Diana Porsche's Douglas Downshifts Gear

Dressage

Austria

Austrian Grand Prix rider Diana Porsche has decided the downshift gears with her horse Douglas. He has relocated to The Netherlands.

Douglas is a 17-year old KWPN gelding by Johnson out of Rasita (by Lancet x Blanc Rivage xx). He is bred by E. Hekkert.

Danish Start

The Dutch bred horse started his sport career in Denmark as a 6-year old.

He was first shown by Sabrina Hesselhede in 2014. She placed 7th with him in the consolation finals at the 2014 Danish Young Horse Championships.

In 2015 Thomas Lassen began showing him at M-level and halfway through the season Helgstrand rider Frederico Mexia de Almeida took over the ride. Their first PSG test was in July 2016.

Diana Porsche

Douglas joined Diana Porsche's ranks in the late 2010s as a second iron in the fire alongside Grand Prix horse Di Sandro.

She first competed him nationally and won the 2017 Austrian Young Riders Championships with him.

She made her international debut on him at small tour level at the 2019 CDI Achleiten, followed by Fritzens. In 2020 she rode him at the European Under 25 Championships in Pilisjaszfalu and placed 24th in the short Grand Prix with 64.743%

In 2021 she focused on the U25 circuit, showing in Ornago, Meerle and Samorin before heading to the 2021 European U25 Championships in Hagen, where they were 16th in the Kur to Music finals (69.395%).

In 2022 Porsche moved into the senior ranks and for the the next three years competed him at numerous CDI's and World Cup qualifiers in Samorin, Zakrzow, Olomouc, Mariakalnok, Lyon, Basel, and Madrid. They won three CDI Grand Prix tests in that period, in Samorin 2022 (68.891%), the Special in Samorin 2023 (71.447%) and in 2024 (69.489%). They were long-listed for Austrian Olympic team selection in 2024.

Their last CDI was in January 2025 in Basel, where they rode the Grand Prix test.

"I am the rider I am today because of Douglas, and I’m unbelievably thankful for everything he has done for me over the years," said Diana. "He made my dreams come true—we went from Young Riders, through U25, all the way to the biggest World Cup shows together."

Shifting Down Gears

Diana announced that Douglas has moved to Krista Kolijn's farm in The Netherlands for an easier life. Kolijn is the wife of her trainer Diederik Wigmans.

"At the beginning of the year, I decided to stop showing Douglas in the big competitions and focus more on my other Grand Prix horses and my young ones," said Diana. "He’s now 17 years old and still super fit, so I wanted to find a place where he could continue being every day on the fields, ridden and serve as a schoolmaster."

She continued, "He’s not for sale and never will be. I can always come to visit him and when it’s time for his retirement, he’ll come back home to my place and spend his final years in the fields with us."