It's been a wedding month this September 2024. Former Norwegian youth rider Alexandra Andresen married former American race car driver Colin Thompson. Andresen won silver and bronze at the 2013 European Junior Riders Championships and double silver at the 2014 European Junior Riders Championships on Belamour. She last rode internationally in May 2018 after having developed back issues. Thompson is is the son of 1989 American Racing Series driver John Thompson and winner of a series of GT Cups between 2014-2015. The couple runs a business together, Paramount Wood Co, custom handcrafting wood furniture. They got engaged on 28 January 2023. They had a destination wedding at Villa Cimbrone in Ravello, Italy on 6 - 8 September 2024.
Danish Olympian Anna Kasprzak has married her long-time partner and the father to her two children, Mathias Skov Rasch. Anna, who is the daughter and heir to the Danish shoe empire Ecco, has dropped her father's last name Kasprzak for a combination of her mom's last name and her husband's. She now goes by the name Anna Toosbuy Rasch.
German based South African Grand Prix rider Gretha Ferreira-Hausmann gave birth to her second child, a baby girl on 11 September 2024. AbbY-Louise Hausmann came 2.5 weeks early and was born at 23h30, weighing 3.690kg and measuring 50 cm. "She didn't want to wait any longer to come meet the world," said Gretha. "We are both happy, healthy, and us all,including Leotjie, just oh so utterly in love with you already, little girl."
Christian Springborg, a young horse handler who has worked for Blue Hors before becoming breeding manager and consultant att Helgstrand Dressage for almost six years, has found a new base for his independent operation. In April 2023 Springborg went solo, yet briefly worked for a well known breeding farm in the Copenhagen area. Now he has partnered with breeder Henrik Hansen. He and his pregnant girlfriend Bianca Lunn Hvolbøll moved to HH Horses in Solrød Ridehesten reported.
In the U.K. Ursula Bechtolsheimer is getting sued for £200,000 by a former stable hand, George Day, who got kicked in the face by a horse and claims his "Olympic dreams have been shattered and has been left with few other job prospects," as the Telegraph stated. The accident happened in 5 March 2021 while hand grazing a horse. He was rushed to the Great Western hospital in Swindon with severe facial injuries and underwent surgery. According to the Telegraph, Bechtolsheimer has admitted some liability for the tragic accident, but wants Mr Day to prove he "was a highly skilled rider, who had competed up to the Prix St George level, was riding professionally at the time of the accident, and that his proposed career path would have included the possibility of competing at Grand Prix dressage and beyond." Day never competed internationally as there is no record of him in the FEI database. His British Dressage show record reveals he has competed up to Advanced Medium level in 2014 and rode one Prix St Georges test in August 2014. His last show was at elementary level in August 2020, seven months before the accident.
