After 17 years together, Finnish dressage rider Kyra Kyrklund and her long time partner British dressage trainer Richard White finally got married on 23rd November 2007. Kyrklund and White live together at Snow Hill Farm in West Sussex, Great Britain.
The 2007 Oldenburg Stallion Licensing champion has been named "Sieger Hit". The bay Sandro Hit x Donnerhall, who was purchased at auction by Mr. Aggesen, will be standing up for stud at Stald Cajus in Gram, Denmark. Kari and Jack Munch Christiansen run this stallion station and are extremely pleased to have their second dressage stallion standing at stud next to four show jumping stallions. "This means so much for Danish horse breeding," Jack Munch-Christiansen told Ridehesten. "Not only do we constantly improve our own breeding material, but we also look abroad and import the best stallions."
The Trakehner stallion Gribaldi has been proclaimed Elite Stallion by the Danish Warmblood Society. The black Gribaldi is a successful Grand Prix horse himself and his offspring is performing likewise. Based on the achievements of offspring in Denmark (so not taking into account, for instance, Painted Black or Sisther de Jeu) Gribaldi earned the title of elite sire. His most promising Danish get are Zardin Firfod, who won the Inter 1 Kur to Music at the CDI-W Odense and Astrid Gemal's Schianto.
The newly founded ‘International Society for Equitation Science’ (ISES) is a non profit organisation devoted to the scientific study of equestrianism. Its formation is a direct result of the increasing world wide interest in the welfare of horses among equestrian professionals and academics alike. The ISES council members are veterinarians and equine welfare scientists who share the view that problems with the ridden horse are often difficult to address due to the lack of science in equitation. Their aim is to promote and encourage the application of objective research and advanced practice which will ultimately improve the welfare of horses in their associations with humans. The ‘International Society for Equitation Science’ is now represented via an online platform where more details about the Society’s aims, its international meetings and information on membership are given.
Dutch Olympic team rider Marlies van Baalen has published a book on her riding career from pony rider to Grand Prix rider. It also contains a section on selecting and training dressage horses. Written by Karin de Haan and beautifully illustrated with photos by Arnd Bronkhorst, "Dressuur Met Marlies" is pubishled by Fontaine and currently only available in Dutch. The book can be purchased through mediaboek.nl
Four dressage stallions out of five were licensedby the KWPN society following the autumn stallion performance test. Accepted for breeding are the 2007 reserve champion Zhivago (Krack C x Jazz), Zjengis Khan (Rousseau x Rubinstein), Zanzibar (Special D x Pretendent) and Zambuka (Scandic x Biotop). Zo Romantic (by Don Romantic) was not accepted. Zhivago has been put in training with Edward Gal.
Hong Kong team rider Jacqueline Siu has a new Grand Prix horse. She purchased Callaho Wenckstern (Hanoverian, by Weltmeyer) as hopeful for the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. Siu had recently bought the Grand Prix horse Mariola in The Netherlands a few months ago and trained with Anky van Grunsven, but only a short time later the horse had to be put down because it foundered. Siu now acquired Wenckstern, which was owned by the Callaho foundation that supports South African dressage rider Nathalie Hobday, who trains in Germany with Jonny Hilberath. Siu lives in England but trains with Van Grunsven in The Netherlands.
The President of the FEI, HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, gave birth to a baby girl Alia Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in Dubai on December 2, 2007.