Belgian 2013 European and 2014 WEG team Grand Prix rider Julie de Deken married her life partner Alexandre Leytens in a beautiful intimate ceremony on 26 September 2015.
In attendance of their family and close friends they celebrated their wedding at the Castle of Berlaar with a stylish reception and beautiful evening dinner and party. De Deken and Leytens got married five years to the date they met each other for the first time. They spent a short get-away in Ibiza right after the wedding weekend. Leytens is a diamond and jewelry designer and dealer from Schilde, Belgium.
Dutch KWPN breeder Tony de Groot, founder of the renowned KWPN brood farm DG Bar Ranch, has passed away in a tragic airplane accident. While on a fishing trip in Alaska, a small plane operated by the Rainbow King Lodge Fishing Camp crashed in Ilimana, Alaska. Among the three of seven passengers who were killed was 80-year old Tony De Groot, of Hanford, California. With a 24-hour dairy farm, and a large breeding program for Dutch horses, DG Bar Ranch is a one of a kind family owned and operated horse facility that is a part of American legend in dressage.
Dutch Grand Prix rider Derk Schekkerman has married his life partner Jordy van Wijnen on 15 August 2015 in the presence of their close friends and family. Congratulations!
British Young Rider team member Claire Gallimore has acquired a new youngster: the 3-year old Oldenburg stallion Joe Cocker B (by Johnson x Don Cardinale x Ex Libris). Gallimore is based in The Netherlands and trains with Imke Schellekens-Bartels at Bartels Academy in Hooge Mierde.
Twenty-year old Dutch Justine Mudde has sold her young rider's horse Lauda (by Laudabilis x ). Justine's father Cok Mudde acquired Lauda as a foal at the 2005 Westfalian Elite Foal Auction in Munster Handorf for 32,000 euro. The foal was then called Laudestan. Mudde has competed Lauda internationally at two events in 2015, the CDI Roosendaal and Compiegne. The 10-year old Westfalian gelding has been sold to a horse dealer in The Netherlands.
German born American dressage rider Silva Martin-Stigler and her eventing husband Boyd Martin became the proud parents of their first child, a boy named Nox Christoph Martin, on 23 September 2015. The boy was born at 8 a.m. at the Chester County Hospital in Pennsylvania via planned C-section as a precaution because of Silva's traumatic brain injury sustained in March 2014.
Dutch Grand Prix rider Petra Logger-Beers has decided to breed her Grand Prix horse Odame K (by Jazz) to the Dutch licensed stallion Lord Leatherdale (by Lord Loxley). It will be an embryotransfer foal so "Otje" is not carrying it.
Equine Canada is deeply disappointed to learn of the closing of the Blainville Equestrian Park. This beautiful facility has been a cornerstone of equestrian competition in the province of Quebec for many years. The Blainville Equestrian Park is a public facility owned by the city of Blainville, and not under the jurisdiction of EC.
French junior rider Clarissa Stickland has acquired a second junior horse to have a second iron in the fire alongside Lacoletta. She purchased the 13-year old Don Bencedor (by Don Frederico x Metternich) at her coach Coby van Baalen's stable in The Netherlands.
DIXIT
Carl Hester in an interview for The Horse Magazine: "On the positive side, two judges finally became brave enough to give marks that no-one thought would ever be given to Totilas. Finally somebody stood up and said, I don’t think this is right, we are going to give the marks it deserves, surely that gives the confidence to the other judges that they’ve really got to start being competent enough to actually give their marks, rather than think, what am I supposed to give? These people have been around for years and of course they are not evil people, they are good people, but I think this championship will make them, and we’ll get it sorted.”