The first location for the Rusty-Retirement-Tour has been announced. Ulla Salzgeber will start the tour by riding Rusty at the Apassionate Horse Gala in Saarbrucken, Germany, November 13, 2004. The final demonstration will be April 30, 2005 in Bielefeld, Germany. The 16-year old Latvian gelding Rusty won individual silver and team gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens under Ulla Salzgeber.
Double Olympic dressage champion Nicole Uphoff and her New Zealand fiance Travis Morgan have broken up. The 37-year old Uphoff was engaged to Morgan since 1999 and has a 9-months old son Patrick with this show jumping rider. The couple, however, has ended their relationship and Uphoff has moved back to her parents' place in Duisburg. There, Nicole lives in an old bungalow purchased by her parents, but she still keeps her horses at Peter Engel's Gut Gluckauf in Hunxe, Germany. (Source Equinet)
Gestut Schlossacker has sold its Baden Wurttemberger stallion Dornenkonig(Donnerhall x Weltmeister) to Gestut Haneworth in the Hanoverian area. Dornenkonig was licensed in Marbach in 1994 and did his stallion performance test in Neustadt/Dosse. Otto Walter from Lemstedt, Germany, bought the stallion.
Also moving out is KWPN stallion Idocus. Owned by the American Christine McCarthy, Idocus is going back to the United States in March 2005. The bay Equador offspring has been stabled at Coby van Baalen's place in Brakel, The Netherlands, for two and a half years. He was trained and competed there by Marlies van Baalen. The 14-year old licensed stallion achieved the apex of his career this year by being selected for the Dutch Olympic Equestrian team. Marlies and Idocus rode the Grand Prix in Athens, but unfortunately did not qualify for the Special. "Idocus is going back to the States, because many breeders are asking for his semen there, while there is little interest in him as a breeding stallion here in Holland," Coby van Baalen explained.
When Idocus' return to the U.S. was announced in the Dutch press two weeks ago, owner Christine McCarthy still denied these facts and said that she was still negotiating with Van Baalen. Coby, however, said at that time, "the horse has achieved everything he could to his capabilities. He showed at the World Cup Finals and Olympic Games." A few days ago, McCarthy did confirm that Idocus is returning to the States, but she has not yet decided on where to station her stallion.
As Eurodressage predicted in its article about the sale of KWPN stallion Jazz to Broere Stud, Broere head rider Kirsten Beckers will be competing the experienced Grand Prix horse at national (and hopefully international) competitions. "It's great for me to have such a good horse. I can learn so much from him," Kirsten Beckers told Hoefslag. "Especially the piaffe and passage and the transitions are easy for him. He gives me such a good feeling." Beckers has been riding Jazz for a month now, but confesses her desire to compete him. "Everything goes so well that it would be a shame to leave such an exprienced horse at home," Beckers explained. (source Hoefslag)
Taking a break from the hectic horse world were Anky van Grunsven and her partner Sjef Janssen. The Dutch pair travelled to Scotland for a luxury stay at Carnegie's Skibo Castle (rooms are up to $1,000 a night). Van Grunsven was back in time to attend the Global Dressage Forum, where her horse Salinero has been proclaimed "Happiest Horse at the Olympic Games."
Belgian Dressage World Rejoice!! A New Grand Prix rider is heading to Belgium. British dressage rider Wayne Channon has sold his estate Barkham Manor in the United Kingdom and is relocating to teeny-weeny dressage country Belgium. More will follow on this exciting news!