Jaybee Alabaster, the young Hanoverian stallion who represented Australia at the 2004 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, has a new rider. Owner Bev Edwards placed the horse in training with Australian team rider Rachael Sanna. Alabaster's previous rider, Tor van den Berghe, relocated to the Australian Gold Coast but the owner decided not to let the stallion move with them. The liver chestnut Alabaster will now be campaigned by Sanna, who was a WEG rider with Catham Park Jac.
Indoor Brabant will most likely be hosting the 2008 World Cup Dressage Finals. Gerrit Jan Swinkels, chairperson of the Indoor Brabant organization, confirmed that he has been negotiating the contract with the FEI. Indoor Brabant also hopes to host the combined World Cup Finals for dressage and show jumping in 2009.
A merger has taken place between the German breed societies of Berlin-Brandenburg and Sachsen-Anhalt. In a plenary meeting on April 21, 2007, the two breed societies decided upon this merger and will from now on be calledBrandenburg-Anhalt. The head quarters of the new society will be at the Neustadt-Dosse State Stud.
The USET Foundation has been offering an Athlete Portrait Campaign Postersfor sale at www.uset.org and at the 2007World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. There are five different posters available for a donation to the Foundation of $35 each. All proceeds from the sales of the posters benefit the U.S. equestrian team athletes and their High Performance programs. The USET Foundation is offering two single portraits and three composite posters of the Olympic disciplines featuring unique portraits of the athletes with their horses. On the back of each poster is a short biography of each athlete pictured. The poster pictured left is the composite posters featuring the Olympic Disciplines with portraits of Three-Day Eventers Kim Severson with Winsome Adante, and Will Faudree with Antigua; Dressage Riders Debbie McDonald with Brentina, Steffen Peterswith Ravel, and Guenter Seidel with Aragon; and Show Jumper Beezie Madden with Authentic.
Anky van Grunsven is having a new freestyle designed by Dutch pianist Wibi Soerjadi. Van Grunsven was supposed to have one designed by her in-house composers duo Cees Slings and Victor Kerkhof in 2005 for the European Championships, but didn't take any action to have it made. Then Slings & Kerkhof split in 2006 and she decided that Kerkhof should make a kur for her. Initial negotiations had started but nothing really happened eventually. Today, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that Soerjadi would be making one. Let's hope that will come to fruition because the wonderful L'Esprit Chanson freestyle has worn out completely.
Alex van Silfhout's Luxform's Olympus has been sold to the United States. A full brother of Nimbly and Popeye, Olympus is by Havel out of Jirdonie (by Dillenburg). The bay gelding has been sold to a dressage rider from Montana but he will first go to Michael Barisone for some training.
When we received the press release on the 2007 Dressage Ireland Winter Championships, we read the horse's name Reve d'Or and it rang a bell. The Dutch warmblood gelding by Flemmingh x Statuar used to compete in the FEI Young Horses classes in Belgium and the 2004 Zwolle International Stallion Show under Wim Verwimp. "I sold him to Miss Kate Dwyer and it's great to see that he's doing so well now at FEI level," Verwimp told Eurodressage. "He is an AES licensed stallion and I have three offspring by him. They are all very talented young dressage horses."
Photo copyrighted: Dirk Caremans
The new pony rule has been instated in January 2007 (life measurement certificate cancelled, ponies can no longer measure higher than 149 with shoes at CDI-P's and a margin of 2 centimeters is incorporated when measuring at the Europeans) but still a whole group of "horses" especially from Germany and Holland are competing at the international pony shows. The first CDI-P of the season, in Addington, had a horse filled field of competitors and nothing different is expected at CDI-P Wouwse Plantage this weekend and the CDI-P Saumur next weekend. The Dutch Equestrian Federation measured its A and B team ponies last Monday and came to the conclusion that a few ponies are too big. Yet nothing is done about it and all ponies can compete internationally. Isn't it time for the CDI-P's to measure the ponies themselves under FEI veterinary supervision, even before the European Championship takes place!!?? Why this lackadaisical attitude towards fair play?