Karen Nijvelt Retires Elysias from Sport

Dressage

The Netherlands

Dutch Grand Prix rider Karen Nijvelt has retired her number one international dressage horse Elysias from sport. She announced the news on Facebook at the end of September.

Elysias is a 16-year old Dutch warmblood by Jazz out of Whisper D (by Rhodium x Zandigo). He is bred at Stall De Utrecht in Esbeek, The Netherlands.

Karen Nijvelt

Owned by the rider, Niels Leenaars and Twan van Woensel, the black stallion was produced from young horse level to Grand Prix by Karen Nijvelt.

The pair first hit the spotlight by winning the 2015 KNHS Subli Championships for young dressage horses. They made their CDI debut by winning the 5-year old classes in Pompadour. A year later they were nominated on the Dutch team for the 2016 World Championships for young dressage horses, competing in the inaugural 7-year old division. They were 12th in the Finals. They finished the year with their international small tour debut at Roosendaal Indoor.

They competed for two years at small tour level (2017 - 2018) after which which a three-year break from international showing followed. Their CDI Grand Prix debut was in Le Mans in June 2021, scoring 68.652% in their first international Grand Prix test.

In the next five years the pair showed at plenty of CDI's in Meerle, Grote Brogel, Le Mans, Lier, Hagen, Compiegne, Exloo, Aachen, Waregem, Troisdorf, Kronenberg, 's Hertogenbosch, Tolbert, Fontainebleau, Falsterbo, Leeuwarden, and Herning. They were part of the Dutch team in three FEI Nations' Cups: aachen 2022, Falsterbo 2023 and Compiegne 2024.

Their highlight year was 2022 when they were long-listed and named second, non-travelling reserve for the World Championships, rode in Aachen, and scored a double win at the CDI Waregem. They were 6th at the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix Championship.

The pair competed in only one CDI in 2025, in Hagen, where they got 66.022% in the Grand Prix.

Retirement

Nijvelt announced the retirement of her 16-year old gelding on Facebook.

"It took a while before we made the final decision but Elysias has been retired from sport since a few months," she said. "Not because he was lame, but because in the last few months (or maybe even the last year) it didn't come easy for him anymore. Elysias came into training with me as a 4-year old young stallion to be produced to Grand Prix and we certainly accomplished that goal."

Nijvelt continued, "We had so many highlights but also difficult periods. I often say the only stable factor is that there is no stable factor. As 10-year ld he got injured after his third Grand Prix test. We still don't know what the problem truly was but after a year of treatment and rehab, we decided to geld him, so that he could at least go into the field. After a year of sorting things out and lightly picking up training again, he came back in sport. Four beautiful years of international shows and he gave me his all. Now he can enjoy his retirement with his buddy, Anielca Schoenmaeker's Hircan."