Dutch Young Rider Evi van Rooij Gets Ride on Anne Meulendijks' Avanti

Dressage

The Netherlands

Dutch junior team member Evi van Rooij has received the ride on Anne Meulendijks' former Dutch Grand Prix team horse Avanti.

Avanti is a 17-year old Dutch warmblood gelding by United out of L'Amusanta (by Farrington). He is bred by R. Arts.

Laurens van Lieren

Originally purchased by Carolyn Kooiman-De Roo for 22,000 euro at the 2008 KWPN Select Sale, the bright bay made his show debut in 2010 under Laurens van Lieren.

That year the 5-year old Avanti won the 2010 Horsefood Dressage Talent Competition, the 2010 KNHS Subli Championships, and fifth at the 2010 Pavo Cup Finals.

In 2011, Van Lieren and Avanti represented the KWPN at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, where they placed second in the preliminary test and fifth in the finals.

Anne Meulendijks, from Young Riders to Senior Team

In November 2011 the Meulendijks' family bought a half ownership share in Avanti from De Roo as a successor for Anne's junior horses Ohio and Tom Tom Go.

At the time Meulendijks trained with Tineke Bartels. The pair made its national young riders' debut in February 2013 and a month later its CDI debut in Stadl Paura, where they won the kur. They won team silver at the 2013 European Young Riders Championships in Compiegne and placed fourth in the individual test and 10th in the Kur. They got silver at the 2013 Dutch Young Riders Championships.

Laurens van Lieren and Avanti at the 2011
World Young Horse Championships

In 2014 Meulendijks switched trainers and moved back to her pony coach, Tommie Visser. Her family also obtained full ownership of the horse. That year she and Avanti achieved a major break through, winning team silver and double gold at the 2014 European Young Riders Championships in Arezzo. They also won gold at the 2014 Dutch Young Riders Championships.

The pair made the transition to Under 25 Grand Prix level in 2015 with solid starts in Roosendaal, Compiegne, Rotterdam and Hagen.

In 2016 Meulendijks switched coaches and worked with Jeanine Fiechter for the daily training as well as with Nicole Werner. The pair represented The Netherlands at the inaugural European Under 25 Championships in Hagen, where The Netherlands got team silver and individually she was 9th and 6th. They won gold at the 2017 Dutch Under 25 Championships.

They returned to the 2017 European Under 25 Championships in Lamprechtshausen, where they got team and individual silver. They also won gold at the 2017 Dutch Under 25 Championships and Anne was named KNHS Talent of the Year 2017.

Dutch Team Medalist at 2019 Euros

In 2018 Meulendijks moved into the senior ranks and successfully campaigned Avanti at a string of CDI's including Le Mans, Den Bosch, Aachen, Rotterdam, Lyon, and Geneva, but were not in the running for a team spot for 2018 WEG in Tryon.

In 2019 their scores began to climb from 68 to 74% and after strong rides in Lier, Den Bosch, Hagen, Geesteren and Aachen they were selected on the Dutch team for the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam, where The Netherlands won team silver and individually she was 18th in the Special.

In the autumn of 2019, Meulendijks and Avanti clocked a double victory at the World Cup qualifier in Zakrzow, Poland with the 14-year old Avanti. Shortly after that show, Anne announced that she left her long-time coach Jeanine Fiechter for Sjef Janssen.

In 2021 Meulendijks made a final effort for Dutch Olympic team selection but in Opglabbeek her Grand Prix score dropped to 68%, and although it was back up to 73.152% at the CDI Exloo a month later she pulled out of Olympic team contention. She felt that although fit, the horse was not longer bringing his A-game to the ring for such a big event as Tokyo.

Their last CDI was in June 202& in Le Mans, where he scored 70.370% in the Grand Prix

Evi van Rooij

Today, Meulendijks announced that the ride on Avanti has been given to Dutch junior team rider Evi van Rooij, who will make the transition to Young riders level with the schoolmaster.

"After long consideration of what I wanted, because he's still mega fit and I grant him more beautiful years in sport, I came up with this idea," Anne stated. "Avanti means the world to me and if I see the two of them together I know the decision was right. Avanti will stay in our stallion and remains ours. We always said we'll never sell Avanti and he can grow old with us, so Avanti will never leave."

Meulendijks owns her own dressage stable in Geldrop, The Netherlands. The rising 18-year old Van Rooij represented the Netherlands at the 2019 European Pony Championships on King Stayerhof's Jango and at the 2020 and 2021 European Junior Riders Championships with Don Tango B. The latter horse recently sold to Poland, which left Van Rooij without a top horse.