Dutch FEI rider Inge Coenen got severely injured falling of a horse on Friday 24 June 2016. The 33-year old riding was walking a horse on the long rein when he tripped and fell. Coenen, who wore a helmet, had to be urgently transported to the hospital. She was four days in a coma with severe brain injury, but woke from it on 27 June 2016.
Horses.nl reported that Kim Huizer has retired her 20-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Oxford (by Topas x Rossini), who is bred by W. Keulen Wiersma in Harlingen, The Netherlands. The pair went from medium level to Under 25 Grand Prix together. They competed at several international shows from 2012 till 2014 in Hagen, Leudelange, Drachten, Roosendaal, Compiegne, Deauville, Nieuw en St. Joosland, and Munich. Their last show together was the 2014 CDI Roosendaal Indoor where they contested the Under 25 division and finished fourth and fifth.
British Grand Prix rider Amy Stovold married her partner Simon Staempfli on Saturday 23 July 2016. Staempfli is a Swiss native from Berne and works as a veterinarian at Arundel Equine Hospital in West Sussex, Great Britain. The couple got engaged on 1 January 2013. Rio Olympians Carl Hester, Fiona Bigwood and Anders Dahl attended the wedding.
On 14 July 2016 the 27-year old NRPS licensed pony stallion Idzard passed away in his sleep. Bred and owned by Adri van Esch, Idzard was the last direct licensed son of Ismael ox and out of keur preferent mare Astrid (by Lord Peter x Sedan ox). Idzard has sired numerous successful dressage offspring, including the former Belgian FEI Team pony Ivano (Geoffrey de Roy). This year Charina du Bois (by Danny Gold x Idzard) will represent The Netherlands at the 2016 European Pony Championships.
Swedish Grand Prix rider Anna Blomgren and the Australian Will Rogers got married on Saturday 30 July 2016. The couple lives and works in The Netherlands and shared a yard with Australian Tristan Tucker. Blomgren has worked at Blue Hors and Helgstrand Dressage before moving to Tucker's stable in The Netherlands, where the pair met each other. Rogers specializes in natural horsemanship.
Ulla Salzgeber is moving yards. On 26 July she announced that she is relocating to the Wenzel family's stable in Ettringen, Germany, 12 kilometers from where she is now. Salzgeber was based at the Gnadel family's equestrian centre Obere Mühle in Blonhofen, Germany, but they agreed to end the contract at the end of the year. Salzgeber was originally from Bad Worishofen, but in 2010 she moved to Blonhofen. She was also briefly commuting between Gestut Peterhof in Perl-Borg and Blonhofen in 2012 but that only lasted six weeks.
German rising Grand Prix rider Lisa Müller, who is best known for being the wife of Germany's most famous soccer player Thomas Muller, is training with Isabell Werth. Lisa has been competing Dave at international Grand Prix level as of 2014 and with Anne Beth she made her international small tour debut at the CDI Fritzens. The 26-year old Müller has begun training with Isabell Werth on 19 July. She moved three of her horses to Werth's yard in Rheinberg.
Did you know that Eurodressage's correspondent Barbara Schnell is quite famous in the world of fantasy novels. She is the official German translator of Diana Gabaldon's books. Outlander is best known since it was made in a successful U.S. hit tv-series. The Outlander fanclub interviewed Schnell on her Friesian horses. Have a read here.
Celle State Stud has lost two of its yearling colts. On the night of Saturday 30 July 2016 no less than 49 colts escaped from the summer fields in Neuhaus im Solling. They ran through the small community centre and damaged several cars, including a police car. Forty-three of them sustained injuries but no people got hurt. By Sunday evening 47 of them were caught but two of them are still missing. They are wearing neck collars.