Honnerups Driver Passed Away

Dressage

Denmark

Anna Kasprzak's world young horse champion Honnerups Driver has passed away. He was 20 years old.

Honnerups Driver was a 2004 born Danish warmblood gelding by Romanov out of Honnerups Zazzi (by Don Schufro x Classic). He was bred by Hans Marius Jørgensen at Stutteri Honnerup.

Andreas Helgstrand

The gelding was first ridden by Wendie Hagedorn Jørgensen until Andreas Helgstrand bought a half share in 2008 and took over the reins.

With Helgstrand the liver chestnut won the 2009 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden in the 5-year old division. A month later he sold the horse to Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak.

In 2010 Andreas and Driver were expected to recapture the title but ended up finishing 12th in the finals at the World Championships after the judges marked the pair down for the flaws in the training system, particularly when it came to collection, balance, and self carriage.

Anna Kasprzak

The reins were then handed over to Anna Kasprzak, who won the 2014 Danish Under 25 Championships in Broholm in June and made their international Grand Prix debut in October 2014.

Driver only competed in one CDI in 2015 and two in 2016. The tall gelding struggled with recurring injuries and travel stress.

Josefine Hoffmann

A year later Kasprzak allocated the ride on Driver to her assistant at the time, Josefine Hoffmann, who represented Denmark at the 2017 European Young Riders Championships and finished 7th in the freestyle. A year later they were selected on the team again for the 2018 Europeans but had to pull out due to an injury.

In 2019 the duo moved up to Under 25 Grand Prix level and won team and Kur bronze at the European U25 Championships in San Giovanni in Marignano (ITA). At the 2020 Euroepans they won team bronze and were fourth in the Kur and at the 2021 Europeans they landed 6th place in the Kur. They finished their career together with gold at the 2022 Danish Under 25 Championships, while at the 2022 European Under 25 Championships they got team silver and were 13th in the Short Grand Prix, but did not make it into the freestyle.

Stutteri EVO

Winning the 2014 Danish U25
Championships with Kasprzak

In the autumn of 2022 Hoffmann left Kasprzak Dressage and Driver was sent to Stutteri EVO where he would go into semi-retirement with Jane Serup Jensen. He would teach her the ropes of Grand Prix as well as enjoy an quieter life.

Farewell

On 29 October 2024, Kasprzak posted on her instagram:

"Today we said goodbye to this very special horse. Driver has been giving many of us goosebumps, tears, frustrations and most of all joy during the past 15 years. The last 2 years he has been in fantastic hands at Stutteri EVO where he has been the greatest school master and also enjoyed his part time retirement."

Anna explained that, "because of health issues we decided to let him go."