Due to the unexpected death of her young riders' horse Festivo, Danielle van Aalderen was suddenly without a top mount. Her recent switching of trainers, moving from Coby van Baalen to Anky van Grunsven
, created the opportunity for Van Aalderen to buy Anky's former top Grand Prix horse Gestion Idool. They combination already rode their first Fourth level test and won twice at the CDN in Maassluis, The Netherlands.
Gestion Idool is a 12-year old KWPN bred gelding by Maykel out of Carla (by Tolbert) and owned by Ad van Straaten and Anky van Grunsven/Sjef Janssen. He was green broken by Anky and trained up to Grand Prix level. Under Anky, Idool was selected for as reserve horse for the Dutch Dressage team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. They also finished third at the 2002 Dutch Dressage Championships. Although Idool was for two years Anky's number one Grand Prix horse, the combination was hardly able to constantly settle for a top position.
At the 2002 CDI Aachen, Anky pulled Idool out of the Selection Race for the World Equestrian Games as she believed that "the judges didn't like Idool anyway".
Image copyrighted: Arnd Bronkhorst
Related Links
Danielle van Aalderen's Festivo Passed Away
Anky van Grunsven Pulls Gestion Idool out of Dutch WEG Selection Trials