Where are They Now? Finckenstein TSF

Focus

F.O.C.U.S.

Black and beautiful. Danish Grand Prix horse Finckenstein TSF brought his ride Rikke Svane her first major successes in the international arena amongst the world elite. Twice they represented Denmark at a major championship, but after the 2018 World Equestrian Games the stallion disappeared from the scene. Where is he now?

Finckenstein is an 18-year old Trakehner stallion by Latimer out of Fatima XVII (by Kennedy x Marduc x Wie Ibikus). He is bred Karl-Heinz Moll and owned by Svane.

Start in Germany

Finckenstein was approved at the 2005 Trakehner Stallion Licensing in Wickrath and did his 30-day performance test the same year in Schlieckau, scoring 8.26 for dressage and 7.46 for show jumping.

He was first competed in 2006 under Markus Waterhues. In 2008 Volker Brassard showed him briefly, followed by Falk Rosenbauer and then back to Waterhues.

Twelve years ago, Finckenstein sold to Danish Rikke Svane and she began competing him in 2009.

In an interview with The Chronicle of the Horse, Rikke said, “I was looking for a second horse, and my trainer at that time said, ‘I have this Trakehner for sale,’ ” said Svane. “I really like that breed, that bloodline, but I wasn’t interested in a 5-year-old breeding stallion. And then I met him. I went in the box; I had my hand on his shoulder, and he put his head on my shoulder and held it there. I was like, ‘I’ve got to have this horse.’ He was very expensive. I said to my husband ‘I will never ask for anything if I can just have this horse.’ We ended up buying him, sold everything we had.”

In 2011 the pair began competing at small tour level in Germany and Luxembourg.

Claim to Fame with Svane

Rikke and Finckenstein at the 2018 WEG in Tryon

Finckenstein TSF turned out to be Svane's career making dressage horse. The pair made its international small tour debut together at the 2012 CDI Leudelange at small tour level. Svane, who was based in Luxembourg at the time and training with Danish born Fie Skarsoe, made the jump to Grand Prix level in 2014. They were fifth at the 2014 Danish Grand Prix Championships.

Their first claim to fame came when they were selected to represent Denmark at the 2015 European Dressage Championships in Aachen, where they finished 46th in the Grand Prix with 67.586%. They finished the year with some starts in the World Cup qualifiers in Lyon and Stuttgart. They were also fourth at the 2014 Danish Nationals.

In 2016 the pair performed consistently at CDI's in Doha, Compiegne, Falsterbo, Biarritz, Zakrzow, Madrid, and Salzburg, but they were not selected for the Danish team for the Rio Olympics. They were fifth at the 2016 Danish Championships.

The highlight of 2017 was when the pair won the bronze medal at the Danish Grand Prix Championships in Broholm.

In 2018 they recaptured the interest of the Danish selectors. They placed seventh at the Danish Nationals and ended up being called up last minute to represent their country at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, U.S.A, as second reserve after Dufour and Zibrandtsen withdrew with injured horses. In Tryon they finished 24th in the Grand Prix Special with 70.714%.

Where Is He Now?

Svane, who had moved back to Denmark from Luxembourg several year ago, did her last show on Finckenstein at the WEG in Tryon. The stallion sustained a severe injury and has not been back since.

When Eurodressage asked Rikke about her horse's recovery a year ago, she remained tight lipped. More recently she replied to our question if he will make a show come back and said "it will be with my daughter on his back."

Daughter Rebecca Svane is a rising 18-year old and one of Rikke's three children. She has been next by her mom for years and at the WEG in Tryon even served as her warm-up coach.

“[Rebecca’s] always standing there, and I look at her because she knows him better,” Svane told The Chronicle back in 2018. “Of course, she doesn’t have the experience and cannot tell me how to do things, but she can tell me ‘shorten your reins,’ and she can see when he gets aggravated; [she’ll say] ‘Easy now. He’s fine but easy!’ which is quite nice. We’ve been training him together during the summer; she’s been riding and that has actually helped a lot.”