What's Happening: December 2006

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:00
What's Happening in the Dressage World?
Anja Plonzke and Roland Bauer

Anja Plonzke is leaving her father's Gestut Tannenhof near Wiesbaden, Germany, tomove in with her boyfriend Roland Bauer at the show jumping oriented Gestut Rittsteig in Passau (Bavaria). The 38-year old Plonzke met the 26-year old Bauer at the CDI Frankfurt in December 2004 and have been dating ever since. Plonzke permanently moved in with Bauer this month. She took breeding stallions Solero TSF, Lucky Dance and the Oldenburg gelding Le Mont d'Or with her. Plonzke leaves behind her 12-year old son Marc, who lives with his father in Hessia. Anja will remain in close contact with her family at Gestut Tannenhof.

Jurgen Uphoff, father of former double Olympic champion Nicole Uphoff, hasprotested the publication of a photo of Nicole riding Rembrandt in the roll kur on the cover of the new FN-Verlag book "Roll-Kur" by Prof. Dr. Heinz Meyer. Jurgen Uphoff told journalist Dieter Ludwig that, "I am against the fact that my daughter is being connected to the Rollkur debate, while the horse has been dead for more than three years now. I would have nothing against a photo of Nicole and Rembrandt showing lightness of riding, but not an image of the horse in rollkur."

Unfortunately, a few well known stallions have passed away recently. Gestut Vogelsanghof's grey Trakehner stallion Enim Pascha (by Zauberklang x Prince Condus) passed away following colic. Enim Pascha competed in the Bundeschampionate. The 21-year old Hanoverian stallion Ritual (Ramiro x Der Lowe xx) died at age 21 due to heart failure. The Thoroughbred stallion Waldstar xx ( Athenagoras – Tarim) stationed at Sven Volz' stallion station, also passed away. And finally, last week, the 17-year old Hanoverian stallion Salieri (by Salvano x Servus x Wreden) foundered and was put down. Salieri is known for being the sire of the Olympic dressage champion Salinero and the Olympic show jumper Seven Up.

The Ebay charity auction for the German Therapeutic Riding Institute (Deutsches Kuratorium fuer Therapeutisches Reiten e.V.) has been a tremendous success. The gloves Isabell Werth wore at the 2006 World Equestrian Games were sold for 9,050 euro! The boots Ludwig Beerbaum's L'Espoir wore at WEG were sold for 377 euro. A signed copy of Hans Gunther Winkel's biography "Halla" sold for 156.55 euro. 

At the Indoor Munich show, a diamond made of hair from Satchmo's tail has been sold for 14,000 euro. The company Semper Fides Diamonds cultivated a diamond out of Satchmo's tail and sold it at auction in Munich for the charity cause of the German Child Cancer Society.

The second FEI Freestyle Forum hosted on UNEX Towerlands in Great Britain on January 22 and 23, 2006, has been postponed to a later date. The new date for the 2nd Freestyle Forum will be set during the next British Dressage board meeting.

Hans Peter Minderhoud got the ride on Painted Black II, the full brother of Anky van Grunsven's Painted Black. PB II (by Gribaldi) is licensed for the Westfalian verband and approved for Oldenburg. Minderhoud's Prix St Georges horse Exquis Nadine (by Partout) suffered from a bout of colic. The mare was transported to the equine clinic of Utrecht were they observed her. Fortunately, the chestnut mare did not need an operation and pulled through. The mare will be lightly ridden again at the end of the week. Hans Peter's Grand Prix horse Exquis Escapado (by Ex Libris) is still recovering from an injury. "2006 can end really soon for me, hopefully 2007 will bring healthy horses for me," Hans Peter wrote on his website.

We were very saddened to hear that Mary Phelps and JJ Hathaway had to humanely put down their most beloved corgi Gizmo on Tuesday December 19, 2006 . "The Gizz" was well known on the American dressage scene as Mary and JJ's loyal dog who was always up for a cuddle or a walk. Gizmo (pictured left) was 14 years old and a wedding present to Mary Phelps.