The photo on the right was just too good to be true. We HAD to share this with our Eurodressage readers. Guess which two British Grand Prix riders are depicted in this Bilitis look-alike photo which was taken twenty years ago?!! If you click on the picture you'll find out.
During a guided tour at her stable, Anky van Grunsven explains that she believes a competition horse "when they are full in training" should work at least one hour to one and half hour and not 45 minutes a day. "There is no normal sportsperson that only trains 45 minutes a day," she said. "Maybe only the soccer players," she added as a joke. The clip shows good old Bonfire who will turn 29 mid March 2012. There is also a second video clip in which Anky talks about the beginning of her dressage career and her 2012 Olympic goal. "The biggest fun is training here at home," she said.
Each year the Dutch sport magazine NU Sport prints the Top 100 of best earning Sport Athletes of the Netherlands. The Top 10 is as usual filled with famous Dutch soccer players but quite a few equestrian riders have also captured a place in this Top 100. Seven show jumpers and one dressage rider are included on the list which is based on "guestimates" by the editors of the magazine. Prize money and horse deals are taken into account, but reality is that the "registered income" of equestrian athletes is galaxies away from the truth. The highest ranked show jumper is Leon Thijssen, who captured spot 37 with an income in 2011 of 1.2 million euro. The sole woman on the list is dressage rider Anky van Grunsven on place 40 with 1,130,000 euro earned in 2011.
Dutch FEI rider Dominique Filion has become the in-house trainer at Carolyn de Roo's President Dressage Stables. Congratulations on the new position!
Paul Schockemohle has found two partners to run the Flyinge Stallion Station in Sweden. Antonia Ax:son Johnson of the Swedish Lovsta Stuteri and Ib Kirk of the Danish Katrinelund stallion station have merged into a corporation which has rescued the breeding department at Flyinge. Breeding operations will start as of the 2012 breeding season and includes the management of the AI station as well as the hosting of stallion and foal shows and sales events. Ax:son Johnson said that negotiations are on-going at the moment but nothing has been signed yet.
Edward Gal made his first public appearance aboard his new Grand Prix ride Blue Hors Romanov (by Rohdiamant x Grundstein II. The two appeared together first the first time at the stallion show in Vechta, Germany, on 10 February 2012. While there was much relaxation and peacefulness in the ride, the beautiful Oldenburg bay gelding still struggled with the same issues as he did under previous rider Sune Hansen. The passage was uneven behind, with a weaker left hind leg, and the tempi changes were not straight with the hindquarters swinging from left to ride. Nevertheless, the pair is brand new and will make an exciting one to watch in the show ring this 2012 show season! See a video of their ride here.
Photo © LL-photo.de
French FEI Pony rider Clarissa Rufin-Stickland is on holiday in Florida but also getting some horse action at the same time. Aboard Evi Strasser's FEI pony Cappucino Tyme, Clarissa scored 73.96% in the FEI pony individual test at the 2012 Global dressage festival in Wellington, Florida. Congrats!
A while ago Canada's 2010 WEG team horse Pikardi sold to Chelsea Hackman-Balcaen of Coldstream Dressage. Canadian team routinier Bonny Bonnello and co-owner Jean Bell put Bonny's WEG ride up for sale after the Games and the Canadian warmblood horse (by Point Maker x Daimont) found a new home in Coldstream, B.C., Canada. Pikardi is a now 15 years old.
Jeroen Witte, boyfriend to Dutch young horse specialist Emmelie Scholtens and son of major Dutch horse dealer Nico Witte, broke his foot on Friday 3 February at the KWPN Stallion Licensing. While unloading world champion Astrix (by Obelisk x Olivi) the black stallion spooked from the snow and jumped on Witte's foot. Horses.nl reported that X-rays taken on Monday morning showed the Witte has broken his ankle and needs to be in a cast for six weeks.
While we were browsing the website of Gestut Birkhof we had to laugh a little bit when we saw the pedigree of their new stallion Genesis (by Gribaldi). The dam of this black colt is named "Stifler's Mum". The breeder surely must have liked watching American Pie!
Ulrike Prunthaller's supension of three months has been extended by the Tiroler Equestrian Federation with an other three months. Because the investigation concerning animal abuse in Prunthaller's stable at Hof Bartlgut in Austria is still ongoing the federation decided to extend the suspension period which started on 6 November 2011. More info on Pferdeplus.
The culprit for several cases of arson at Paul Schockemohle's Gestut Lewitz in East Germany has been caught! St.Georg reported that the 22-year old Fabian T has been found guilty in court and sentenced to five years in jail. His two accomplices were minors and have also been convicted. Fabian T was a former employee at Gestut Lewitz and a volunteer in the local fire department. Between November 2010 and March 2011 there were seven cases of arson in the area. Fabien T was caught red-handed in the last one.
