What's Happening: March 2012 - Part 2

Thu, 03/29/2012 - 13:26
What's Happening in the Dressage World?

You might not believe it, but the rider featured in the embedded video in the top right corner is a former Olympian gone wild! Enjoy.. This is Dressage Under the Stars in Florida. Only in America!

Horse and Hound reported that Carl Hester and Uthopia will be immortalised in bronze as part of the Olympic legacy. Sculptor Lorne McKean is creating the work of art as part of the BT Art of Sport project. She visited Uthopia and Carl at home begin March to create a wax preliminary model of the pair performing piaffe. The final bronze sculpture will go on show at the Clarendon Gallery, Mayfair, London (25-30 June).

Team Great Britain fans, make sure you are prepared for the Olympic Games!! The website NEXT is selling the most amazing clothes and apparel with the union jack on it to support Great Britain in London. Of course this stuff can also be used at European Pony, Junior and Young Riders Championships (or CDI's) ;) Go Wild!

Dutch millionaire, horse breeder and dressage fan Wim Zegwaard became the victim of a home jacking on Thursday night 22 March 2012. Two men entered the villa and tied up the 67-year old Zegwaard, his girlfriend and a security person. They intrudors ransacked the house and stole some personal belongings. Zegwaard made his fortune in the waste processing business and has an estimated fortune of 105 million euro. Zegwaard is also a dealer in dressage horses and used to own Valeron, Hexagons Ollright and UB40.

Jan and Anna Schuil, breeders of Totilas and owners of Totilas' dam Lominka (by Glendale x Akteur x Pericless xx) have announced that they are breeding Totilas' dam to the 2011 Oldenburg licensing champion For Romance (by Furst Heinrich x Sandro Hit) this year. Totilas already has three full brothers (Bussard, Creon, Danzig) and one full sister Uusminka (all by Gribaldi). Lominka also had a Balzflug foal (name: Platini) in 1997 and one by Partout (name Ramon) in 1998. In 2010 Uusminka was bred to the Trakenher Grand Prix stallion Axis TSF.

Anabel Balkenhol went in search of the sun and travelled to Dubai for a little holiday.

Grand Prix rider Thomas Dolleris Larsen celebrated his 40th birthday on 17 March 2012. Congratulations!

Anky van Grunsven's Olympic champion Bonfire, an Oldenburg gelding by Welt As x Praefectus xx, turned 29 on 21 March 2012.

The Chronicle of the Horse wrote that former U.S. Olympic dressage team rider Courtney King-Dye plans to compete at the Houston Dressage Society Spring Classic CPEDI*** on April 25-29 in Katy, Texas. Kathleen Jones is loaning Dye a horse for the occasion, a 16.2-hand Hanoverian named Rondo del Rey (Regazzoni—Daisy). Rondo will also compete with Jennifer Baker in the competition. “It feels incredibly good to have a goal again, to show again,” Dye told the Chronicle. “It might be a disaster, but I’ll be safe and enjoy every minute. The people around Houston have been unbelievably helpful and wonderful, so I feel like it will be like getting under a warm blanket on a cold night.”

St. Georg magazine recently visited Susan Pape and Anna Sophie Fiebelkorn at home to see Germany's hottest youngest stallions Lemony's Nicket and Benicio in training. In their article Fiebelkorn mentioned an interesting fact that Totilas' former owner Cees Visser actually called to buy Benicio, but the owners Callaho stud in South Africa are refusing to sell!

DIXIT - Quotes of the Week

Carl Hester on dealing with the pressure of being a gold medal hopeful at the 2012 Olympic Games in his home country: "Bear in mind I have been doing this for more than 20 years. I was so used to packing up and going home, not being depressed about not being in the prize-giving, because that is what I was used to." (source)

Carl Hester on the rival nations in London: "'Germany still haven't quite got the three 80 per cent horses that we've got, but winning medals, like last year, you don't think about it until afterwards when you get a moment to sit down and reflect." (source)