Dinja van Liere's 2021 WCYH Ride Leonidas Sold to Korea

Dressage

Korea

Leonidas, Dinja van Liere's ride at the 2021 World Young Horse Championships, has been sold to Korea.

He is a 7-year old Dutch warmblood gelding by Trafalgar out of Gaishia (by Alexandro P). He is bred by R. Nijenhuis in The Netherlands.

Auction Horse

Leonidas first appeared in the spotlight in 2019 when he sold at Craig Rawlins' 2019 Equine Elite Auction for 95,000 euro.

The name of the new owner was never disclosed but in 2021 the horse still appeared registered to Rawlins' name in the FEI database.

Dinja van Liere

The bright bay gelding began his sport career under Dinja van Liere as a 4-year old in 2020.

The pair qualified to represent the KWPN society at the 2021 World Young Horse Championships in Verden, where they scored 77.80 points in the preliminary round for 5-year olds (26th) and ended up 10th in the consolation finals with 80.20 points. They were also fifth in the 2021 Pavo Cup Finals.

In 2022 they tried again to get qualified for Ermelo, but didn't make the team. In 2023 the duo made its national ZZ-level debut in April in Houten.

Korea

Through mediation of Spanish horse scout Yolanda Rama of Gallery Horse and Dutch Maxime Osse, Leonidas sold to Korea.

His new rider is Dong-Heon Nam, the individual gold medal winner at the 2019 FEI Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. At the 2022 Korean Dressage Championships, contested at small tour level, he finished fourth with the now 19-year old Westfalian gelding First Edition (by Fiano x Dynast). Nam has trained in Germany with Yvonne Fiestelmann.