Australian WEG Team Horse Jaybee Alabaster Passed Away

Dressage

Australia

Jaybee Alabaster, an Australian team horse under Tor van den Berghe and Rachael Sanna and later competed internationally by his last owner Hayley Beresford, has passed away on 10 January 2024.

He was would have turned 25 in the spring.

Made in Australia

Bev Edwards (now Bev Chugg) of Jaybee Equestrian farm in Queensland imported the dam, Elite Hanoverian mare Gloria (by Glorieux x Grundstein x Landsknecht x Gotthard) in foal to Alabaster. She bought her from Werner Schockemöhle. Jaybee Alabaster was born in 1999.

He became a licensed stallion but in the autumn of 2009 he got gelded to be focused on sport.

He sired dressage horses Chathem Park Allie (out of Rachael Downs' Yardley Charisma), Chathem Parc Albert (out of Down's Yardley Aphrodite), Jaybee Alonzo (Shilo Harvey), Lincoln Lord Astor (Claire Wallace), LBA Dance (Jason James), Amerigo (Roger Fitzhardinghe), and CCI 4* eventer Jaybee Altimate (Ella Smith) amongst others.

Tor van den Berge

Bev realised that As a youngster the stallion was too much horse for her and put Tor van den Berge in charge his training. He introduced the horse to competition.

The pair won the 4-year old young horses class at the 2003 CDI Sydney and went on repeat that victory a year later in the 5-year old division. They were selected to represent Australia at the 2004 World Championships for young dressage horses in Verden, where they were 30th in the 5-year old consolation finals.

The duo trained through Intermediaire I level and got submitted to the 2007 Dressage Development squad but in the April 2007 the collaboration between Edwards and Van den Berge came to an end when the rider decided to relocate to the Australian Gold Coast. Edwards did not want the stallion to move with him.

Rachael Downs (then Sanna)

With Downs at the 2010 World Equestrian Games

In 2008 Olympian Rachael Downs (then going by Rachael Sanna) received the ride. They made their international Grand Prix debut at the 2008 CDI Sydney but for the Hong Kong Olympics they were too green. They were second at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix Championships, but missed the 2009 Nationals. They were back to being second at the 2009 Pacific League World Cup Final, giving a taste of what was to come.

Their time came two years later in 2010 when they were nominated on the Australian team for the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY (USA), where they finished 27th in the Grand Prix Special.

In 2011 they won the 2011 Australian Dressage Championships as well as the Pacific League World Cup Final in Werribee on a freestyle score of 75.125% and travelled to Europe in 2012 to compete at the World Cup Finals in 's Hertogenbosch, where they placed 14th with 71.339% in the Kur.

At the 2012 World Cup Finals in Den Bosch

The two remained in Europe in contention of an Australian Olympic team spot for London 2012 but after the first nomination event in Mannheim they were forced to withdraw for veterinary reasons. In the same month, May 2012, Rachael and Jaybee Alabaster were named Australian domestic athlete and horse of the year.

Hayley Beresford

While Sanna flew back to Australia, Alabaster stayed in Europe and in the summer of 2012 owner Bev Edwards allocated the ride to the German based Australian Hayley Beresford, who also tried for an 2012 Australian Olympic team spot on the famous breeding stallion Belissimo M at the time, but did not get picked by the selectors.

Alabaster had a couple of months off and returned to the international arena with Beresford at the CDI-W Wroclaw in September 2012, followed by the CDI Oldenburg.

Alabaster was offered for sale, but in 2013 Beresford acquired half ownership and retained the ride. She went on to compete him through 2015. In the winter of 2013-2014 they were active on the World cup circuit, riding in London, Amsterdam and Neumunster. In 2014 they tried for a team spot for the World Equestrian Games in Caen, but in July were forced to withdraw due to fitness issues.

The pair did its final CDI in Wiesbaden in May 2015. Their last national show was in Neu-Anspach in August 2015.

Retirement

"Basti" spent almost nine years in a happy retirement at Hayley's and her partner Jule Fehl's Eiserner Hof in Bissingen an der Teck, Germany.

On 10 January 2024 the liver chestnut was put to sleep.

"This winter has been hard for him, and he started feeling a poorly in this cold snap," Hayley told Eurodressage. "Yesterday morning he couldn’t get up anymore. It was time. No pain and no suffering. It’s a privilege when they are able to grow so old and be happy. As hard as it can be sometimes, it feels ok that they had such a grand life and do not suffer."