Two silver medals at the Aachen World Championships, a season spent playing at the front wherever they set hoof, and now a first place in the world. Thibeau Spits and Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z have taken the lead in the FEI Combination in Jumping Ranking. At 25, the Belgian continues to move into another dimension.

In Aachen, Thibeau Spits left the stadium with two silver medals around his neck and the confirmation that he was definitely no longer just “the young rider on the rise”. Two weeks later, the FEI has added another line to the CV: with Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z, the Belgian now forms the world number one combination.

Not bad for a story that began when the big black stallion was three years old.

With 1 472 pointsSpits and Impress-K take the lead in the FEI Combination in Jumping Ranking ahead of America’s Kristen Vanderveen and Bull Run’s Jireh, who had led the ranking for five months and now sit second on 1,406 points. Daniel Deusser and Otello de Guldenboom complete the podium with 1,381 points.

A Season without many quiet moments

This number one spot has obviously not fallen from the sky. Since the start of the year, Spits and Impress-K have been stacking up major results with a consistency that is beginning to look frankly suspicious.

econd in the Rolex Grand Prix of ’s-Hertogenbosch, fifth in the Grand Prix Hermès in Paris, they then won the 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in Fontainebleau. And then came Aachen.

In the German temple, the duo claimed team world silver with Belgium, before doing it again in the individual championship. Fifteenth before the final, Spits produced two clear rounds on the Sunday to climb all the way to the second step of the podium, behind Steve Guerdat.

Two world medals that obviously weigh heavily in a ranking that takes into account validated results between 1 January and 31 August. Unlike the Longines Ranking for riders, this one starts again from zero every 1 January and rewards a horse-rider combination, not simply the person holding the reins.

From three years old to world number one

That may be where the story gains even more flavour. Impress-K did not arrive ready-made in the Spits stables with a CV as long as a Grand Prix Sunday. Thibeau has been riding him since he was three. Read our article: “Impress K, the Stallion Who Doesn’t Like Having His Hooves Broken” here. )

Now eleven, the son of Indoktro-K van’t Kattenheye out of a mare by Vagabond de La Pomme has grown up with his rider. From young horse classes to the biggest arenas on the planet, the two have climbed the floors together.

And the lift has seriously accelerated in recent months.

Team European champion with Belgium in 2025, Spits has also been sitting at the top of the U25 world ranking for seven months. Now he is number one in a ranking where age no longer gives you a special category.

Behind Spits and Vanderveen, the Top 10 also gives a pretty good idea of the level of the playground: Deusser/Otello de Guldenboom, Coyle/Farrel, Sweetnam/James Kann Cruz, Vogel/Gangster Montdesir, Derbyshire/Cornwall BH, Mallevaey/Dynastie de Beaufour, Bucci/Pallieter vd N.Ranch and Reid/Crossover 4.

Find the full ranking here