Diamond Fritz Passed Away

Dressage

Great Britain

Diamond Fritz, a former international Grand Prix horse, has passed away at age 31 at his home in the U.K. The Oldenburg gelding carried numerous riders into the FEI ring throughout his life.

Diamond Fritz was a 1994 born Oldenburg by Donnerhall out of Gala (by Gardeulan x Perfekt x Wrede). He was bred by Ines Kiorpes

Young Horse Success

He was first competed as a 3-year old in 1997 by Dirk Seewald and sold at the 1997 Verden Elite auction under the name Diamond Donner for 130,000 Deutsch Marks .

He was put into training with Holga and his then-wife Birgit Finken and made his show debut with Birgit in 1998. They finished second at the 1998 Bundeschampionate, which were then held for the last time in Hanover before finding a permanent home in Warendorf.

In 1999 the pair was 11th at the Bundeschampionate in Warendorf and in 2000 they returned to finish 6th. The pair moved to S-level in 2001 and competed internationally in Bremen and Hanover in 2002 at small tour level.

Brazil

The horse sold to Dr Jorge de la Rocha from Brazil but stayed in Germany with trainer Norbert van Laak.

Van Laak showed "Quixote Diamond Fritz" at small tour level in 2004 and moving him up to Grand Prix level in 2005 with CDI starts in Olfen, Munich, Dortmund,

In 2007 Bianca Kasselmann rode the Oldenburg at the CDI Wattens and some national shows in Germany at both small tour and Grand Prix level

Great Britain

Hof Kasselmann sold Diamond Fritz to the Pidgley family in the U.K.

The ride was initially allocated to British young rider Amber De Savary (now Symondson) who premiered him nationally in March 2008. She showed him internationally in Addington and Saumur and was nominated on the British team for the 2008 European Young Riders Championships in Azeitao (POR), where Great Britain finished 6th in the team ranking. The pair finished 26th with 64,000% in the individual test.

For a few years Diamond Fritz disappeared from the show scene and was acquired by Toni Terry from the Pidgley family as her FEI level schoolmaster. She debuted him in May 2010 at elementary level and competed him through small tour level until 2013.

Retirement

Diamond Fritz did his last show at his home base, Vicky Thompson's Oldencraig stable in October 2013 after which he was retired from sport.

"He taught me from complete beginner in dressage to doing my first Grand Prix four years later," Toni Terry told Eurodressage. "He was such a wonderful horse."

Diamond Fritz spent his retirement at Thompson's new stable Highview in the U.K.