Shannon Dueck's Angelika MW Passed Away

Dressage

Canada

A heavy blow for Canadian Grand Prix rider Shannon Dueck. Her rising Grand Prix mount and heart horse MW Angelika has passed away.

The mare was put to sleep after sustaining a severe injury on transport from the U.K. back to the USA from which she couldn't recover.

Heart Horse

MW Angelika was a labour of love, starting with breeding her out of Shannon’s Grand Prix mare Ayscha, and then forming a syndicate to acquire and produce Angelika to Grand Prix level.

The bay was bred out of Dueck’s 2010 WEG and 2012 Olympic team hopeful Ayscha (by Welt Hit II x Rouletto x Aktuell x Futuro) who got injured and joined Jen Vanover's breeding programme at Maplewood Warmblood while she recovered. She was bred to Franziskus and Angelika was the foal born.

A syndicate of owners named "Ayscha's Angels Syndicate" bought the foal. The group included Dueck, Elizabeth Ferber, Kathy Putnam and Julie Skinner, but as of 2023 Skinner left the syndicate.

Small Tour Winner

The mare was trained to Grand Prix level by Dueck and made its international show debut at age 7 in 2022.

She competed in three Prix St Georges classes at the 2022 Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, winning one. At the CDI Devon she won both small tour tests.

Angelika as a foal (Photo © Erin Powers)

In 2023 she actively campaigned at small tour level at Global and placed second at the CDI Rockwood to be named reserve for the Canadian team for the Pan American Games. Their last CDI was in September 2023 in Bromont, placing second twice

Grand Prix Hopeful

Dueck was dedicated to produce this mare to Grand Prix level and made a serious financial investment in shipping her to Europe for immersive training with Carl Hester in the U.K. for a year.

Dueck left her business in Wellington and worked with Carl to consolidate the Grand Prix movements on the horse. They competed at national level in the U.K. and rode in several Intermediaire II classes at local shows at the start of 2024. In May 2024 they rode the Hickstead premier league, posting 64.90 in the Inter II and 66.39% in the Grand Prix. A month later they got more 64% marks in Wellington, but the click moment came in the late summer of 2024 in Hartpury. In September they got a 70.11% in the Grand Prix and one month later in October they posted 71.74% in another GP class in Hartpury, before flying home to Florida.

Injury

Angelika shipped back to the U.S.A. and arrived in Florida with an injury sustained on flight home.

She spent 3 weeks in intensive care for a septic tendon sheath before she was allowed to go on stall rest at Dueck's farm in Wellington, where the long process of recovery continued.

"Not looking like the pumped up Grand Prix mare that left the UK, but she’s hungry and the infection is gone and best of all she’s finally home!!!!! Now the healing starts. She’s lost so much muscle and weight it will take some time to recover," Dueck posted on 18 November 2024.

Unfortunately last week her condition took a turn for the worse. Angelika was transported to the equine clinic but her condition worsened. Unfortunately she could not be saved.

A heart broken Dueck announced the news of the mare's passing on her Facebook page on 15 February 2025, adding the next day, "I am unable to process or function right now, so please be patient. I will do a proper eulogy of this ethereal creature one day."

The Wellington community sent Shannon many messages of condolences and support.

“ I have never had a horse that trusted me more - from the beginning she was part of my heart, said Shannon. “At the end she trusted me to end her suffering. We are all just shattered.”