German Under 25 dressage rider Anna Christina Abbelen has decided on a professional career in horses and agreed to set up an independent business at her boyfriend Christoffer Lindenberg's place near Bonn, Germany.
Abbelen is the 2014 European Junior Riders Champion (on Furst on Tour) and won double silver at the 2017 European Young Riders Championships (on First Lady). In 2018 she made the transition to Under 25 Grand Prix level with Henny Hennessy, a horse trained to S-level by Manuela Gorski. She competed at four internationals in 2019 and mainly focused on the national Piaff Forderpreis circuit in Germany. The European Under 25 Championships are still on her wish list.
A long-time student of Heiner Schiergen, Abbelen has now decided to begin her own dressage business at her boyfriend Christoffer Lindenberg's yard in Rodderberg, near Bonn. The Danish born Christoffer is son of the renowned Danish gynaecologist Svend Lindenberg, Head of Copenhagen Fertility Center. He is a jumper rider and for the past 12 years has been based in Germany, managing a yard in Warstein, Germany, as of 2014. He is now begun his own business in Rodderberg, where Abbelen will move in her three horses and future clients.
In 2019 Abbelen had moved from her base at Heiner Schiergen's in Krefeld to go study in Munich. She still needs to hand her Masters Thesis on the theme of "Story-Telling" following an internship in a communication company in Cologne. In September 2020 she also wants to do one semester abroad, just across the border in Maastricht (NED), before she can become a Master in Business and Communication.
Anna recently returned back north with her horses, though not to Krefeld but instead to Lindenberg in Warstein. At the moment she rides without a trainer, due to corona, but hopes to reconnect with Schiergen soon.
In an interview with St-Georg, the 23-year old Abbelen said, "because of my allergies (Anna is allergic to horse hair) it is still unclear if it will work (a professional career in horses). But at least for my Under 25 time and as long as I am young, i want to ride first and make a living out of it. I always say the things will come the way they come."
Photo © Astrid Appels
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