Every champion rider has an own barn as a safe heaven for the training of their show horses and the brooding of new stars; a facility full time run by several grooms, a trainer and one main rider.
Today we take a walk on the premises of Holland's most famous sport athlete, Anky van Grunsven, in the rural village of Gemert. It's between seasons and Anky has ended the winter circuit with a fifth World Cup victory and is now preparing her mounts for the summer competitions.
In-house photographer Dirk Caremans drove to her barn for a special photo tour of Anky's premises for the "show jumping" magazine Zangersheide. A small preview of his work is exclusively featured on Junior Riders.
Daily Teaching
When Dirk arrives Anky is teaching the former Dutch young rider Imke Bartels on Gestion Janssen, a Russian bred gelding owned by the Bartels farm. Initially Imke Bartels is riding her chestnut while Anky helps her get around. But just to make sure that Anky is correct in what she is saying, she hops on Janssen to see how he react to her aids. Gestion Janssen was named after Anky's trainer Sjef Janssen.
Anky's indoor arena is a 20 x 60 ring filled with sand. There are always many riders training in the arena, most of them are Anky's students, others are her grooms warming up some horses. In front you see Imke on Gestion Janssen trying to make him supple by riding him deep. This deep riding is one of the highly discussed topics among dressage trainers. Many of them claim that riding deep is not part of "Classical Dressage".
Meet the Stars: Bonfire
Anky's teaching hour is over and Dirk Caremans invites her for a portrait shoot of all of her stars. The number one of the barn is being brought out first, Gestion Bonfire. Bonfire was born in 1983 in one of the stalls of breeder K.B. Westerholt in Lemwerder, Germany. Purchased as a two and half year old, Bonfire moved to Holland where he started his dressage career. The start was rocky as Bonfire was a very spooky horse (sire Welt As x Praefectus xx) but the pair embarked on a special voyage becoming one of the world's most winning dressage combinations.
Meet the Stars: Joker
The horse which Anky believes will take over Bonfire's position when he retires is Gestion Joker. Joker is a Hanoverian bred KWPN by Prince Tatch xx, a highly used thoroughbred sire to noble the German breed. Joker came into Anky's and Sjef's possession through the brokerage of the Dutch Brinkmann family. The dark bay gelding is a very modern built sport horse with three good basic gaits. His first Grand Prix start was made this year and Anky hopes that Joker will mature in the same way as Bonfire did. In 1999 Joker made his big international debut at the CHIO Aachen where he finished third in the Prix st. Georges behind Nicole Uphoff's Relevant and Ann Kathrin Kroth's Wandervogel.
Meet the Stars: Junior STV
While many believe that Joker is Anky's best shooting star, some claim that Gestion Junior STV holds the ticket to stardom. Bred and partially owned by Stoeterij het Vierspan in Handel, The Netherlands, Junior is sired by the highly famous Uniform out a Variant dam. Anky won the prestigious KWPN Pavo Cup twice with Junior; in 1995 Junior dominated the four year olds and in 1996 he led in the 5 year old division. Up till now Junior's biggest international success was a victory in the Prix St. Georges at the CDI-W in Mechelen (Malines), Belgium.
Meet the Stars: Prisco
Naming all Anky's stars is almost an impossible task. Her barn is filled with youngsters in which she hopes to find the gift Bonfire has. One horse we still would love to mention is Prisco, Anky's 26 year old thoroughbred who was the stepping stone in her international career. Prisco gave her the possibility to compete at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, Sweden. The competition was an opportunity for Anky to let the judges get acquainted with her face, a job easily accomplished as her talent and skill was spotted from a distance. When Anky moved to Bonfire, Prisco was ridden by Jacqueline van Grunsven, Anky's sister-in-law. Now the dark bay is retired and enjoys his old day in the pasture.
Meet the Stars: Ictenos
One of Anky's youngest stars is Ictenos. Purchased in June 1999, Anky clicked immediately with this gorgeous Trakehner and within a week the pair won the silver medal at the World Young Dressage Horse Championships in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Bred in Germany, Ictenos is by Sir Chamberberlaine out of a Marlon dam. The speciality of this stallion is his strange marking round his left eye, namely white freckles. Ictenos has a lovely front leg usage but still needs to mature more behind. The young bay stallion needs more power, but that's something Anky's not fearing for.
Office Work to Finish the Day
The day ends with some office work. Even though Anky is this big dressage star, that doesn't mean that she is freed of doing office work and keeping up administration. Anky is also familiar with the internet, just to show you that our stars try to keep up with modern evolution. The clothes she has been wearing on the day of the photo shoot are part of her new fashion line named ANKY. The fashion lines includes clothes, tack, apparel and much more.
The official Anky website is http://www.anky.com