Dressage Ireland announced the appointment of Vice Chairperson Anne Cahill to the board of Horse Sport Ireland. Congrats!
After getting married, Pferd 24's Nadine Plaster and Simon Kohlenbrenner also acquired a new equestrian facility in the Bremen area. "After many years of searching, our dream has now come true, and we finally purchased amazing equestrian facilities," said Pferd 24. "Besides the dressage horses, our broodmares, foals and growing up youngsters will be stabled there. We are looking forward to these new tasks full of pleasure and motivation. Our equestrian facilities are centrally located between the horse cities of Verden and Vechta, very close to the city of Bremen."
British based French dressage rider Michel Assouline has been awarded the prestigious British Equestrian Federation Medal of Honour for achievements with the British Para-Equestrian Dressage team. The award was presented by Keith Taylor, Chairman of the BEF, at the London Olympia International show on Friday 21 December 2012. Congrats!
Andreas Helgstrand's bereiter Mads Rom, who started working for Helgstrand in February 2012, has decided to resign from his job. "While we were negotiating my wages, I decided to end my position there," Rom told Ridehesten. "We parted in the best understand and I'm happy about my time at Helgstrand. Rom has a small stable together with his wife and will be an independent trainer in the meantime.
Danish dressage trainer Soren Vallentin has resigned as head trainer at the Hjallerup equestrian centre in Denmark to start his own business close to Aarhus. Vallentin is a successful FEI trainer for all levels (Andreas Helgstrand, Victoria Vallentin and Kristine Koch Bejtrup) and is tipped to succeed Vibeke Degn Andersen as the new Danish pony team trainer.
Spanish Olympic team rider Morgan Barbancon so far has been unable to make her show come back since the 2012 Olympic Games as her rising 16-year old Dutch warmblood stallion Painted Black (by Gribaldi x Ferro) has been injured. Morgan was supposed to compete at the 2012 World Dressage Masters in Mechelen during the Christmas holiday, but the announcer there reported that she attended the show on foot because her stallion was home with an injury. On Twitter Morgan wrote that there are "little problems. Hopefully soon fixed." She added, "I miss shows." At the Games Painted Black already struggled to pass the vet check, but the combination went on to score 72.751% in the Grand Prix and 71.556% in the Special. The horse hasn't been out to shows since then.
De Hoefslag reported that the KWPN breeding stallion Uphill (by Oscar x Apollonios xx) has switched riders. Owned by Mr Van Norel, the dark bay stallion was first trained by Emmelie Scholtens and last trained and competed at PSG level by Christa Larmoyeur (Laarakkers). The stallion has now moved to the stables of Diederik van Silfhout, where he will prepare the stallion for Grand Prix.