Hotline). He is bred and owned by Anna's trainer Helle Wibe. His name is a combination of the sire and dam's name.

"All offspring ends on 'day,'" breeder Wibe told Eurodressge. "We have five at home Bernaday, Vainaday, Bossaday , Bossanoday and Skytoday. Just playing with words. We hope to have Anna connected to our little team going forward. We think Sparaday and Anna are a perfect match, but we are also prioritising him in the young rider field with a slow education of the horse, so he will be in the show ring for many years. He has the capacity to go all the way to Grand Prix."

The dark bay was first competed in Denmark in 2022 as a 5-year old by Søren Luther Christensen. He trained the horse up to M-level and competed him through the start of March 2024. Three weeks later Rabe competed him for the first time at the CDN Esbjerg to win an MB-class.

"I met Helle Wibe and Søren Christensen in October 2023 and started riding Zhobel and prepared him for sale. At the same time I also started riding Quickstar. After selling Zhobel, we agreed that I should also take over the ride of Sparaday from Søren," Anna explained.

Helle and Søren remain by Anna's side on her international journey.

"Søren had been riding Sparaday since he was four years old, so he knew him very well and could help me train him," said Anna. "After a couple of months we felt he was ready to show - and we did that with succes. In the beginning he was a handful to bring to shows, but he is getting better and better, and now he really enjoys showing off. And Søren and Helle loves to follow us to shows and travels with us both to national and international competitions and they help me with the daily training."

Going Pro

Having ridden sales horses and ponies for multiple owners as of a young age made Anna a semi-professional as a youth rider. She hopes to make this a full-time job even though she's pursuing a degree as a pedagogical assistant as a back-up plan. She is supposed to graduate in the summer of 2026.

"I have been lucky to work with so many nice people who have trusted me with their ponies and horses," Anna told Eurodressage. "It is always hard to say goodbye to your best friend, but this is the terms when you cannot afford to buy your own horse. I have learnt so much."

She continued, "my dream is to work with horses in the future; maybe combine it with my education, but I hope that the main part of my life will be a 'horse life' !"