Agnete Kirk Thinggaard's JoJo AZ Died Unexpectedly

Dressage

Denmark

Agnete Kirk Thinggaard had to suddenly say goodbye to her recently retired Danish Grand Prix team horse Jojo AZ on 6 October 2020.

The gelding became suddenly ill and was transported to the Højgaard equine hospital. Unfortunately he could not be saved there.

"Yesterday, I had to let Jojo go," said a saddened Agnete. "He was suddenly very ill and even though we went to the hospital quickly, we couldn’t save him. He will forever live in my heart and I will miss him every day."

Hungarian Start

Jojo was a 17-year old Hungarian warmblood by Damhus Hoek's Ginus out of Oromhir (by Justboy). He was bred at Enyingi Agrar rt.

The Hungarian warmblood with Dutch bloodlines began his dressage career in Hungary, owned by Gabor Petrezselem.

He made his international Grand Prix debut under Erno Kovacs at the 2011 CDI-W Kaposvar, where he placed 20th with 63.426%

Finnish Team Horse

With Ruoste at the 2013 European Championships

The qualities of the horse caught the attention of German horse dealer Jochen Arl, who purchased Jojo and gave the ride to Finnish Henri Ruoste.

The new duo made its international show debut at the 2012 CDI Wiesbaden, followed by a triple win at the CDI Leudelange and the CDI Sao Paulo.

In 2013 the combination competed at the CDI's in Compiegne, Kapellen, and Deauville and they were initially nominated as team reserves for Finland for the 2013 European Dressage Championships in Herning, Denmark. A week before Herning, the Finnish equestrian federation made a highly contested decision to leave home team rider Terhi Stegars/Axis and replace it with Ruoste/JoJo. Henri and Jojo became the highest scoring Finnish pair at the 2013 Europeans, placing 29th in the Grand Prix Special with 68.860%.

Kirk Thinggaard's Career Making Horse

Shortly after the Europeans, Arl sold Jojo AZ to Danish Agnete Kirk Thinggaard.

The dark bay was initially meant as Agnete's Grand Prix career starting ride as the Danish rider has a barn full of top potentials, but so far none of them have been able to outshine Jojo.

Agnete and Jojo exceeded all expectations. They showed at the 2015 World Cup Finals in Las Vegas and the 2016 World Cup Finals in Gothenburg. They represented Denmark at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg.

In June 2018 Thinggaard announced that her now 16-year old Hungarian sport horse Jojo AZ (by Ginus x Justboy) would become the schoolmaster for her husband Claus Thinggaard, but she added at the time that it was not "a permanent retirement from international competition".

In 2019 they came back together and represented Denmark once more at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam, where they finished 21st in the Grand Prix Special.

Short Retirement

Jojo AZ was officially retired from international competition sport in October 2019. The 2019 CDI-W Herning was their last show, where they placed 8th in the Grand Prix and 7th in the Kur to Music with 77.630%.

Jojo was ridden by a stable girl and went out in the field for the past year.

Jojo began feeling ill on Saturday 3 October and had an elevated blood rates which indicated an infection. He was treated for it and felt better but on Tuesday she had to take him to the equine clinic as he suddenly became ill. Agnete also had the Danish GP squad training session with her other horses that day and barely arrived at Anna Kasprzak's yard in Haderslev, when the vets called that they couldn't save Jojo. She drove back to the clinic and was there when they euthanised him.

"This was not the way he was supposed to go," Kirk Thinggaard told Ridehesten. "I thought that one day, when he was really old, he would go to sleep in the herd. He was not supposed to leave Julianelyst (her yard). It's a pity he wasn't put to sleep at home."

The cause of death turned out to be a large laceration in the stomach, causing waste products and bacteria to seep into his body. The origin of the laceration is unknown. "It gives me some peace of mind to know that we couldn't save him in any way," Agnete stated to Ridehesten.