Susanne Szeltner-Wilhelm's Warm Up Passed Away

Dressage

Germany

German amateur dressage rider Susanne Szeltner (née Wilhelm) had to say goodbye to her career making dressage horse, Warm Up.

Shortly before turning 28, the Hanoverian gelding was euthanized after foundering due to Cushing.

Warm Up was by Weltmeyer out of Arabella (by Aktuell x Wunsch II x Deputant) and bred by Josef Engelke

Success in Germany

Szeltner never competed internationally with Warm Up but had tremendous successes with the chestnut stallion in her country.

Susanne obtained the ride on Warm Up when he a was three year old stallion. The beginnings were not easy as the horse struggled with his metabolism. Warm Up was sent to Susanne to be developed and sold, but because of his ongoing health issues, the rider put so much effort and money into managing the horse that the owner ended up giving her ownership as a reward.

They competed at the 1998 Bundeschampionate and finished 12th in the finals for 5-year olds.

In 2000 they moved to S-level and regionally were one of the most successful pairs at the time. They competed at the first CDI Dusseldorf in the national Prix St. Georges. In 2002 they almost made it to the Nurnberger Burgpokal but were reserve after finishing second in the qualifier in Neu-Anspach. Susanne received her Golden Rider Badge at the 2002 CDI-W Dusseldorf.

In 2004 they moved up to Grand Prix level and competed at the highest level in Germany through 2007. They won bronze at the 2005 Rhinelander Regional Championships. Their career highlight was an 8th place in the Grand Prix Special at their only international, the CDI Mannheim in 2005.

Amateur Example

Susanne Wilhelm and Warm Up were a role model for amateur dressage riders in Germany.

Based in Neuss near Dusseldorf, Susanne works in marketing and rides horses as a hobby. She was the first rider of Bundeschampion and licensed stallion A Jungle Prince in 1990. She trained Warm Up with the help of coaches Bernd Nöthen and Jan Nivelle.

After Warm Up's retirement in 2007 she returned to the arena in 2015 aboard the Dutch Gelderlander gelding Aquarel (by Unieko x Koblenz). Last week they made their Grand Prix debut scoring 67.33%