Dr. Ulf Möller and Sandro Hit Retire from the Show Scene

Dressage

German Dressage News

A joint retirement was announced at Paul Schockemohle's stallion show in Vechta last Sunday. Both Dr. Ulf Möller and the legendary breeding stallion Sandro Hit will retire from the show scene.

"Thirteen years of stallion shows are enough," Dr. Möller explained. The now 18-year old Oldenburg stallion Sandro Hit, with whom Möller won the 1999 Bundeschampionate and World Young Horse Championships in Arnheim, will no longer be shown under saddle. In the future the black sire will only be presented in hand.

In an interview with the Australian Horse Magazine Ulf Möller once said the following about the qualities of Sandro Hit: "He is really stamping his offspring. He is producing uphill horses, producing pretty horses, even with some ugly mares. He gives his colour, and he gives outstanding rideability, and he gives something that is difficult to say in words, he makes proud horses. This is what is important – but it also gives a responsibility to the rider that he understands this proudness, and don’t try and press this proudness out. The rider must allow this pride to come out of the horse – maybe it was a bit the same with him at the stallion test, they pressed him, and I let him live.”

Möller, whose riding career has regularly been interrupted by back problems, has also announced that he will no longer compete and will only be seen at shows as coach of his wife Eva and their children.

As a token of their appreciation Möller's employers Ullrich Kasselmann and Paul Schockemöhle offered him a special gift: the successful show jumping pony Mr. Ed. The chestnut will be the ride for Ulf's daughter Lena Victoria.

Möller and Sandro Hit did their final lap of honour together with Lena and Mr Ed at the sold-out show in Vechta.