Danish Junior Team Rider Annabelle Rehn Goes to Stanford

Dressage

Denmar

Annabelle Rehn, a four-time Danish team member at the European Youth Championships, has been accepted into Stanford University in the U.S.A. and might be putting her riding on the back burner.

Rehn applied with the top-tier universities in the U.K. and U.S.A. and thanks to a top score in her International Baccalaureate Diploma Program she had several impressive options for the choosing. She decided on Stanford.

Commuting Between Asia and Europe

The 18-year old Rehn was born and raised in Asia and has been commuting between continents from an early age.

She began riding in Kuala Lumpur and first showed in Denmark in August 2014 at the age of 8 on pony Mastwood Donaldson. This gave her a taste for competitive sport. In 2016 she began flying actively between Malaysia and Europe during long weekends and holidays to learn dressage at the heart of the equestrian world, while continuing her school education. The family move to Singapore in 2018.

Bronze at the 2019 European Children
Championships in San Marignano (ITA)

Annabelle's international show debut was in 2019 at the CDI Sint-Truiden in the children division aboard Danish warmblood Aros a Fenris (by De Niro x Temple Wind xx), a horse which Ulrik Clemmensen found for them at Cathrine Dufour's stable. Coached by Dutch Joyce Heuitink she rode Aros a Fenris in two CDI's that season and qualified him for the 2019 European Children Championships in San Giovanni in Marignano (ITA) where she won individual bronze. To date, Rehn is the only the second Danish rider to compete in a European Children Championship for Denmark after gold medal winner Sofia Hegstrup (2015).

Home Alone

The COVID-19 pandemic led to iron-clad travel restrictions between Asia and Europe and with Annabelle attending school in Singapore, the Asia-Europe manoeuvre became almost impossible. When Asia went into lockdown and schools adopted online learning, Annabelle flew to Denmark to stay at Kenneth Damgaard' stable, living in a lorry on her own. At this point, at the age of 14, Annabelle managed her own life, plans, food and groceries.

She debuted at junior level in 2020 aboard the Danish warmblood Vestervangs Garson (by De Noir x Ragazzo) and won bronze at the 2020 Danish Junior Championships. Rehn was competed three consecutive times on the Danish team for the European Junior Riders Championships. At the 2021 Europeans in Oliva Nova she won team bronze and was 8th in the Kur.

Combining School with Sport

At the 2021 European Junior Riders Championships in Oliva

In the summer of 2021 Annabelle moved to a boarding school in Zug, Switzerland, to complete her IGCSE’s whilst being closer to her horses in Denmark. Although the solution was more practical that commuting between Asia and Europe, it was still a strenuous journey that took 12 hours from door to door.

She showed enormous resilience, discipline and commitment and was a straight A-student in school, while also clinching a spot on the team for the 2022 Europeans in Hartpury as 4th ranked on the FEI World Junior Rider Ranking. In Hartpury the team was fourth, while individually she ended 36th with Garson being overwhelmed by the arena and atmosphere. On her second horse Nikitaro (by Romanov x Don Romantic) she won silver at the 2022 Danish Junior Championships.

At the 2022 European Junior Championships

From 2022 to 2023 the decision was made for Annabelle to base herself in Denmark while pursuing her IB diploma at Viborg Katedralskole. With Garson she headed to the 2023 European Junior Riders Championships ranked number two in the world and in Kronberg (GER) she rode her fourth European Championships, winning team silver and finishing 6th in the Kur finals.

Kronberg was her last international show, so far.

Intellectual Development

While many of her peers drop out of school and don't go beyond high school level, Rehn remained committed to her education outside the 20 x 60 arena.

Aiming to excel both in sports and academically and with a stellar score on her IB diploma, she is ready for the next chapter in her life. Her family is performance driven: mom Marianne is former vice director custom care for BASF and a group director at Education in Motion while dad Niels John Madsen is a former ceo of Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia and current CEO of the South East Asian flour mills company "Interflour". With the example set by her parents, the belief in the importance of intellectual development as a life parallel to or after sport in strongly instilled in Annabelle.

At the 2023 European Junior Championships

"To deliver at world ranking levels has taken an unbelievable amount of hard and dedicated effort, lessons learned from failures, emotional and mental strengths, confidence and focus, and team collaboration," Marianne told Eurodressage, proud of her daughter's achievements in the dressage arena. "These are all invaluable learnings and attributes which will help her navigate future careers, and the challenges which inevitably lie ahead in our ever-changing and complex world."

Busy-bee Annabelle is also a patent holder for her own innovation, the “Splashband" (a watch and App tracking children's activity in a pool) and has been member of the Youth Board of a political party in the Danish parliament while involved in a series of voluntary UN human rights diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Stanford

Rehn has now been accepted into Stanford University which has a 3.67 % acceptance rate. To get accepted one competes with 55,000 high performing student profiles from around the world.

A month ago Annabelle travelled to California for a Stanford Alumni interview and she will start university in August 2024. She plans to major in either economics or psychology.

Verstervangs Garson is ridden by trainer Kenneth Damgaard who is preparing him for Intermediaire II. He has entered the gelding for the CDI Kristiansand at the end of April. The horse is offered for sale to the right home, but if the right match can't be found, Annabelle is weighing her options to bringing him with her to California as Stanford University has an equestrian centre on site including a College Dressage Team.

"If she does go with a horse, she can ride on the FEI US dressage circuit which represents an exciting opportunity," said Marianne.