Therese Nilshagen's Dante Weltino OLD Retired from Sport

Dressage

Sweden

Dante Weltino OLD, Therese Nilshagen's career-making Grand Prix horse and double Swedish Olympic team horse, has been retired from sport.

Dante Weltino is a 17-year old Oldenburg stallion by Danone I out of Rihanna (by Welt Hit II x Noble Roi xx x Figaro). He is bred by Olaf Bahls.

Oldenburg Reserve Licensing Champion

Owned by Ernst Kemper and Norbert van Laak, the black stallion was named reserve champion at the 2009 Oldenburg stallion licensing in Vechta with the now US-based hunter breeding stallion Fairbanks taking the title.

Dante Weltino sold at auction for 140,000 euro but the buyer disappeared after the bidding duel without signing the sale document. He was then re-presented and sold for 130,000 euro to Peter Baron von Le Fort, a Hamburg business man who represented a Swiss family. Later on the Swiss Wespe family came forward as the real owners and Dante Weltino moved to their Dressage Performance Center Lodbergen. Their manager at the time, Urs Schweizer, had scouted Dante for their breeding programme at the licensing.

He did his 30-day stallion performance test in Schlieckau in the autumn of 2010 and scored 8,10 for dressage and 8,02 for show jumping, totalling 8,20 points. He fulfilled his lifetime licensing through sport.

First Competitions

Dante Weltino was first competed by Jan Steiner but as of 2012 he premiered under Swedish Therese Nilshagen who was hired as a team rider at Lodbergen.

She qualified him for the 2012 Bundeschampionate and finished 23rd in the 5-year old consolation final. She re-qualified for the 2013 Bundeschampionate but did not take him to Warendorf. Instead Nilshagen won silver aboard another stallion, Sean Connery (by Sir Donnerhall x Rotspon) that year.

In 2014 Therese rode Dante in the Nurnberger Burgpokal qualifiers and made it to the Finals in Frankfurt with a qualification score of 75,732%. In Frankfurt they were 10th.

Missed Olympics in Rio

Coached by Klaus Balkenhol at the time, the pair made its national Grand Prix debut in the autumn of 2015 and placed fifth in the Louisdor Cup Finals in Frankfurt.

Their international Grand Prix debut was at the CDI Lier in February 2016 where they posted 67.440% in their first Grand Prix. From there they went to Herning, Hagen, Odense, Roosendaal and Rotterdam. At the latter show their Grand Prix score had climbed to 73.500% and they were nominated on the Swedish team for the 2016 Olympics. They travelled to Rio but the black stallion sustained an injury there and didn't pass the trot-up nor re-inspection. Team reserve Mads Hendeliowitz stepped in. The injury turned out to be located in the pelvic area and required a few months to heal.

Career Highlight Year 2017

In May 2017 Nilshagen and Dante Weltino made their international come back at the CDI Aalborg on a 73.900% Grand Prix score and went to Roosendaal and Rotterdam to prove fitness. They were re-nominated on the Swedish team for the European Championships on home turf in Gothenburg (SWE).

They won team bronze and just missed out on an individual medal, placing fourth in the Grand Prix Special with 78.585%. This was the closest Nilshagen ever came to an individual medal at a major FEI Championship. They were fifth in the Kur to Music.

Shortly after Gothenburg, the pair rode its career Grand Prix high score of 77.980% at the 2017 CDI Stockholm.

Swedish Team Fixtures

The pair became a fixture on the Swedish team for the next six years, never missing a single major championship, an impressive feat of horse training and management. The pair was also highly celebrated and loved for its lightness and friendliness in its presentation.

In 2018 Dante Weltino did not stand at stud so he could fully focus on his sport career. They represented Sweden at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon where they finished 10th in the Special (75.821%). The kur was cancelled due to an approaching hurricane.

At the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam, they were 14th in the Special (75.365%) and 11th in the Kur (78.946%). They rode down the Olympic centreline for the first time in Tokyo in 2021 and were 14th in the Kur finals (79.721%). At the 2021 Europeans in Hagen six weeks later were 8th in the Special and Kur (76.869% and 81.325%).

At the 2022 World Championships in Herning

With Balkenhol less flexible to travel, Nilshagen began to rely more on the coaching of Swedish team trainer Louise Nathhorst. At the 2022 World Championships in Herning, they were 13th in the Special (74.848%) and 11th in the Kur (83.046%).

At the 2023 Europeans in Riesenbeck they were 8th in the Special (76.140%) and 6th in the Kur (86.132%). Finally at the 2024 Olympics in Paris they placed 18th in the Kur to Music (74.714%). It was Dante Weltino's last competition in his career.

The German based Nilshagen never made the trip to the Swedish Championships with Dante Weltino to fight for a national title.

Retirement

Nilshagen has told Eurodressage that it was already planned for Paris to be Dante's last show.

"I do not have enough words to explain how much Dante means to me. I owe him everything," Nilshagen told Eurodressage exclusively. "I'm really thankful and grateful for the fantastic journey he took me on. He is one in a million and has an outstanding character and spirit. Every day is always a great start of the day, as my day starts with a ride on Dante "

She added, " when I started riding Dante in 2012 I felt straight away that he is someone really special. Since then, every day, my priority Nr 1 has been Dante's well bneing. What more can I do to give him the best possible care?!"

Dante Weltino will continue to stand at stud. So far he has sired 25 sons that are licensed stallions (15 in studbook I) and 30 daughters that are named state premium mare. In Germany he has 489 offspring registered for sport, 16 of them are competing at S-level.

Nilshagen will now continue her high performance competition career with her own 9-year old Navarro (by Negro x San Remo) whom she has been competing at Inter II level, as well as with rising Grand Prix horse La Vie (by Livaldon x Scolari) and small tour horse Bellany (by Bon Coeur x De Niro).