The window company Hunter Douglas and its sister company Luxaflex have decided not to renew their five-year contract with Dutch A-team rider Imke Schellekens-Bartels. Imke's top Grand Prix horse Toots as well as her 18-year old Sunrise will lose the prefix Hunter Douglas.
"We already knew that Hunter Douglas would stop our fantastic co-operation of five years," Schellekens commented. "I was prepared that I am really going to miss that support, also on a personal level. We really established an amicable bond with a few people of Hunter Douglas and Luxaflex. That bond will remain."
Imke Schellekens-Bartels received sponsorship of the Swiss based Sonnenberg family, who owns Hunter Douglas, in 2007. During their sponsorship Schellekens-Bartels achieved the best results in her career so far: team gold at the 2007 and 2009 European Championships, double individual bronze at the 2007 European Championships, and team gold at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and a third place at the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Aboard the Dutch warmblood Toots (by Jazz), Schellekens become the Dutch Olympic team reserve for London this year. The combination is now focusing on the winter indoor circuit and will be riding the World Cup Qualifiers in an attempt to make it to the 2013 World Cup Finals in Gothenburg.
Photo © Dirk Caremans
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