At the Munster Rolinck Cup mid January 2004, Ingrid Klimke reappeared on the Grand Prix scene with a new horse, Don Jos. Although Klimke lost her Grand Prix ride Nector van het Carelshof one year ago
, she is now back on the scene with a talented horse. Don Jos is an 11-year old Oldenburg stallion by Donnerhall x Bonjour.
Klimke has Don Jos in training for four weeks now and already finished seventh in the Short Grand Prix (65.75%) and eigth in the Kur to Music (69.89%) at the Munster Rolinck Cup. "He's confirmed in the Grand Prix movements, but I can't expect too much in such a short period of time," Klimke said. "I don't really have a freestyle for him yet, so I used Nector's kur. The music didn't always match, because both horses move very differentially. I also didn't get the opportunity to train the kur at home with Don Jos. Still we got 69.89%."
Klimke knows how to train Don Jos in the future. "I will train him on getting him more loose. There's much more in him once he gets to use his back more and losens up," Klimke explained.
Don Jos came from the barn of Austrian rider Caroline Hatlapa when he was a six year old and has been in trainning there for four and a half years. As owner Markus Waterhues decided to sell the horse, Hatlapa and Waterhues agreed to put him at Klimke's barn for a future sale. The Austrian Olympic rider Hatlapa finally had a an international calibre horse at her disposal with whom she qualified for the 2003 European Dressage Championships at a selection trial in Vienna.
Waterhus himself is a Grand Prix rider and competed Don Jos at the 2003 Regional Championships in Bad Segeburg.
Image copyrighted: Boris Felgner, Münstersche Zeitung
Related Links
Scores CDI Munster Rolinck Cup 2004
Austrian Come Back for Caroline Hatlapa