German dressage rider Dorothee Schneider married her partner Jobst Krumhoff at Le Saint Géran resort in Mauritius on 13 October 2010. Congratulations!
German rider Jessica Suss has earned her golden rider badge for booking 10 victories at S-level. What's so unique about her accomplishing this is the fact that she did it all on her own Friesien Zorro. Süss recently won the Inter-I freestyle at the LuxDressage event in Timmel, her eleventh S-victory. "I don't think that there are many Friesians around with that kind of constant success," a Friesian fan told Eurodressage.
It never rains but it poors. Anna Katharina and Louisa Lüttgen recently lost two horses. The 11-year old Hanoverian gelding Bon Jovi (by Brentano II x Weltmeyer) was euthanized in July due to unrecoverable tendon injury. The massive chestnut competed at the World Young Horse Championships with Vanessa Bentz but afterwards got injured. He was even taken to a specialized clinic in Normandy, France, to get healed but unfortunately the injury was too severe. Louisa's former FEI pony Keep Cool passed away mid September following a third colic attack. The gorgeous bay stallion was a Bundeschampion as a youngster and stood up for stud.
Belgian-German FEI pony rider Lena Rom has quit ponies which meant that the leased double Bundeschampion Voyager (owned by Christian Richter) was without a rider... only for a while... Sophie Kampmann will be Voyager's new partner and the chestnut stallion has been in Kampmann's barn since 1 October. Sophie has been competing internationally this year with Sven Rothenberger's Den Ostriks Dailan.
German dressage rider Benjamin Werndl went on holiday to South Africa for two weeks to visit friends and clients Adriaan van Wyk and Ian Jacobs. At the Farm Inn Hotel in Pretoria, Werndl had a fun encounter with a cheetah. Here's a sight you don't see everyday.
Ridehesten.com reported that the Oldenburg licensed stallion Sunny Boy (by Sandro Hit x Donnerhall) has been sold once again. In 2009 Jørgen Ravn of Gørklintgård bought the black stallion from Paul Schockemohle and he became the third most used stallion in Denmark with 165 breedings. Now the 13-year old has been sold to Stable Klosterheden owned by dressage rider Margit Ørum.
KWPN licensed stallion Juventus (by Dublin x Principaal) has passed away. They bay stallion was bred by Toine Hoefs and owned by Iron Spring Farms in the U.S.A. He was acquired by ISF in 1998 and competed at small tour level. The 19-year old Juventus was euthanized on 12 October due to a recurrent injury that was troubling him.
Belgian junior rider Noemie Goris has announced that she will be competing her new star horse Ucelli T (by Olivi) in the Young Riders' division in 2011. In May 2010 the 16-year old Goris acquired Holland's most successful small tour horse of 2009, Ucelli T, who was previously competed by Dutch WEG team gold medallist Hans Peter Minderhoud. Trained by Jeroen Devroe and Carmen de Bondt, Noemie will be aiming for a Belgian Young Riders' team spot on the phenomenal bay Dutch warmblood gelding but her long term goal is to make the transition to Grand Prix. With her current Belgian JR team horse Wunderbar NG (by Waikiki) Noemie will continue to ride the junior rider classes.
United States dressage team technical advisor Anne Gribbons wrote a report for Dressagedaily.com looking back on the achievements of the Americans at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. "It is delightful to be able to look back at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky and be completely satisfied with the performance of our Dressage riders," Gribbons said. "With top quality competition and fourteen teams in the running, our team did us proud by placing fourth, and by qualifying for the Olympics, we fulfilled our realistic expectations. Although I did hope and believe that Steffen could win us a medal, nobody objects to two! We now have an Olympic ticket, three new team members with experience, a lot of promise in the wings, and many good memories to energize us on the path to Mexico and London." Read the full report on Dressagedaily.com
Triple Young Rider gold medallist Fabienne Lutkemeier ended up in the top 10 for the "Junior Athlete of the Year" award in Germany. A jury of 14 including DOSB president Thomas Bach selected the 16-year old German swimmer Silke Lippok as winner. She won five gold and two silver medals at the 2010 European Junior Swimming Championships in Helsinki. Athletes selected for the award receive prize money which they can dedicate to their training. The number one gets 6,000 euro, the number two and three get 4,500 and 3,000 euro. The other top ten ranked athletes, including Lutkemeier, get 1,500 euro. This award is one of the most important for young athletes in Germany. The prize giving is done at the „Fest der Begegnung“ in Mannheim.
German Young rider Sanneke Rothenberger got major publicity when St. Georg editor in chief Gabriele Pochhamer thoughtlessly mentioned Sanneke's name as potential rider of Totilas in the Suddeutsche newspaper. Sven and Gonnelien Rothenberger released a statement in which they said that this rumour is ungrounded and that Sanneke "does not want to be connected to the break-up of this legendary combination."
Australian dressage rider Hayley Beresford has relocated back to Germany. After a smallyear in Switzerland, Beresford decided to return to Germany to be more centrally located to all the action. She is now based at Schmidt's stallion station near Munster, Germany, and will be presenting a few new horses soon, including Eduardo Fischer's Westfalian stallion Blickpunkt (by Belissimo M x Fidermark) and Schmidt's Oldenburg stallion Furst Grandios (by Furst Heinrich x Argentinus).