Double Pavo Cup Winner Fenix Resurfaces in Florida

Wed, 01/19/2022 - 08:43
Germany
Emmelie Scholtens and Fenix at the 2015 World Young Horse Championships :: Photo © Dirk Caremans

Fenix, the 2015 and 2016 Pavo Cup winner, has resurfaced on the international show circuit under German Christoph Koschel. The horse is now owned by Japanese dressage rider Masihiro Kosaka. 

Fenix is a 12-year old KWPN gelding by Vivaldi out of Unifee (by Houston). He is bred by H. Germs in The Netherlands.

Emmelie Scholtens

Under Emmelie Scholtens the bay gelding was highly successful on the Dutch Pavo Cup circuit with the finals being the Dutch Young Horse Championships. He was reserve champion in 2014 as a 4-year old and won the title in 2015 as well as in 2016. 

In 2015 the pair also represented the KWPN at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, where they finished sixth in the consolation final. 

In 2017 Scholtens and Fenix rode the Dutch selection trials for the World Young Horse Championships in the 7-year old division but she pulled out before the last qualifier deeming the horse not yet ready for the Prix St Georges level tests. 

Mashiro Kosaka

Scholtens and Fenix win a national class
at the 2017 CDIO Rotterdam
Japanese dressage rider Masihiro Kosaka was already the owner of Fenix since 2015. At the time he was based at Annabelle Collins' yard in Spain, which runs close, family connections with Leida Strijk-Collins' sales yard in The Netherlands.

Scholtens retained the ride on Fenix until 2017 after the horse disappeared from the dressage show scene. 

Fenix resurfaced in 2020 in Germany, as Kosaka had moved his horses to Patrik Kittel's stable. Malin Wahlkamp-Nilsson premiered the horse at s*-level in June 2020 and scored 71,508% with him. A year later she rode him once more at the local show at Gescher in July 2021.

Christoph Koschel

In the autumn of 2021 Kosaka decided to move all his horses to Christoph Koschel's base in Hagen, Germany, to work more closely with the Japanese team trainer. Kosaka had already experienced an educational season with Koschel in Florida in 2020 and decided to return to Wellington for another winter immersion stint. 

Koschel and Fenix at the 2022 CDN Wellington
Koschel rode Fenix in a national Prix St Georges test on the first weekend of competition at the 2022 Global Dressage Festival, winning the class with 72.058% despite adverse weather conditions. A downpour of tropical rain happened during Fenix' test. 

"Fenix did very well, but after 3/4 of my test it got really stormy and it rained like hell that I could barely see something on the horse," Koschel laughed. "He got a bit distracted by the people running away and so I had a mistake in the three tempi changes, but overall he was great. I am very happy!"

Photos © Dirk Caremans - Astrid Appels

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