Young professional dressage duo Brecht d'Hoore and Dominique van der Horst got married in Hoogerheide, The Netherlands, on 7 July 2017. The Belgian D'Hoore, who was a former young rider team member, and Dutch Van der Horst run their own sales and training facility in The Netherlands. The wedding ceremony took place in the local church, while the evening dinner and dance party was in their dressed up indoor school.
Dutch FEI rider Jeffrey Heijstek has sold his small tour horse Zarino (by Special D x Fabricius) as a schoolmaster to Japan. Heijstek and Zarino competed internationally at small tour level in 2014 and 2015 at shows such as Nieuw en St. Joosland, Roosendaal, Compiegne, and Vierzon.
The 15-year old Belgian warmblood Crack C van het Vijverbos (by Don Renoir x Feinschnitt I van de Richter) has a new rider: Hannelore Beckers. The dark bay gelding is listed as owned by Piet Robeets in the FEI database and was previously shown by Sam Verheijden, who competed the horse at only two internationals in its career: the CDI lier in 2015 and 2016. Beckers and Crack C made their CDI debut in Pompadour.
Benjamin Maljaars has returned as stable jockey at Gert-Jan van Olst's stallion station in Den Hout. The rider left Van Olst half a year ago to accept "a new change in life". He became an assistant trainer at Laurens van Lieren's stable, but has now returned to Van Olst. "Sometimes you realise what you want when you no longer have it," Maljaars told Horses.nl. "I really like it that I can work with horses again that appeal to me qualitywise. Gert-Jan has these type of horses in his stable. I can only ride good horses and if one sells, I'll get another good one in its place."
In an interview with Ridsport, Minna Telde said that her 2012 Olympic mount Santana (by Sandro Hit x Rubinstein) is back in training, serving as a schoolmaster for her stable jockey Lotta Petterson. The now 16-year old black Santana did his last show at the 2015 European Championships in Aachen and has since then been injured. The horse is now fit, but also suffered from some eye problems to the single eye he has left. Telde no longer has concrete show plans with Santana. "It is good for her (Lotta) to develop on. We'll see what we do in the future," she told Ridsport.
German Grand Prix rider Benjamin Werndl became the proud father of his second child, a daughter named Avalie. Benjamin and his wife Katrin are already parents to the 3-year old Ophelia. Benjamin's sister, German A-team rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, is due to give birth of her first child in August.
Imke Schellekens-Bartels has taken over the ride on the 14-year old Dutch warmblood Grand Prix mare Wenicienta. The black was brought to Grand Prix level by Dominique Filion but she handed over the ride to Russian Tatyana Makarova when Filion took up a job as assistant trainer at Maxima Stables in Moscow. Makarova is a stable jockey at Bartels Academy, but she has decided to return to Russie to go independent. Imke took over the ride on the black mare a few months ago and the pair made its Grand Prix debut at the national show in Werkendam.
Carl Hester celebrated his 50th birthday in the sun on 29 June 2017. On his Facebook page, Hester reflected on the meaning of 50 and wrote: "I woke up this morning saying two 'F' words, one of which being 50!! I am having a lovely day ignoring my age. Congratulations to all of my friends over 50 and good luck to all of those who are under! Cheers."
After the announcement of the closing of state stud Prussendorf, yet another state stud will close its doors. St. Georg reported that the Hessian government has announced that the State Stud Dillenburg will be sold including its horse stock. Dillenburg is located in the centre of Dillenburg town and can no longer fulfill the provincial laws of animal welfare which require turnout for a horse. The stud still has running contracts for the training of students and will continue those until the end of August 2018. After that the horses will be sold. Dillenburg stands Faustinus (by Furst Heinrich x Starway xx).
Danish dressage trainer Soren Vallentin has decided to relocate his business to Helgstrand Dressage in Vodskov, Denmark. For twenty years Vallentin was the director of the Aalborg Riding Club, where he trained a young Andreas, after which he became chief rider at the Vilhelmsborg national equestrian centre. Soren also ran his own business Stald Vallentin. Soren and his Under 25 Grand Prix riding daughter Victoria Vallentin will now move to Helgstrand dressage where they will have their own section of their business, but in close collaboration with Helgstrand Dressage.
DIXIT
Ingrid Klimke on Draw Reins : "I can say with pride that I have never ever ridden with draw reins. In my opinion draw reins have to be forbidden." In an interview with Pferdiathek, Klimke lists as reasons against draw reins: the development of the wrong muscles, the training of under neck, the upper neck muscles are not strengthened, it is force and cramps for the horse, the rider forces the horse the flex the poll. There is a reason if the horse goes over the bit."
Jimmie Wofford, Olympic eventing medal winner and one of the great thinkers for the USET programmes: "Clearly, strapping a horse's mouth shut is unnatural and will not produce classical results in terms of acceptance of the bit, softness of contact or self-carriage. Naturally, we want the best possible score for our horses, but by cranking the nosband as tight as possible, we actually prevent them from accepting the bit corretly.