Jozef Bauters has been elected the new president of the Belgian Warmblood Society (BWP). He will be succeeding Kris Keersmaekers. Bauters was initially not a candidate but on request of the board he accepted the position. Bauters was chosen the new chair at the board meeting on 14 March 2017.
Matthias Bouten has taken over the ride on Stanford from Dorothee Schneider. The 8-year old Rhinelander licensed stallion by Sir Donnerhall x Diamond Hit was initially started by Stefanie Wolf and finished third at the Bundeschampionate as a 3-year old. Schneider took over and rode him to a fourth place at the 2015 World Young Horse Championships in Verden. Owned by Stefan Sevens, Stanford moved to Bouten in September 2016. The pair recently competed in their second S-level test at a local show in Unna-Massen and scored 68.4%. Bouten also rode Ferienhof Stucker's chestnut licensed stallion Bodyguard (by Burlington x Pik L) at that event and placed second in the S-class with 70.6%.
Christa Larmoyeur's stable jockey Hennie Roffel has resigned from her position after only six months on the job. Roffel realized that the commute from her house to Larmoyeur's yard in The Netherlands is too strenuous. Roffel has a husband and two children and the difficult traffic keeps her away from home too long with drives that sometimes take up to three hours in total each day. Before that Roffel had worked four months at Ted Kop Jansen in Wapse, The Netherlands. Roffel has been replaced by Marloes Oosterhof at Larmoyeur's yard.
Horses.nl reported that Frenk Jespers could not serve on the Swedish Warmblood stallion licensing committee this year. Jespers, who has been a member of the Swedish committee for the past 8 years, decided to stay home with his 90-year old mother who is ill. Gert van den Hoorn replaced Jespers in Flyinge.
Horses.nl also reported that Dutch former pony rider Maud Maarse will make the transition to junior level aboard the 15-year old Dutch licensed stallion Valdez (by Houston x Jazz). The bay is owned by Lauw van Vliet who offered the ride on his stallion to Maarse. Valdez was previously shown by Ingrid Gerritsen.
Count Breido zu Rantzau will be the recipient of the 2017 Meteor Prize, awarded by the show organizers of Holsteiner Masters in Kiel. For the past ten years the award is annually given to a prominent figure who promotes, supports and stimulates equestrian breeding and sport in Germany. Zu Rantzau is the president of the German Equestrian Federation and host of the German Dressage Championships in Balve. Previous recipients include Hans-Heinrich Isenbart, Count Dieter Landsberg-Velen, Herbert Meyer, Peter Luther, Catharina Cramer, Madeleine Winter-Schulze, Herbert Blöcker,Hans-Helmut Sievers, Detlef Peper, and Dieter Stut.
Hoefslag reported that Dutch Grand Prix rider Stephanie de Frel was forced to euthanize her number one Grand Prix horse Zanyo at the end of February. The 13-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Zanyo (by Turbo x Zirkoon x Jagermeester) made his international Grand Prix debut in 2016 and competed at the CDI's in 's Hertogenbosch, Nieuw en St. Joosland, Roosendaal, Rotterdam and Saumur. The horse has been in Jacqcues Maree's equine clinic for a couple of months because he was not fit. The problem was hard to find but the horse ended up being diagnosed with a disease similiar to diabetes.
Marlies van Baalen announced that the baby she is expecting will be a girl. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl revealed that the baby she's expecting in August will be a boy. Congratulations!
Gerhard Gramann, former breeding director of the Holsteiner society, has passed away at age 88 at the beginning of March. After World War II, Gramann took up a job in the feeding industry before becoming the director of the diary cow federation in Lubeck. From 1873 till 1990 he was was the regional director for animal breeding in Holstein. Between 1965 and 1990 he also was managing director from the local Holsteiner breed societies that merged into the Holsteiner breed society in 1977. Together with Hans-Heinrich Stien he wrote the book "Das Holsteiner Pferd. Geschichte, Zucht und Leistung." In 1993 he received the Gustav Rau medal for his achievements and contribution to horse breeding in Germany.
Dutch FEI rider Saskia Poel announced on Facebook that she sold her international small tour horse Unforgettable, a 16-year old Dutch warmblood gelding by Olivi x Wellington, to Japan. Poel, who is 5.5 months pregnant, competed the bay gelding at three international shows: the 2013 CDI Kapellen and Roosendaal and the 2015 CDI Drachten. Poel tried training the horse to Grand Prix level, but he's more gifted at small tour. Unforgettable has been acquired by a Japanese dressage rider for the Asian Games.