Yara Reichert's Springbank II Recovers from Bone Fracture Surgery

Dressage

Germany

Yara Reichert's Grand Prix stallion Springbank II is on the road to recovery after surgery for a bone fracture which he sustained in the field.

Springbank II VH is a 12-year old Swedish Warmblood stallion by Skovens Rafael x De Niro. He is bred by Tobias Hansson at Västra Hoby Stuteri.

Young Horse Success

Initially owned by Hansson, Kristina Hennix and Helgstrand dressage, the stallion was trained by Severo Jurado Lopez. They won the 2017 and 2018 Swedish Young Horse Championships, the 2018 Danish Young Horse Championships, and placed fifth at the 2019 World Young Horse Championships. In 2019 he did not compete in the Danish nor Swedish YH Championships. In 2020 Betina Jaeger took over the ride and reclaimed the Swedish Young Horse Champion's title with him.

The Swedish stallion was the 2018 Danish Warmblood licensing champion in the 4-year old category. He was also a much used breeding stallion, despite his WFFS positive status.

Sold to Reichert

In the spring of 2021 the liver chestnut sold to Bavarian based Yara Reichert.

The amateur dressage rider made her premier on the international show scene at the 2021 World Young horse Championships in Verden, where she placed 12th in the 7-year old finals with Springbank. She showed him at international small tour level in 2022, finished 7th in the 2023 Louisdor Cup Final, and moved him up to international Grand Prix level in 2024. Their last CDI together was in July 2026 in Achleiten (AUT), where they were third in the Grand Prix with 68.370%.

In 2024 Springbank II was named Swedish Warmblood "Challenger Stallion of the Year".

Field Accident

On her Instagram account Reichert announced one week ago that Springbank sustained a potentially career-ending injury in the field and was shipped to Switzerland to be operated on.

She reported teary eyed that "It was a big shock but honestly I'm happy that he's alive and that he can be a horse." In the future he will still be able "to produce little offsprings."

Reichert is adamant to give her horses proper turnout in the field, so horses can be horses, instead of keeping them boxed and bubble-wrapped. "I cannot stop that (not keeping the horses in the field). It feels so wrong to keep them in the stables," she said.

Knowing injuries can happen anywhere, she admitted that it never rains but pours: "Valverde hurt himself in the box and Force Majeure at the tournament (in Achleiten) so I will keep the fields for the horses."

Fortunately Reichert also had some good news a day later. The stallion was successfully operated on at an equine clinic in Switzerland.

"He was operated on for four hours. Thanks to sophisticated machines everything went really well and all (debris) could be removed," she said. "He made it through surgery successfully, is already back on his feet. They were even able to fix it with screws."

Yara is hopeful for the future. "Now comes the long and rocky road to recovery. It will probably take a year and than we'll see what the future holds."