Desperado Retired from Competition Sport and Sold

Breeding

KWPN

Emmelie Scholtens' international Grand Prix and former Dutch team horse Desperado has been retired from sport.

Desperado is a 17-year old Dutch warmblood stallion by Vivaldi out of Sarita (by Havidoff x Ferro). He is bred by the Andeweg family and was owned by the breeder in partnership with horse dealer Ad Valk.

Premium Stallion

He was initially licensed for the Westfalian society in November 2010 and became a premium stallion at the 2011 KWPN Stallion Licensing in February 2011.

He did not immediately participate in the KWPN spring Stallion Performance Test, but moved to Germany to stand at stud at the Lodbergen Stallion Station. In May 2011 he was pulled off the stallion roster after he sustained a thrombosis after an intravenous injection by a veterinarian.

Darkboy returned to The Netherlands and won the 2011 KWPN Autumn Performance Testing and was renamed Desperado.

Young Horse Success

Desperado was trained and competed from young horse level to Grand Prix by Emmelie Scholtens.

They were highly successful in the young horse classes, winning the 2012 Pavo Cup Finals and placing second in 2013. They represented The Netherlands at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden and were 7th in 2013 in the 5-year old division and 8th in 2014 in the 6-year old division.

They won the 2015 KWPN Stallion Competition finals

Grand Prix Career

Their international Grand Prix debut followed in 2018 in Uggerhalne. They finished 7th at the 2018 Dutch Dressage Championships.

Their highlight year was 2019 when they competed at CDI's in 's Hertogenbosch, Compiegne, and Geesteren. They won team silver at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam and finished 29th in the Special. They finished the year with a World Cup win in Mechelen. In the corona year 2020 he only showed once internationally, in Amsterdam, but won bronze at the 2020 Dutch Dressage Championships.

They missed out on the 2021 Olympic Games. After winning the national squad observation trial in De Meern with 77.03% in February 2021, they were supposed to kick off their Olympic campaign at the 2021 CDI Hagen in April, but withdrew from the event. Two weeks later they also cancelled their entry for the CDI Exloo. Scholtens indicated that Desperado was not fit but had no clear prognosis yet.

Desperado made his come back in the late spring of 2022 at the 2022 Dutch Dressage Championships this weekend. They won the Grand Prix but withdrew from the freestyle. Emmelie rode her new rising GP horse Indian Rock at the 2022 World Championships in Herning. The pair returned to the international stage in October 2022 in Aarhus and then Mechelen.

Another one-year break from CDI showing came between the 2023 CDI-W Amsterdam and the 2024 CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch. Six months later Emmelie rode Desperado to a double win at the CDI Ermelo in September 2024, the stallion's last international show.

Out of 40 international starts, they won 7 classes.

Retirement

Winning the 2019 World Cup Qualifier in Mechelen

Scholtens' announced Desperado's retirement from sport yesterday on social media. The stallion has also been sold

"After many years of top sport with so many beautiful moments and Victories, the owners from our Int. Grand Prix Stallion Desperado gave Hengstenhouderij Brouwers the change to buy him for breeding," said Scholtens. "I am so thankful for all the years together but I'm going to miss him so much. He is part of our family. His departure will have to find a place, but we will love this stallion forever."

Desperado has sired 1331 KWPN registered offspring so far, excluding progeny in foreign registry. He has sired five sons fully licensed as breeding stallions with KWPN and 78 of his daughters were named elite mare. He was proclaimed Keur stallion in 2024.

His most famous licensed son is the German licensed Ibiza (out of Jazz), as well as Dettori (out of De Niro) and Mowgli VOD.