One of Edward Gal's lesser competed dressage horses, Stradivarius, has been sold to Russia. The 185 cm standing bay Dutch warmblood (by Krack C x Contango) will turn 12 in May 2011. As a youngster the horse was competed by Leida Collins-Strijk.
U.S. WEG team reserve rider Catherina Haddad eloped with her partner of approximately seven months, American veterinarian Greg Staller. The couple got secretely married and announcd the news post-factum on Facebook. Haddad has been living in Germany since 1993 and met Staller, who runs an equine clinic in New Jersey, U.S.A., while training and competing in the U.S. this summer in preparation of the 2010 World Equestrian Games.
Thomas Bach Jensen's Guest Column of the Week on more colour in warmblood breeding was extremely well received. We wanted to add that Austrian Sissy Max-Theurer has a soft spot for colour too and she recently saw her appaloosa spotted Sartos Showtime licensed with the Zuchtverbandes für deutsche Pferde (ZfdP) in Kreuth. The Danish bred grey and black stallion is by Sir Donnerhall out of a Knabstrupper dam, whose lines go back to the 17th century. Check out a photo here
Tim Holekamp has been elected president of the American Trakehner Association at the 2010 Annual ATA Membership Meeting on Saturday, 13 November 2010. He is succeeding outgoing president Brad Kerbs, who will remain a member of the Board of Trustees as the immediate past president. Becky Armstrong was elected Secretary.
The Dutch Chamber of Commerce proclaimed the Dutch company Anemone Horse Trucks "Company of the Year 2010". The Brothers Bert and Stefan van Kooten, who run the business, are extremely proud of this title, which they received after winning an election by popular vote and by an expert panel.
Horses.nl reported that Dutch dressage rider Willem Jan Schotte has relocated to Retie, Belgium. Schotte ran a dressage stable with his former life partner Geert-Jan Raateland, but the couple split up a year and a half ago, though remained business partners. Schotte has now accepted the offer to become stable manager at Rob van Puijenbroek's equestrian facility in Belgium.
After his resignation from the Xenophon society, German veterinarian and clinician Dr. Gerd Heuschmann founded his own society, called WuWeiS (which stands for "Werte- und Wissenserhalt im Sinne des Pferdes"). With the support of his published Isabelle Sontag of WuWei Verlag Heuschmann established this society. Fellow board members are Caroline Hatlapa, veterinarian Dr. Astrid Reitz, trainer Kathrin Roida, author Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schnitzer and Christina Wunderlich.
In the wake of our End of the Year Questions, Dutch kur composer Cees Slings wrote a letter to the editor of Eurodressage with his heartfelt wish for 2011. "Have a look at this videoclip (see top right corner). My wish for 2011 is to see such imagination and creativity in freestyle dressage. It's sad that there is such poor input from many top dressage riders into supporting their sport of dressage and freestyle. It seems that only competition counts and the fun of dressage is only in this: winning. I can agree with this up to a point, but to focus just on results is neither entertaining nor supportive enough. If only some of the best dressage riders would put a little bit of effort into showing more creativity at demonstrations or shows, it really would support the sport (and might well improve their results in the process). Riders need to use the creativity of their composers, freestyle compilers and choreographers to the maximum. And in reality, we all know that only two or three horses can win, while everyone else is fighting for the lower placings. So come on guys and girls of dressage, you really have nothing to lose if you try for the maximum with your creativity, both in your choreography and music. You should strive for wonderful music that fits the movement, it doesn't have to be super difficult, just super imaginative! And by taking this leap of faith you will have more chance of a better placing, even if you cannot win. And if there is any rider reading this who wants to explore their creativity, as well as riding top competition, I will make it my top priority!"