Danish team rider Mikala Gundersen has received the ride on a brand new horse, the 7-year old Danish warmblood bred Askehavens Hot Hit (by Hotline x Sandro Hit). The horse has arrived at her base, Bell Tower Farm in Wellington, Florida this month. The horse is bred by Lisa Munch Holst.
The Danish Blue Hors Stud has appointed a new administrative director, Mikael Kold, who used to work at Intersport Danmarket and Hummel. Blue Hors has grown much the past few years and needed extra support. Kold will begin on the job in the first quarter of 2016.
On 25 October we reported that Dutch Grand Prix rider Christa Larmoyeur had to send her rising Grand Prix horse Aston Martin NL to the Emmeloord equine clinic for surgery after an accident. The rider has now revealed that the horse actually got a sharp object in its eye back then and two weeks later the chestnut gelding had to be operated again to have his eye removed as the infection would not clear. This will not prevent the horse from making a come back to the competition ring at a later stage.
Estonian Grand Prix rider Grete Puvi (formerly Barake) and her partner, French Grand Prix rider Alexandre Ayache, welcomed their first child into the world on 3 November 2015. The Nice based couple became the proud parents of a baby girl, Anna. Puvi gave birth to the baby at 16.30h at the Hôpital pédiatrique Lenval in Nice, France.
The 16-year old Rhinelander bred breeding stallion Lord Loxley (by Lord Sinclair x Weltmeyer) has left his breeding station of many years, Ferienhof Stucker, and relocated to Schlossgut Bernersried in Umpfenbach, Germany. Lord Loxley was the 2004 Bundeschampion and silver medalist at the World Young Horse Championships and was trained up to S-level by Heiner Schiergen. He has 36 licensed offspring.
Australian Grand Prix rider Mary Hanna has sold her third Grand Prix horse Hamag W Strona, which was owned by Maggie and Hamish McDonell, to her student Maddy Tristram. Hamag W Strona, aka Whoopy Strona, is a 12-year old Dutch warmblood mare by Jazz x Jetset D x Cassis xx. "Maddy did a great job riding my Grand Prix horses while I was away in Europe, and I am so excited about this new partnership," said Hanna. "At only 16 Maddy
shows so much ability and potential, and I feel great things are ahead
for this exciting combination."
American Grand Prix rider Caroline Roffman and her partner Ben Meredith, an Australian show jumper based in Kentucky, U.S.A, are expecting their first child together, a baby girl. "We are very excited and looking forward to her arrival," Roffman told Eurodressage. "I will continue to develop horses for the future competitions and sales. I am riding and training daily as usual and will continue to as long as physically safe."
The Dutch based American 11-year old pony rider Emma Luersman has acquired the 4-year old licensed German Riding Pony stallion FS Dorian Gray (by Don't Worry x Cocky Dundee), who won bronze at the 2014 Bundeschampuonate. Luersman also owns FS Pentagon (aka Pernendos S in Germany), with which she'll make her FEI pony level debut. The 9-year old black stallion FS Pentagon is by Prometheus B x Dornik B. She is trained by Natascha Bernoski.
Canadian Olympian David Marcus and his life partner, Australian FEI rider Nicholas Fyffe, got married in a small, private ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, on 17 November 2015.
As part of ongoing efforts to expand and better serve North American members and breeders of one of the most popular sport horses in the world, the Royal Dutch Warmblood Studbook in North America (KWPN-NA) has announced the hiring of Jason Tice as Executive Director, effective immediately. This also marks the beginning of a transition for the KWPN-NA office from its current home in Sutherlin, Oregon to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. A graduate of Iowa State University, Tice has been the Executive Director for the Friesian Horse Association of North America (FHANA) since 2008. He will continue those duties for FHANA while expanding his role to also become Executive Director of the KWPN-NA, overseeing all day-to-day operations including the annual meeting, keurings, and office operations.