Kristina Sprehe made her show debut aboard the 10-year old Hanoverian licensed stallion Desperados (by De Niro x Wolkenstein II). At a regional show in Ankum, the brand new combination won the Short Grand Prix with a 70.81% score
. Sprehe also finished fourth on the licensed stallion Donnerball (by Donnerhall x Alabaster) with 66.45%.
U.S. WEG team reserve rider Catherine Haddad has announced that she will move back to the United States after the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Haddad recently eloped with her partner of seven months, Greg Staller. The couple got married on 7 January 2011 in New York City. Staller is a veterinarian by a profession and has his own equine clinic in New Jersey, U.S.A. Haddad has been living in Germany since 1993.
Courtney King-Dye fully supported her sponsor Kim Boyer-van Kampen's decision to send her ride, PRE stallion Grandioso, to German to be trained and competed by Jose Daniel Martin Dockx. "I think it's the right decision to send Grandioso to Spain," Courtney wrote. "He needs to show GP this year, and he's green, so even if I'm ready to ride (which is doubtful unfortunately) I won't be ready to train a green GP horse. Grandioso is a great horse (not for a PRE, for ANY horse) and he can help Spain get a medal. So although I'm sad to see him go, I am sure it's the right move for him. I can love him to bits here, or he can be a contender for the olympics. Hmmm, tough choice! It will make me happy to see the latter. And I totally plan to have him back and go for the 2016 Team!"
We heard through the grapevine the unconfirmed news that Alexandra Bimschas has sold her bay 11-year old Wito Corleone (by Wolkentanz I x Landfriese) to France.
Danish Grand Prix riders Joachim Thomsen and Rune Willum have a new horse in training: the 5-year old KWPN and Oldenburg licensed stallion Bonaparte (by Johnson). The stallion is owned by Helle and Rene Jørgensen.
The rumour mill is turning at full speed as speculation continues on the buyer of Hubertus Schmidt's Donnelly. Schmidt announced that he sold his horse to the U.S.A., but the horse was not sold to the Kane family, nor Akiko Yamazaki, nor Todd Flettrich or his sponsor as claimed. Schmidt sold Donnelly to be able to spend more time on his wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2010. Doris Schmidt was operated on and underwent chemotherapy and is still battling the disease with all her might. We wish the Schmidt family much strength and energy!
We have major suspicions that The Carrot is currently in hibernation. The most critical journalist in the equestrian world, who hides behind the image of a carrot, has not posted any updates on his website since 6 October 2010. What a pity as his clever and funny commentary was widely read.
Gestüt Nymphenburg has sold its Hanoverian licensed stallion Don Bosse (by Don Schufro x Rubinstein) to Lynda Cameron of Aspen Glen Dressage in Wellington, Florida. Don Bosse is bred by Reinhold Bosse and was a finalist in the 2010 Hanoverian Championship in Verden.
Dutch warmblood breeder and stallion keeper Christ van Bommel passed away at age 80 on 6 January 2011. Van Bommel managed his father's stallion station his entire life. He stood stallions at stud such as Sultan, Havidoff, Clavecimbel and Trento B and got his own stallion Vivaldo (by Polansky) licensed in 2005.
Holland's most successful KWPN dressage horse breeder Huub van Helvoirt (breeder of Jazz) has made an agreement with Jan Vink of Black Horses Stud Farm in Papendracht about his entire collection of horses. With the passing of Huub's wife Tiny last year, the 88-year old Van Helvoirt is exploring the future of his mare band after his own death. Horses.nl reported that Vink and Van Helvoirt came to an agreement, but his eleven mares will stay with Huub until he decides to have them moved to Black Horses. Vink already owns Van Helvoirt's Dutch Mare Champion Andy (by Jazz x Ulft x Amor) and also took care of the foundation mare Endy (by Ulft x Amor).
On Dressagedaily's News Notes we read the following, written by regular contributor Lynndee Kemmet: Courtney King-Dye reported this week that she had a slight setback when she suffered a seizure early Saturday morning. She spent a bit of time in the hospital over the weekend but is recovering just fine. On her website she notes that it was a reminder to her to slow down and give her body the time it needs to heal. Since hitting Florida this winter, Courtney has been busy teaching and making the dressage rounds and says it may have been a bit much. We wish her a continued recovery.
Yet another fire has burnt up to 10,000 bales of hay at Paul Schockemohle's Gestut Lewitz in East Germany. This is the second fire in his barn in a short period of time (three months ago 4,000 bales burnt) and the third in recent years. Arson is suspected. View images of the fire here.
As if an attempt to jump on the bandwagon and profit from the success of Totilas, Joop van Uytert has decided to ask a staggering stud fee for the frozen semen of his late Trakehner stallion Gribaldi, sire of Totilas. Last year the price was 1,800 euro for frozen semen, but for 2011 the Dutch businessman is charging 1,000 euro stud fee PLUS an addition 4,000 euro when the mare is pregnant (with a limit of 2 inseminations! That's a whopping 5,000 euro! The breeding business is surely changing, getting more commercial and expensive each year. "We only have a very limited amount of frozen semen availble," Joop van Uytert told Eurodressage. "Therefore the inseminations will only be done via the Equine Clinic of Utrecht."
