Felicita Simoncic's Ivar On the Road to Recovery after Colic Surgery

Dressage

Austria

Austrian Grand Prix rider Felicita Simoncic saw the end of her fabulous year 2025 end in a big low when her second Grand Prix horse, Ivar, suffered a bout of colic and had to be operated on.

Ivar is a 13-year old KWPN gelding by Ampere out of Tetske (by Olivi x Roemer x Kanonnier).

Season High

Austrian Under 25 rider Simoncic competed at the 2025 European U25 Championships in Kronberg this summer, placing 9th in the Kur finals aboard the 15-year old KWPN stallion Four Legends KS (by Wynton x Ferro).

Two months later she made her debut as a senior Grand Prix rider at the Austrian Championships, straight away winning silver. At the CDI Wiener Neustadt on 3 - 5 October she scored 69.957% in the senior Grand Prix and 74.350% in the Kur to Music.

Double Whammy

Acquired at the start of 2022, Ivar is Simoncic' second iron in the fire for Grand Prix. He was her loyal partner at the 2022 and 2023 European Young Riders Championships and moved into the U25 division in the spring of 2024.

Ivar at the 2022 European Young Riders Championships

In 2025 she showed him at CDI's in Stadl Paura, St. Margarethen, Mariakalnok, Pilisjaszfalu and Achleiten. After the CDI Wiener Neustadt in October, Felicita fell off Ivar, who spooked from a tractor, and severely bruised her body.

Mid December Ivar suffered from a bout of colic and had to undergo emergency surgery at the equine clinic of Kottingbrunn.

Road to Recovery

Both rider and horse are on the road to recovery with Simonic already back in the saddle of Four Legends. Ivar just started being hand-walked again last week.

"It’s been around 1,5 months now and he’s doing really well, but what a shock that was," Felicita told Eurodressage calling the black "her small fighter."