Ellen Birgitte Farbrot and Tailormade Horses Part Ways

Dressage

Norway

Norwegian Grand Prix rider Ellen Birgitte Farbrot and her sponsor Tailormade Horses have parted ways after a twelve year collaboration.

Trine Hillmann Stiansen of Tailormade Horses has been Farbrot's most significant horse owner in the past decade.

She gave Ellen Birgitte the ride on breeding stallions Temptation (by Tuschinski x Haarlem), Sarkozy (by ), as well as FEI horses Mr Pink (by De Niro x Goldstern), Akon Askelund (by Akinos x Pari Ace Dane), Hotmillion (by Hotline x Akinos) and Tahennya (by Herzog von Holstein x Supermax Macho), amongst others.

Based at Marie-Louise Ebdrup's brood farm Følle Strandgaard in Denmark for the past 11 years, Farbrot ended the collaboration with Hillmann at the end of October 2021.

"We wanted different things for the sporting future," Farbrot told Eurodressage. "In agreement with my employer of 11 years Marie-Louise Ebdrup we decided that now was the right time to end the collaboration between Tailormade Horses and ourselves. I’ve had the pleasure of working with their horses for 12 years, but now is the time to focus more on our own breeding and some smaller and dedicated horse owners."

Roller Coaster Year

Farbrot ended this long-standing collaboration at the end of the most significant year in her professional career. With the Oldenburg bred Tailormade Red Rebel (by Romanov x Donnerhall) she obtained Olympic qualification for Tokyo. Fabrot gave up this coveted spot to ride in her first Olympics, citing that the 16-year old Red Rebel is "new to this level and both COVID and EHV made it close to impossible to give him the show and travel experience needed."

Instead the pair represented Norway at the 2021 European Dressage Championships in Hagen, where they finished 56th in the Grand Prix with 66.724%.

"This year has been a rollercoaster on so many levels. I believe this has been the year that I’ve learned the most about myself and what really matters to me," she wrote. "This year is definitely the year that has strengthened my “spine” and confidence in myself the most. I’ve made difficult decisions and dealt with the consequences."

Red Rebel moved to Per Skjaerbaek’s Stutteri Pries with whom Tailormade Horses also works together.

Selling Own Horses to Build Future

As the collaboration with Hillmann ended in October, Farbrot is cementing her future with Ebdrup by her side.

She sold her own nationally competed Grand Prix horse UNO Fly Zone to Erin Swaney in the U.S.A. and her small tour horse UNO Coco to Norwegian junior rider Anne Mathilde Reimer Haga.

"I sold my two own upcoming horses this year to be able to invest in a future top horse for myself," Farbrot told Eurodressage.

Looking Ahead

Farbrot, who will celebrate her 37th birthday tomorrow, is looking forward to a fresh start in 2022.

"At the moment I have two upcoming Grand Prix horses from clients," she said. "In addition to our young horses, Marie-Louise and her husband Steffen Ebdrup is about to acquire a very talented 5-year old that we expect a lot from."

The two FEI horses in the barn are Rikke Mysager’s Le Tender (by Tailormade Temptation) and Jonas Elvebakk’s Zenit (by Zack).

Farbrot had hoped to compete at the 2022 World Championships in Denmark, but with new inexperienced horses this will be unlikely. She trains with Daniel Bachmann Andersen.

"I’m excited for the future, even though it is a setback for the 2022 season and the World championship in Herning," she confessed. "I love educating new horses and can’t wait to work with these new talented horses and ponies we have in our stables."