The chestnut Westfalian gelding Donnelly has moved into training with Hubertus Schmidt's assistant rider Emma Kanerva. The Finnish team rider has received the ride on the Donnerruf offspring from owner Dr. Jorge de la Rocha.
Last winter Hubertus Schmidt told the press that he had sold his top Grand Prix horse Donnelly to the U.S.A. because he wanted to spend more time helping his cancer strikken wife Doris Schmidt (who is now on the mend).
In the spring Donnelly turned up not in the American ownership, but actually in the Brazilian hands of Dr. Jorge de la Roche. Schmidt in fact never said goodbye to the show ring as he immediately started campaigning Jochen Arl's Dutch warmblood gelding Valentino G at Grand Prix at the 2011 CDI shows.
Unfortunately a riding accident, in which De la Roche fractured a vertebrae in his neck, forced the Brazilian to send the horse back to Germany. Trainer Norbert van Laak took over the ride and showed the horse briefly.
Six weeks ago Donnelly returned back to Hubertus Schmidt's barn near Paderborn, where he is ridden by Finnish Emma Kanerva. The pair went to their first local show in Bielefeld and finished second in the Grand Prix and Special.
"It works really well between Emma and Donnelly," Schmidt told ST. GEORG. "She will be riding him in the future and maybe she can have a second iron in the future besides Sini Spirit for her focus on London. I'm very happy to see that they really are a match."
Source: St. Georg
Photo © Maria Burczyk
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