Rumbough Acquires Farbentanz as New Fun Project for Mikala Munter to Ride

Denmark

Danish born American amateur Grand Prix rider and Wellington grand dame Janne Rumbough has acquired a new rising Grand Prix horse, Farbentanz, for her Florida based Danish friend Mikala Munter to ride.

Rumbough and Munter are long-time friends and in 2011 Janne already purchased the Danish warmblood My Lady (by Michellino) in Denmark as a fun project for her and Mikala.

Trained by Ernst Hoyos, Mikala and My Lady became one of Wellington's most successful dressage combinations between 2012 and 2016. They represented Denmark at the at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Caen, France, the 2015 European Dressage Championships in Aachen, Germany, and at the 2014 and 2015 World Cup Finals in Lyon and Las Vegas. They were short listed for the 2016 Olympic Games but not selected.

My Lady was retired in 2017 and put in foal to Vitalis. She has the colt Valentino on the ground and is back in foal to Franklin.

The New Fun Project: Farbentanz

The 74-year old Rumbough has now purchased a new Grand Prix horse: Farbentanz.

"The horse is amazing and he fits Mikala very well," Rumbough told Eurodressage. "Ernst loves this horse and has been telling me this horse is for Mikala for a whole year. We will have a lot of fun doing it again." Munter agreed and added, "Janne and I are so excited about this horse. He has a wonderful personality and is so much fun to ride. He is very different than Lady which I think is super interesting. Lady was this big strong Alfa mare who trained me and now I feel I can use everything she taught me on the new horse. One of the most important things she taught me was to focus in the work ! Both inside and outside the arena I had to be 100% focused to ride her. If not you never knew where you would end up."

The 2008 born Hanoverian gelding is bred by Johannes Brunsmann and is by First Dance out of Arcadi (by Alabaster x World Cup II x Wapiti). He has a one year younger full brother, Fabulous Dancer, still in Germany. The dam also produced Emma Kanerva's Grand Prix horse Riverdance (owned by Gerd Saborowski).

Farbentanz was discovered by German Kevin Kohmann in Hungary a year ago and brought to Wellington to be developed.

"Farbentanz is a very sweet and gentle horse and he loves people," said Mikala. "I have a feeling that he will do anything for his rider. He’s strength will be Piaffe / passage, his one tempies are perfectly straight and uphill, he has a great walk and lovely pirouettes - There’s really nothing I don’t like about him."

Munter Riding For the U.S.A.

One of Rumbough's terms for a new venture with Munter was for her to ride for the U.S.A. "l told Mikala if l get an other horse for the big time she has to ride for USA," Janne told Eurodressage. "USA has been so good to me and Stan (Rumbough, Janne's late husband) was a great American that loved his country. I promised Stan if l try to do it again it has to be for the USA. So here starts an other journey!"

Living in Florida for 14 years now, Mikala has agreed to switch nationalities.

"I have been working on the citizenship for a while," said Mikala. "I think this is a good time for me to change my FEI Nationality as well. I have lived here for 14 years and I feel very very much at home in USA and among the US riders. I loved being part of the Danish team and we all had so much fun together- My biggest dream is to be part of the US team some time in the future."

Mikala hopes to compete Farbentanz in 2019.

"The plan is to get to know him and hopefully be able to show him Grand Prix next year," said Mikala. "He knows it all but he hasn’t shown it yet. I will take my time putting it all together for the ring and take it from there."

Photos (c) private - Pam Davies