FS Capelli de Niro, 2023 European Reserve Pony Champion, Sold to Germany

Dressage

Belgium

FS Capelli de Niro, the 2023 European Reserve Pony Champion under Liezel Everars, has been sold to Germany. He will continue his sport career under Nora Feldmann.

FS Capelli de Niro is a 12-year old Rhinelander bred German Riding Pony by FS Champion de Luxe out of FS Donna Gracia (by FS Don't Worry). He is bred by Josef Wilbers at Ferienhof Stucker.

Melanie Miesch

The buckskin pony was bought as a 3-year old by Swiss Melanie Miesch from Nussbaumen, Switzerland.

She competed him in his first classes in Switzerland as a young pony from March 2015 till October 2017.

She entered him for licensing as a stallion at the performance test in Bätterkinden (SUI) on 8 February 2015 but very few offspring is one the ground. One of them is the Swiss bred pony mare Cataluna (by Capelli de Niro x Harlekin), who is competing in show jumping with Annik Dudler.

Liezel Everars

Miesch sent Capelli back Josef Wilbers in Germany to be sold and this is where the Belgian Everars family discovered Capelli in 2018.

"I tried a few ponies but on Capelli I had the feeling I could one day take home a medal, which we succeeded at at the European Championship," Liezel told Eurodressage.

The pair made its national show debut in the winter of 2018 and did their first international at the CDI Lier in February 2019 but got eliminated from the team test. In the Individual test the next day they were 21st with 65.811%.

From there they have only gone upwards.

Five Time European Championship Pony

As of 2019 the pair has been a fixture on the Belgian pony team, competing in five, consecutive European Pony Championships. The pair recorded no less than 91 international competition starts in their career.

In 2019 they compaigned in Lier, Sint-Truiden, Compiegne, Hagen, Exloo, and Leudelange before heading to the 2019 European Pony Championships in Strzegom, where they were 31st in the individual test. In 2020 the pair began working with Belgian then young rider Suraya Hendrikx. At the 2020 Europeans in Pilisjaszfalu they were 19th in the individual test.

In 2021 Dutch youth rider trainer Nicolette van Leeuwen joined Hendrikx as coach and Everars started to unlock a new level on Capelli. They became a consistently 70+ scoring pair. They recorded their first international victory at the 2021 CDI Meerle, where they achieved a hattrick. At the 2021 Europeans they were 9th in the Kur to Music Finals.

In 2022 they started with a hattrick at the CDI Opglabbeek - Sentower Dressage Festival, organized by Liezel's father Josy. Victories followed in Compiegne and Meerle, and at the 2022 Europeans they moved into 7th place in the Kur to Music.

As of 2023 Everars quietly ended her collaboration with trainer Van Leeuwen and continued to be coached by now U25 rider Suraya Hendrikx, alongside Ton de Ridder. Out of 12 CDI starts they won 8. A tthe 2023 European Pony Championships in Le Mans, they scores bronze in the individual test and silver in the Kur to Music.

At the Belgian Pony Championships they won bronze in 2020 and triple gold in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Their last show as a pair was a national show last weekend.

Sold to Germany

Silver at the 2023 European Pony Championships

FS Capelli de Niro has now been sold to German pony rider Nora Feldmann.

The 14-year old Feldmann is from Darmstadt and began competing nationally in Germany in November 2022 on Valegro (by Voyager x Der Feine Lord). The family acquired the Dutch team pony Beauty W (by by Orchard Boginov x Sjapoer ox) in September 2022.

Nora has been showing both ponies on the German show circuit this year, but with Beauty W she made her international show debut at the 2023 CDI Neu-Anspach in September, where she placed third and second with 70.429%, 71.486%, and 73.9356%.

Feldmann trains with Semmieke Rothenberger.