What's Happening: July 2023 - Part I

Austrian Grand Prix rider Diana Porsche got married to her long-time boyfriend Philipp Stadlmann on 23 June 2023. The 27-year old Porsche and Stadlmann have been a couple for six years and known each other for 10. The couple celebrated their civil ceremony with a family party on a boat in lake "Wörthersee" in Austria. A big party for friends took place three weeks later. Porsche has her own riding stable in the Salzburg area and pursues an equestrian career, Stadlmann is an Austrian soccer player, who played in second league but now combines fourth league with studying sport management.

"He is not a horse person at all," Porsche told Eurodressage with a smile. "He has a really bad allergy for horses, hay, straw, grass, kind of everything what I belong to the whole day, but he always supports me and also loves my horses. Because we’re both athletes, we’ve a lot of understanding of each others business. "

Dutch Grand Prix rider Nicky Snijder married Dutch dressage rider Jori Klein on 22 May 2023. Horses.nl reported that both riders are quite versatile as Snijder is also an eventing rider and Klein started out as show jumping rider.

British professional dressage rider Alexander Harrison married his partner, Jonny Clarke-West, in a lavish ceremony in June. The 26-year old Harrison, who was member of the British team at the 2018 European Young Riders Championships and 2021 European Under 25 Championships on Diamond Hill, got engaged to now dressage rider Clarke-West (42) in 2018. The couple got married at the Guild Hall in Bath (GBR) and then held a reception and big party at their yard, Curls Farm. Jonny competed Sibelius and Grand Prix level in the early 2000s and was active internationally between 2012 and 2018 on Khartoum and Zick Zack Toftegaard. Professionally Jonny helped run the family business, GSF car parts, before returning to riding full time as well as doing a PHD in philosophy. 

At the Pony Measuring Session in Saint-Lô, France on 28 April 2023, the Dutch international FEI dress pony His Royal Badness DK tested positive to the controlled medication Acepromazine, which is used on animals as a sedative and antiemetic. His Royal Badness DK is a 7-year old NRPS registered pony by Hesselteich Golden Dream out of former international FEI pony Nina van de Beekerheide. He is bred by Demi Kurstjens and Serve Frantzen is registered as owner and person responsible. In 2022 he was competed internationally by Isa Hollands. Their last start was a year ago in Exloo. Frantzen received an Administrative Sanction from the FEI

Canadian Olympian Lindsay Kellock gave birth to her first child, a baby girl named Madison Bella Duckworth, on 13 June 2023. Kellock and husband Drew Duckworth are on cloud nine. "No feeling in the world compares, we are so in love." The couple married on 8 October 2022. Drew manages the farming operation part of Millstone Farm in Wilton, CT, which is owned by Dutch-American dressage rider Eliane Cordia-van Reesema.

Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, owner of Lego, Blue Hors stud and Stutteri Ask, has been appointed a honorary member of the Danish Equestrian Federation at the DRF's representative board meeting in 2023. "Kjeld is a pioneer in sports and breeding. He was among the first who really started to fight for the Danish riders to have good horses to ride, " says Ulf Helgstrand. "Kjeld, through the purchase, training and breeding of some of the best horses we have and have had in Denmark, has been a loyal supporter and principle mover within equestrian sports."

American Grand Prix rider Mary Haskins Gray and her partner, Dakota Macleod, are expecting their first child together, a baby girl, due December 2023. "We are over the moon excited about this blessing," said Haskins Gray who celebrated her one year anniversary with Macleod. The 40-year old Haskins Gray is based in Wellington, Florida, and competes at Grand Prix level. She was the 2003 North American Young Riders Champion.

US Equestrian  welcomed Kimberly Snyder  as the team veterinarian for the  U.S. Para Dressage Team. This appointment runs through the 2024 competition season. Dr. Snyder is currently based in Wellington, Fla., where she has had her own equine practice since 2011. Prior to staking out on her own, she was an Associate Veterinarian at Palm Beach Equine Clinic for more than a decade.