Marlies van Baalen's Grand Prix horse Painted Brown has been sold to Germany. Gut Hohenkamp acquired the Painted Black x Lord Sinclair offspring in January and he will be ridden by Sabine Haag Molkenteller.
The 14-year old KWPN stallion Painted Brown was owned by Van Baalen in partnership with Titus de Vries. The latter bought the ownership share from Awater and Van den Brand in 2015. The almost black gelding descends from Borencio's dam line. Under Marlies he was only lightly competed. He made his national small tour debut in 2014 and his Grand Prix debut in 2015. He competed once at international Grand Prix level, at the CDI Perl in September 2015.
Check out the video that popped online of Swedish former team rider Jan Brink riding a 5-year old Briar (by Magini x Kroket). Embedded in the top right corner.
Horses.nl reported that German veterinarian Victor Baltus of the equine clinic Domäne Karthus in Dülmen, Germany, has legally seizeed Morgan Barbançon's Grand Prix horse Girasol by a writ of sequestration. According to Horses.nl, Balthus treated Girasol and Painted Black on numerous occasions and the unpaid bill totaled 40,000 euro. The vet has taken legal steps and Barbançon was given the opportunity to pay the bill until the last weekend of January. On Monday 30 January they still hadn't covered the costs, so Girasol has been sequestered until they are paid. The horse remains at Korenbloem in Weert, The Netherlands, where Morgan is based with her horses.
Jeanna Hogberg's 2014 World Equestrian Games' team horse Darcia still has not returned to the show ring. The now 13-year old Swedish warmblood mare (by Danone x Don Schufro) did its last show at the CDI Mechelen in December 2014 and then sustained a severe injury. The mare spent numerous months at an equine clinic and rehabilitation centre in Belgium and was picked up in August 2015 right after the World Young Horse Championships. However, on her return home in Sweden, she foundered from laminitis. Since then little is known about her rehabilitation. While insiders say the mare has been back in training for a while, Hogberg is not willing to make any statements on the condition of this lovely mare. "I dont have the answers," Jeanna told Eurodressage.
On 23 January 2017, Marco di Paola has been voted the new president of the Italian Equestrian Federation (FISE). With a total of 4,465 votes (59.94%), Di Paola beat outgoing president Vittorio Orlandi (2984 votes, 40.06%). Di Paola will have a big job ahead of him stepping into Orlandi's shoes. The Milan based Orlandi was president of the Italian federation for the past 18 months after the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) took over control of the federation after internal fraud was detected. Orlandi was in charge of dragging Italian equestrian sport out of the worst crisis ever after 9 million euro had been "misplaced" during the reign of the previous president.
Diederik van Silfhout has received the ride on yet another young stallion, the KWPN licensed Impression (by Don Schufro x Ferro). The dark bay stallion scored 78.5 points in the 2016 KWPN Spring stallion performance testing.
De Hoefslag reported that Dutch young rider Suzanne Glas has been hired as an assistent trainer at Van Olst horses. The stallion station lost its main young horse rider Benjamin Maljaars last November and Glas took over in December. She previously trained and worked at Coby van Baalen's yard, competing for instance their young stallion Habibi DVB (by Don Schufro) in the Pavo and Subli Cup. Glas will work alongside British young rider Charlotte Fry.
French junior rider team member Clarissa Stickland has received the home bred 8-year old Floresca (by Florencio x Dacaprio) to her name as her 18th birthday present. Clarissa started the liver chestnut mare herself, and then she was shipped to Coby van Baalen's stable for further training. The mare is now back home in Gex, France, where Clarissa will continue the mare's career alongside competing her junior horse Don Bencedor.
Dutch young rider Zoë de Booij has sold her number one horse Wodan (by Osmium x Ahoy x Senaat) to Norway. The 13-year old Dutch warmblood gelding will be a schoolmaster for 15-year old Norwegian junior Firda Arnesen. De Booij also recently sold her 9-year old Dutch bred Domestic (by Vivaldi) as a sales horse for Florida.