Catherina Haddad-Staller's number one Grand Prix horse Winyamaro has been sold to U.S. based Dutch dressage rider Olivia Hallman. The striking 13-year old Hanoverian gelding will stay in training with Haddad-Staller in Califon, NJ.
The 2000 born Winyamaro (by Walt Disney I x Trapper) was initially trained and competed as a young horse by German Ralf Kornprobst. Catherine Haddad, who was then living in Vechta, Germany, prepared the gelding for FEI level and made her Grand Prix debut at national level in 2009.
Winyamaro moved into the spotlight when Catherine's Grand Prix horses Maximus and Cadillac were sidelines by injuries. The duo became the alternates for the U.S. team for the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky after finishing fourth at the 2010 U.S. Dressage Championships.
In 2011 the pair qualified to compete for the U.S.A at the World Cup Finals in Leipzig, Germany, where they ranked 12th. In 2012, Winyamaro was unable to contend for a U.S. Olympic team spot as the horse was injured. He returned to the show ring in the spring of 2013 but has only been very lightly shown ever since.
The 29-year-old Olivia Hallman worked as a fashion model. Her mom is steel tycoon Viola Hallman, who is married to Markus von Hänsel-Hohenhausen (full name since 2003 Mark Donatus Alexander Carl Matthew Leopold Prinz von Hohenzollern-Emden). Olivia recently retired from the model industry after a fire broke out in her New York apartment and now plans to devote her time to riding. She has been a participant at the World Championships for Icelandic horses and was multiple Dutch Champion in several disciplines with those ponies.
With the sale of Winyamaro, Haddad-Staller will have to shift her focus on her rising Grand Prix horses Hotmail, with whom she scored 65.574% in the Grand Prix at Devon this weekend, and Patronus as well as on her youngsters.
“I want to focus on my younger horses with more potential for the future," Haddad-Staller told Dressage News. "It was not a forced sale it was a fortunate sale. I knew the sale of Winyamaro would enable me to develop my up and coming horses over the next several years. Olivia is new to dressage, but she is a very balanaced rider with a good feel and the right kind of mental focus to be successful in our sport.”
Photos © Astrid Appels
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