Danish junior rider Kristian Wurtz Green has received the ride on the 8-year old Danish warmblood bred Bogegardens Santiago after his family bought an ownership share in the licensed stallion.
A premium stallion at the 2013 South German and Danish warmblood stallion licensing, Santiago is by Soliman de Hus out of Wisconsin (by Weslery x Dürkheim). He is now co-owned with the breeder, Jørgen Schmidt.
"Right now Bøgegaardens Santiago and I will get to know each other, and the dream is of course to ride some of the big competitions," Kristian told Eurodressage.
Santiago was first competed by Matthias Tourbier in 2014. The pair won bronze at the 2014 Danish Young Horse Championships. In 2015 Norwegian Silke Bakken took over and she rode him to a 9th place at the 2016 Danish Young Horse Championships. In 2017 the stallion moved up to national M-level and represented Norway at the 2017 World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo, where they finished 6th in the consolation finals.
The 15-year old Wurtz Green was a member of the Danish pony team at the 2016 and 2917 European Pony Championships. In 2017 Kristian did his first year as a junior rider aboard the 14-year old Schuberts Don Diablo (by Don Schufro x Racot), but he was still combining it with his pony time on Lilo L.
Kristian will turn 16 in May and has ended his pony career at the end of 2017. "I decided to stop riding ponies, because my legs are too long," he joked.
He will now focus on riding horses under the supervision of his trainers Hasse Hoffmann and his mom Mette. In November 2017 he got the youngster Birkedals Aston (by Alphabeat x Solos Landtinus), which has been renamed Schuberts Aston, and he will also continue to compete Don Diabolo this year.
Kristian will be presenting Santiago and Aston at the 2018 Danish Warmblood Stallion Licensing show next week.
"Im in this lucky position, that my family is working with horses, so there will be some exciting horses in the future," he said.
Photos © Astrid Appels
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