Ellesse Tzinberg's Pavarotti Passed Away

Dressage

Philippines

Ellesse Tzingberg's Grand Prix schoolmaster Pavarotti has passed away. The 21-year old Dutch warmblood gelding was spending his retirement in the field in Denmark.

"My sweet Otti was kicked while in the field and X-rays showed multiple breaks and sprains," a saddened Tzingberg told Eurodressage. "The vet on scene as well as the sweet family who cared for him felt there was just too much pain and too many breaks for such a big old horse."

Pavarotti was a 1997 born KWPN gelding, bred by H. Vingerhoets. He was by Ferro out of Geante (by Saros xx).

Pavarotti sold to the Michalke family in 2008 as a Grand Prix hopeful for Victoria Michalke. The pair first competed at the CDI Munich Indoor in December 2008, where they finished sixth. Due to an injury, the bay was sidelined for a while, but then returned to competition sport in July 2010 at national level and went on to compete for Michalke until 2014.

Michalke and Pavarotti competed internationally from 2011 till 2013. Their last CDI competition was in Munich in May 2013 where they competed in the Under 25 division. Their last national show was in August 2014 in Dresden.

Pavarotti sold as a schoolmaster to Swiss-Philippine Ellesse Tzinberg in 2015 and the pair made its debut at the 2015 CDI Malmo in the Under 25 division. Ellesse took the gelding to Florida in 2016 and also contested Hagen, Odense and Falsterbo. Their final show season was at the Global Dressage Festival in the winter-spring of 2017. Pavarotti competed in his last show in March 2017 and finished 7th in the Kur to Music.

Ellesse Tzingberg and Pavarotti
at the 2016 CDI Wellington

Ellesse brought Pavarotti back to Europe after their winter in Wellington and she shifted down gears with him in preparation of a retirement.

"I slowly did a little less each day with him so that he had a smooth transition into his retirement," she said. "The lady there who we are friends with still took him on rides and into the forest as well as a young rider was able to ride him once a week so he still had a lot of love from people around him."

"He is the reason why I fell in love with dressage. He was the first horse I drove on my own across Europe, the first horse I took to an international show on my own with no help, the first horse I jogged, first horse I won a Grand Prix on," said Ellesse. "He’s been my rock and I only hope that the decision to let him live out his life in the field with a beautiful family and other horses gave him happiness and the feeling of being a real horse again after years of competition and travel."