On Saturday evening March 22, 2004, Patty van der Zwan presented her million dollar horse Poetin for the first time to the public at the Indoor Roggel competition in The Netherlands.
Poetin was not entered to compete, but was presented in a demonstration by her owner Patty van der Zwan.
Poetin, who was purchased by Patty for 2,5 million Euro at the 2003 P.S.I. Auction, was trailered to the event by husband Peter van der Zwan. The surroundings were not really worthy a millionair. Standing in the mud, Poetin was tacked up by Peter and a groom, while Patty put on her riding clothes. But no one, not even Poetin, cared about that. Patty is completely overjoyed with her horse. "Every time I have trained her, I cheer inside. It's a joy to ride her," Patty said. "We paid 2,5 million for her, but now she's not even for sale for 20 million." Organizer of Indoor Roggel, Emile Hendrix, had already seen Poetin on Tuesday and described her as a "ballerina."
Poetin has become a phenomenon world-wide. "We get inquiries from people all over the world, even Japan, who want to see Poetin. If I were to say yes to all of them, there would be no time to train her. I want to start competing her pretty soon, but only when we have become a real combination, because everyone expects us to be perfect," Patty explained.
So far Patty van der Zwan has not competed any higher than Fourth level, but she has great plans for Poetin. Everyone at the demonstration in Roggel saw that Poetin was a world class mare; now time only will tell if they will become a world class combination.
Source: Steven Stegen