Dutch A-team rider Tommie Visser reported that his top Grand Prix horse Vingino has been taken "by force" from his stable by co-owner Margriet van Beelen.
Visser wrote on Facebook that "Margriet van Beelen has taken Vingino by force from his stall and attacked my personnel with a chain. If someone sees Vingino anywhere, please let us know. They have abused my father and the stable girl with an iron chain and steel pipes."
In a reaction to the Dutch equestrian website Horses.nl, Van Beelen commented that "we were just picking up my horse and then Tommie Visser's father shot at us. Fortunately no body got hurt." Van Beelen reported the incident with the police.
The dark-coated gelding Vingino (by Polansky) is co-owned by Tommie Visser and Margriet van Beelen. Because of consistent outstanding results the past few months, Visser and Vingino were submitted to the Dutch A-team and in the running for team selection for the 2014 World Equestrian Games.
"Last week I got the news that she wanted to sell my horse," Visser told Dutch equestrian magazine De Hoefslag. "However we already have an agreement for four years that I can keep on riding the horse. I went to (the) lawyer (...) to check if I'm in my right to keep on riding the horse. A letter was set up and sent to her. She received it today and probably panicked. Maybe it triggered a button switch and then came to pick up Vingino with ten people. They struck my father and a girl in the stable with chains and pipes. I don't know how they are doing right now. I was at the competition in Nieuw en St Joosland today and am on my way home."
Visser has been training Vingino since 2009.
Photo © Astrid Appels
Related Links
Eurodressage Photo Database: Vingino
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