Quite some shocking news arrived in our mail box today. Le Champ ASK, the 2008 Oldenburg Show Jumping Licensing Champion and record price selling stallion, is infertile. Blue Hors Stud purchased the stallion for a phenomenal 1,100,000 euro at the Oldenburg Stallion Licensing but now the grey proved to be unable to get mares in foal. None of the mares inseminated in Denmark and Germany were in foal. The stallion's semen quality seemed ok when it was tapped directly from the stallion, but mares never caught. The semen was researched by the Danish vet Jesper Møller Nielsen from the Ansager Animal clinic and by professor Sieme from the Equine High School in Hanover, Germany. Their results made Blue Hors decide to pull the stallion off the stud market.
Photo courtesy: Ridehesten.com
Bad luck for Patrik Kittel and his Australian girlfriend Lyndal Oatley. Scumbag thieves broke into their lorry at the CDI Hagen and took off with all their money!! The looters scored cash value worth a nice saddle. Lock those trucks well guys!
St. Georg reported that Isabell Werth crashed her car during Equitana 2009. She made it out safe and sound, but the car was severely damaged.
We also heard through the grapevine that Dutch equestrian photographer Arnd Bronkhorst has taken up a new hobby: motor crossing. German photography colleague Jacques Toffi spent one month in a Syrian monastery. Check out the amazing photos he took
We're trying to stay up to date with the latest trends, so Eurodressage is now also represented on Twitter.com. If you want updates of our latest articles posted, then follow us on Twitter.
The Westfalian licensed stallion Future has a new rider. The bay Florestan x Apart offspring is now being trained and competed by Stephanie Peters. Future is owned by Adri Gordijn of stallion station De Ijzeren Man in Weert and was initially trained up to Grand Prix level by Gordijn's son-in-law Sven Rothenberger. The stallion then moved to Coby van Baalen's stable where he was campaigned for a year by Marlies van Baalen. Three weeks ago, Peters got the opportunity to try out the stallion at De Ijzeren Man. The combination worked and Future is now based at Peters' stable in Roermond, The Netherlands. They made their show debut on April 5 in Hulten finishing third in the Intermediaire II with 67%. "Because I don't know Future that well yet, I had to wait and see how he was at shows. There were a few problems in the canterwork like I expected but he was active all the time. At the moment he's going well and I had a positive feeling about the show," Peters told Dutch site Horses.nl.
Dutch junior rider Laura Visser has lost the ride on Moorlands Versace (by Uniform). The 16-year old grey gelding underwent surgery after a severe colic attack. Versace's owner and Laura's mother, Tosca Visser of Moorland Stables, decided toretire the horse for good. Laura Visser will be continuing her junior rider's career with the mare Sajouti (by Clavecimbel), which was previously shown by Marie Jose Hulsman.
Eurodressage is looking forward to its "home show" the CDI-PJYR Weert. As we live only a 20 minute drive away from Stable De Ijzeren Man in Weert, it's the closest international show for us in distance. About 120 riders from 18 different countries are expected to compete in the FEI Pony, Junior and Young Riders classes. Entrance to this event is for free. We did a fantastic photo shoot at this event last year and are hoping to do an even better one this year!
Swedish professional rider Johan Svensson has traded in Hofgut Liederbach for Gestut Wiesenhof in Krefeld, Germany. Svensson was head rider at Liederbach and competed Sven Rothenberger's former Grand Prix horse Barclay II. The Swedish started his professional career as rider at Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff's Schafhof and completed his training as "Bereiter" in 2003. In those years he got trained by Siefried Peilicke and Klaus Balkenhol. In 2004 he rode at Michael Schmidt's breeding station in Lippetal and trained with Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen. He then moved to Gestüt im Niedern and afterwards Hofgut Liederbach. As of May 2009, Svensson will be employed at Wiesenhof.
Jim Rasmussen's Danish warmblood stallion Midt-West Dacapo has been sold to the United States. A dressage rider from Las Vegas, NV, has purchased the black Midt-West Ibi Light offspring as a Grand Prix schoolmaster. She has gelded the stallion. Charlotte Nielsen rode Dacapo in a Pas de Deux demo at the 2009 World Cup Finals in Las Vegas for his new owner.
At the 2009 World Cup Finals Chronicle of the Horse reporter Sara Lieser was not only preoccupied with covering the shows as writer and photographer for the Chronicle, but in between classes she had to run to the doctor to get rabies shots. Chronicle staffer Kat Netzler wrote, "The Chronicle’s editorial staffers are all lifelong riders, and we have an inherent love for almost all animals. In Sara’s case, that included the feral cat her two dogs chased under the flatbed trailer at her farm two weeks ago. In a moment of overwhelming kindheartedness or sheer stupidity, depending on how you look at it (she’ll tell you herself that it was the latter), she reached under the wheel well to try to catch the cat, thinking she’d magically feed and care for and re-home it. I don’t have to tell you the frisky feline had other ideas. It bit into her like a sirloin steak and then ran for the hills, and it hasn’t been seen since. Two weeks later, Sara’s had seven rabies treatment shots, including one yesterday afternoon. Turns out, the vaccinations are huge (the initial treatment was five shots at once all over her body) and have to be timed very specifically, and Sara’s schedule meant she had to have one here in Vegas and another next Friday in Kentucky, where she’ll be covering the Rolex CCI****."