British junior rider Myles Graham ended up in the emergency room after an allergic reaction to food during his 17th birthday party which he celebrated with his girlfriend, fellow British junior team rider Ruby Hughes. "The NHS was amazing and got me on oxygen quickly," Graham told Eurodressage. The allergic reaction was caused by peanuts. "I had some Thai food which had peanut paste in it," he explained. Graham and Hughes both won team bronze at the 2023 European Junior Riders Championships in Kronberg, where Myles also clinched Kur bronze.
Internationally competed mares Rosalie B and Quadrophenia have both started their new career as a broodmare. Laura Tomlinson-Bechtolsheimer's Grand Prix ride Rosalie B (by Rubin Royal x Newcastle) as well as Carina Scholz' CDI small tour horse Quadrophenia (by Quasar de Charry x Hochadel) gave birth to a Glamourdale foal this month.
Former USDF Vice President Beth Jenkins has passed away in February. In addition to her term as vice president (2011-2013), Beth has been active in both the national organization, as well as her home Group Member Organization, New England Dressage Association (NEDA), for decades, and was recognized for her many contributions nationally by being named 2008 USDF Volunteer of the Year and a USDF Member of Distinction in 2023.
Gonçalo Oliveira (51), grandson of legendary Portuguese classic dressage master Nuno Oliveira, has passed away. The rider was a sought after trainer across Europe, appeared in Apassionata exhibition shows, and lived in Carpiano, Italy. He became severely ill on 8 December 2023, ending up in the hospital in an induced coma because of a bacterial as well as a viral lung infection. There was a brief moment of respite and he gained consciousness but had to undergo dialysis. A crowd funding campaign was started to help with his medical bills and 16,000 euro was collected. Unfortunately he succumbed to his illness on 25 March 2024 after an unexpected bad turn of his health.
Femke de Laat has sold Daan Staller and Danique Broekema's 6-year old KWPN licensed stallion Network (by Just Wimphof x Negro - originally named Nintendo DS) to a friend of hers, Kari Kelsey. De Laat announced this on social media. She will retain the ride on the dark bay.
Dixit
American dressage rider Endel Ots feels very lucky that he is riding the 2021 Tokyo Olympic fourth place horse, Bohemian, for new owner Heidi Humphries. Ots went to try Bohemian in December 2023, when Humphries offered to buy the talented horse. Endel remembered, “I loved him the second I got on him. Recently Heidi actually texted me a screenshot. She said, ‘Do you remember what you said when you texted me after your first ride on him?’ “She sent me a screenshot and it said, ‘I'll sell one of my kidneys, give my firstborn child, whatever I have to do, to ride him,” laughed Ots. “That’s how it came to be.”