It's gold, bronze and diamonds this year for Laura Bechtolsheimer. Olympic team gold medallist Bechtolsheimer (27) and her long-time partner Mark Tomlinson (30) got engaged on Wednesday 22 August 2012. The couple first announced to news to their closest friends at home. The engagement will be a perfect round-up for Bechtolsheimer's magical Olympic year.
Tomlinson is a professional polo player, whose parents Simon and Claire own the Beaufort Polo Club. Tomlinson plays for the England polo team. Check out a video interview with the cute couple in the video embedded in the top right corner.
Christmas has come early for Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud. The Dutch dressage duo received FOUR (!!!) new Glock sponsored lorries this week. The flotilla includes two monster trucks and two smaller vans.
America dressage coach Robert Dover is undergoing knee surgery this week. Dr. Rodeo "will give me a new ACL, repair both menisci, and possibly put a tiny screw in the small fracture in the back of my knee," Dover wrote. "I have absolute confidence in Dr. Rodeo, who not only does the work for the New York Giants, but has been the top doctor for the past several U.S. Olympic Teams at summer games."
She has said it before, but now it's hit the media: Anky van Grusven will be officially retiring Salinero at her "home show", the 2013 CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands. The show takes place 14 - 17 March 2013. It will be the final farewell of Salinero to the crowds.
American 2010 WEG team rider Katherine Bateson-Chandler has been spending her summer at Carl Hester's yard in Newent, Great Britain. Bateson is training her new rising star Alcazar (aka Alonzo) in preparation of the FEI level tests. The 36-year old Katherine has been riding the black Contango offspring for half a year now. ““It’s very hard to find horses, especially good ones,” Katherine told Dressage News, echoing a refrain that is common throughout the top levels of the sport these days. "The level is so much higher today than it ever has been. You can find 70 per cent horses, but they are not good enough for the top levels any more. You need 80 per cent horses, and that means you have to start with them when they are younger and grow with them.”
Break a leg, or not?! Dutch equestrian photographer and 2012 Silver Camera finalist Remco Veurinck broke his leg taking a wrong step on the stairs. His left leg is in a cast up to his knee and Remco has to walk on crutches for a while. Speedy recovery!
Belgian Patrick D'Eer's 7-year old Oldenburg mare Ruling Cortes QC (by Rubin Royal x De Niro) has been sold to the United States. The mare, which competed at the 2010 and 2011 Bundeschampionate Finals under German Marita Pundsack, moved to The Netherlands in February 2012 to be trained by Imke Schellekens-Bartels. Six months later she sold. The talented mare will be competed by American Grand Prix rider Jane Hannigan.
American Grand Prix rider Tara Stegen has given birth to twin boys. Stegen and her partner Jeffrey Charles Martin of Wellington Florida, are the proud new parents of the two boys born 16 August 2012 at 6h14 and 6h15. The boys are named James Rolland Martin (4lbs 2oz and 17") and Jacob Charles Martin (4lbs 6oz and 17.5") and they came into this world 6.5 weeks early.
British magazine Horse & Hound posted an article in which the ownership of Carl Hester's Uthopia is being called a mystery. An Irish newspaper brough to light that the long-listed owner of Uthopia, Sasha Stewart, was declared bankrupt in September 2010 (the status has been lifted a year later) and is not the owner of the horse, according to Carl's lawyer Jacqui Fulton. "What Sasha is saying is, she sold the horse a number of years ago to a private investor, but she's always ben named the owner because the investor is happy with it and she likes the glitz and the glamour," Fulton told Horse and Hound, "But in reality, she doesn't own the horse." The FEI website lists Sasha's father Derek Harrisson and Sasha Stewart as owners from 2009 to March 2010, then Carl Hester (1 April 2010 - 13 September 2011) and as of 14 September 2011 Hester and Stewart are listed as owners. Horse and Hound was unable to resolve the mystery around the ownership of the licensed Dutch warmblood stallion. Carl, who is currently on a short holiday in Spain, replied via Twitter: "Think today's front covers are way too inflammatory - it's not a story! Investigative journalism - ha!"