A few changes took place in Imke Schellekens-Bartels' barn in Hooge Mierde, The Netherlands. Her third Grand Prix horse Tanirma got sold, but at the same time she got the ride on a new Belgian owned horse, QC Ruling Cortes.
The 12-year old Dutch warmblood mare Tanirma (by De Niro x Inspekteur) was sold by owner Sander Claus to the Swiss Isabel Ross. As a 6-year old the black mare became silver medallist at the World Young Horse Championships under Sarah van Fessem and as of 2010 Schellekens-Bartels trained the mare to Grand Prix.
"I always enjoyed training Tanirma," said Imke. "She's an incredibly sweet horse and was really starting to get confirmed in the Grand Prix work. I'm sure the new owner will have a fantastic horse."
Belgian Patrick D'Eer of QC Stables has put his 7-year old Oldenburg mare Ruling Cortes QC (by Rubin Royal x De Niro) in training with Imke a few weeks ago. The bay mare was trained and competed in Germany by Marita Pundsack and finished 6th in the consolation finals at the 2011 Bundeschampionate.
"Ruling Cortes is a gorgeous mare. She has a lot of size and expreission and has so much talent," Schellekens-Bartels explained. "She's very sensitive and a quick learner. I will use my time to train her and hope to compete her in the small tour in a few months."
Photo © Dirk Caremans
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