What's Happening: December 2024 - Part II

Spanish Grand Prix rider Juan Matute Guimon and his girlfriend, Paloma Zafrilla, got engaged on 8 December 2024. The 27-year old Matute was member of the 2018 Spanish WEG Team in Tryon, while the 24-year old Zafrilla is a student in dentistry in Madrid and a Pro-Life advocate.  The couple has been dating more than a year and found shared passion in a love for catholicism. Juan and Paloma celebrated their engagement in the Santa Cueva de Covadonga,  the "Holy Cave of Covadonga", which is a Catholic sanctuary located in Asturias, where they burnt a candle and prayed to bless their union. Congratulations!

After Dan Boyter resigned as a chair of the board of the Danish Equestrian Federation, following a vote of no-confidence, the managing director of DRF, Marten Schram Rodtwitt, is also calling it quits. In an extraordinary meeting Boyter resigned, Kimi Nielsen was elected new chair and several seats on the board were filled by new people. Rodtwitt, however, will not continue under the new constellation.  Morten has been director since 2019, first working under Ulf Helgstrand. "The Danish Equestrian Federation is facing a new time, where it is important to get new eyes on the many challenges that we have had in recent years," said chair Kimi Nielsen. "A unanimous new board therefore believes that it is necessary to have a new director at the helm of the many new initiatives that will help secure equestrian sport in Denmark in the future."

Former German Pony and Junior team rider Jessica Krieg got married to her partner Julian at the start of December. Krieg got engaged on 31 May 2024 and held a bachelorette party in Palma de Mallorca in October with former team mates Anna Abbelen and Juliette Piotrowski in attendance. The couple celebrated their union at Villa Glanzstoff in Krieg's home town Heinsberg. Abbelen was maid of honour at the wedding. The 28-year old Krieg represented Germany at the 2010 and 2011 European Pony Championships with Danilo, and at the 2013 and 2014 European Junior Riders Championships with Florence and Special Edition. In 2017 she debuted at U25 level. Last month at the CDI Le Mans she made her come-back to the CDI ring after more than two years absence. She rode Valegra (by Vitalis x Fidermark) and Zegna (by Zalando x Ehrenpreis) there, winning the Inter I Kur. 

In Great Britain former international dressage Henry Boswell married his partner, India Yasmeen Popadic, on 14 December 2024. The 38-year old Boswell and his Serbian girlfriend got engaged in Paris on 3 May 2023. Boswell represented Great Britain at the 2002 European Pony Championships on DHI Peppino, and at the 2004 European Junior Championships and 2006 European Young Riders Championships aboard DHI Faederlite (by Farah). In 2010 he showed Margue (by Mont du Cantal x Cordial) at Grand Prix level and then took an almost 10-year break from CDI showing to return with Folt (by Ampere x Jetset-D) in 2019. His last CDI was in Wellington Heckfield in May 2021. Boswell runs a dressage training business in the U.K.  His wife India is a former fashion stylist and social media manager. U.K. dressage personalities such as Carl Hester (with partner Ben Neal) and trainer Matt Frost attended the wedding.