German FEI rider Maik Kohlmschmidt and his girlfriend Malene Ebbesen got married on 23 July 2016 in Denmark. Kohlschmidt began his professional career as a bereiter at the state stud in Neustadt/Dosse
before moving to Denmark where he has worked for many years as an assistant trainer for JJ Horses, Blue Hors stud and Andreas Helgstrand. Ebbesen has her own dressage business at Jan Bastrup Dressage in Hobro. Laik gave Malene a foal by Franklin x Carano named For Your Love as a wedding present.
Italian Grand Prix rider Leonardo Tiozzo has a new job. He begun working as an assistant rider at Arnd Erben's sales and training facility in Germany. Tiozzo previously trained in Germany at Koschel's yard in Hagen.
Horses.nl reported that Wilken Trau, the 34-year old managing director of the Westfalian breed society, collapsed in his office in Munster-Handorf at the end of August. He was transported to the local hospital where he got diagnosed with an acute stomach ulcer. He needed to stay in the hospital for a few days for observation.
Dressage made it into mainstream media again ! Severo Jurado Lopez and Lorenzo's Olympic kur to music got an honourable mention on the Late Late Night Show with James Cordon, a huge American evening comedy show with the eponymous renowned British tv-star. Check out the reference to "Lorenzo the Dancing Horse" on the James Corden show.
Dutch Grand Prix rider Petra Logger-Beers had to say goodbye to her first Grand Prix horse: Jaguar. The unregistered bay gelding died peacefully in his stall on Saturday 28 August 2016. He was 34 years old.
It's holiday time for a lot of riders who have now returned home from Rio. Hans Peter Minderhoud and Edward Gal traveled to Ibiza, while the Rothenbergers held a family vacation in Capri. At the end of August, the Van Grunsven-Janssen family went on holiday in Kassandra, Greece.
Zuchterforum reported that Bernd Richter, auctioneer for the Westfalian breed society, celebrated his 60th birthday on 28 August 2016. Richter began working for the Warendorf state stud in 1973, but after doing his military duty he was a nurse at the university clinic in Munster from 1979 till 1994. In that year he got hired as auctioneer and marketing leader for the Westfalian breed society.
Norwegian Grand Prix rider Siril Helljesen and her husband Sjur Wethal became the proud parents of their first baby, a girl named Stella. The baby was born on 25 August 2016.
After working only four months at the equestrian of Ted Kop Jansen in Wapse, The Netherlands, Dutch national Grand Prix rider Hennie Roffel has decided to leave and took up a new job as asssitant trainer at Christa Larmoyeur's yard in the north of Holland. Roffel began working for Larmoyeur on 1 September 2016.
Belgian Grand Prix rider and former EC and WEG Team member Julie de Deken is pregant with her first child. She and her husband, diamond dealer Alexandre Leytens, are expecting a baby girl in January 2017.
Renowned German equestrian tv commentator Carsten Söstmeier is facing a lot of criticism because he scorned German Olympic team eventing rider and team rookie Julia Krajewski. During the live broadcast of the cross country phase, Sostmeier felt the need to criticize Krajewski's performance and bluntly stated that she "shat her pants" while claiming she rode the course in fear. German equestrian media is furious for Sostmeier's presumptious and degrading behaviour. It has let to a lot of reaction including open letters, such as this one. In the past some people have already made fun of Sostmeier's commentary on dressage, compared it to a voice-over for a porn movie.
Roland von Siebenthal, a former leading Swiss equestrian photographer, has passed away at 25 August 2016. He was 86 years old. "We lost a real colleague you could trust, who had a real good eye and one could have fun with him," said Swiss photographer Elisabeth Weiland.