Anky van Grunsven has announced her return to the show ring. The Dutch Dressage Diva will be competing Salinero at the Outdoor Gelderland CDI in Arnheim, The Netherlands, June 6-10, 2007. Anky's goal of the season will be defending her title at the 2007 European Dressage Championships in Turin, Italy, at the end of August. She already did her first local competition last weekend in Schaijk, The Netherlands, with her small tour horse Nelson (by Weltmeyer). The pair, pictured left, finished sixth.
Photo copyrighted: Leanjo de Koster
According to Chris Hector's Horse Magazine, the German dressage trainer Ralf Isselhorstwill be the new Australian Dressage Team Trainer. Isselhorst has been booked to conduct clinics in Melbourne and Sydney in May 2007 and it is speculated that he will do these in his role as new "Australian National Dressage Adviser." Isselhorst, who was trained by Dr. Reiner Klimke, will be succeeding Ulla Salzgeber who resigned from this position in the autumn. The Australian Equestion Federation, however, told Eurodressage that they "can't confirm the appointment of a National Team Coach. Will let you know when an appointment is made."
Baby news ... well foal news from Nicola McGivern's Active Equestrian stable in England. Remember that Nicola and Fiona found the dam of her Grand Prix horse Walero in Germany and that they flushed a few embryos out of her. Well, these embryos were inseminated with Wanderer semen last year and a full brother to Walero has been born! "Little Walero" is keeping his poor recipient mare Boo Boo on the run. "She must wonder how she breed something with so much quality and so fast and athletic! She definitely would prefer to be filling her rather portly frame with grass," Mc Givern joked. Nicola has two more foals on the ground: Millie (by Laura Richardson's Millennium out of a Santander x Brentano II dam and Minky, a Daddy Cool filly out of a Manolito AA x Sion x Pik Trumpf dam. In May, McGivern is expecting a Millennium foal out of Walero's dam and for next year they have inseminated an embryo from Walero's dam with Hotline semen. "We will of course be going back to Wanderer to see if we can get any more mini Walero's," Nicola added.
Fiona Bigwood's super impressive Hanoverian licensed stallion Dramatic (by Don Frederico x Weltmeyer) is now fully licensed with the KWPN society as well. Dramatic passed the behaviour test at the KWPN head quarters in Ermelo with flying colours and can now officially breed for the Dutch Warmblood society. In the meantime, Jana Freund continues to train and compete the power house dressage star in order to qualify him for the 2007 Bundeschampionate in Warendorf. Congratulations!
According to St. Georg, Mattias Alexander Rath, Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff's stepson, will not be competing Wahajama and Sterntaler in the future. The 23-year old Rath is already riding Linsenhoff's other horses, Weltmeyer Junior and Renoir Unicef and Linsenhoff believes the the pressure of campaigning more could be too much.. Linsenhoff announced her retirement from competition two weeks ago due to health issues following Lyme disease.
Gijs Bartels, son of Joep Bartels and organizer of the Horse Event and Global Dressage Forum, ran the Marathon of Rotterdam and finished in 3 hours and 52 minutes. Bartels was one of the last to finish as the organizers cancelled the marathon right after his finish due to the heatwave. Many runners collapsed on the streets and had to be brough to the hospital for hydration.
For those who speak Danish, watch a tv-interview with Andreas Helgstrand right before he left for the World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. He talks about his expectations for Vegas and looks back on his World Equestrian Games experiences. Click here
A great find was announced on the Chronicle of the Horse Bulletin Board: Get your 2007 World Cup Finals Las Vegas Thong!! The seller recommends this Las Vegas Dressage Thong to "Panty-minimalists," who "love our casual thong that covers sweet spots without covering your assets." The white thong, featuring a cantering horse and a Las Vegas caption is a piece of "unique clothing made especially for the Las Vegas 2007 Dressage World Cup." Sorry, but this is just too funny!