Dark President Sold to Dutch Pony Rider Axelle Eekels

Dressage

The Netherlands

The 13-year old KWPN stallion Dark President has been sold to Dutch aspiring junior rider Axelle Eekels.

Dark President is a 2008 born KWPN stallion by Wynton out of Lola G (by G Ramiro Z x Pion). He is bred by J. Gordijn from Sint-Oedenrode.

Three Names

Owned by Carolyn Kooiman-De Roo the black stallion was presented under the name Dream Theather at the 2011 KWPN Stallion Licensing in 's Hertogenbosch.

He achieved his full breeding permit after completing the KWPN Autumn Stallion Performance later that year with 81 points.

De Roo renamed the stallion twice. He first carried the name Dark Boy D&R and she later gave him his third time, Dark President.

Eight Riders

The black stallion was trained by Kirsten Brouwer, but when she confirmed there was no click with the horse, Lotte Jansen briefly took over. The pair finished 6th at the 2013 Pavo Cup Finals.

With Lotte Jansen at the 2013 Pavo Cup Finals

A more permanent rider was sought and Dark President ended up going to Hans Peter Minderhoud's yard in Harskamp for training.

In 2014 it was assistant Marieke van der Putten who made her show debut on him and she presented the stallion the majority of the time, although Minderhoud occasionally climbed aboard. He rode the stallion to a second place in the 2015 KWPN Stallion Competition Finals.

In the spring of 2015 De Roo sold an ownership share to Dutch Under 25 rider Charlotte Kruininger, but she never competed the horse. Van der Putten retained the ride through 2016.

In 2017 assistant trainer Riccardo Sanavio (ITA) took over and he gave the horse its international show debut. Dark President did two CDI's in his career so far, the 2017 CDI Ermelo, where he won the Inter I kur, and the CDI Roosendaal, where he was second in the Intermediaire I.

In 2018 Dark President disappeared from the show scene to return in 2019 under Philip van Ommen at national small tour level in Holland. In 2020 Russian Tatiana Makarova competed him.

Most recently he was ridden by Linda Tuytel.

Sold as Junior Riders' Horse

Dark President has now been sold to Dutch pony rider Axelle Eekels from Valkenswaard. She aims to make her junior debut on him.

"Axelle has been riding Darkie at our place for quite some time and today it was finally time to say goodbye and to send him to Golden Stable in Weert," said Carolyn de Roo. "Axelle's goal is first to learn a lot from Dark President and to then compete him in the junior division."

With Minderhoud at the 2015 KWPN Stallion Competition Finals

Eekels is trained by former European pony champion (2009, 2010) Antoinette Claessens-te Riele, who gave up her own competitive international dressage career as a young rider in 2015.

The 15-year old Axelle has been riding Te Riele's 2009 and 2010 European pony champion Golden Girl, who retired from sport in 2016 after Semmieke Rothenberger won the 2012 European Pony Championships and Liselott Marie Linsenhoff had the palomino mare as a schoolmaster in 2015 and 2016.

"Golden Girl has been made available for the daughter of Antoinette, Marie-Antoinette," Semmieke Rothenberger told Eurodressage. "She is enjoying her retirement there. Goldi will definitely not be presented at competitions any more. It can be that she's ridden at home once in a while, but definitely not as a schoolmaster."

Te Riele only recently began running a boutique dressage training and sales business, Golden Stable. She used to be located at yard De Ijzeren Man in Weert, the Netherlands, formerly owned by her grandfather Adri Gordijn.