Spanish FEI rider María Albiñana Sanz has decided to quit her job working as a lawyer and dedicate herself fully to dressage as a professional rider. The 28-year old has been very successful lately on the young horses owned by stud farm Yeguada Adama de Susa. Albinana represented Spain three times at the European Junior/Young Riders Championships and won team bronze in 2005 at the Junior Euros.
Since 2015 Bahraini princess Noora Al Khalifa has filed six lawsuits against Gert-Jan Van Olst. On 19 April 2017 the Dutch court house in Breda cast its verdicts in one of them and ruled in favour of Van Olst. The suit concerned the sale of the Holsteiner stallion De Chirico (by Dolany). Al Khalifa sued Van Olst for charging an exorbitant commission fee, i.e. 1.2 million euro on one horse. In 2014 Al Khalifa had asked Van Olst to find a small tour horse for her daughter Myriam to ride at the Asian Games. Van Olst found De Chirico at Helgstrand Dressage and the horse sold Al Khalifa. When the Bahraini found out that the original price at Helgstrand was 600,000 euro, she believed that she got swindeled for 1,2 million euro. As Van Olst had bought the horse from Helgstrand and sold it himself to Al Khalifa, the Dutch court ruled that there was no commission fee swindling. Several more lawsuits against Van Olst are still running, including those on the sale of horses Chippendale, Brandon and Eternal Flame, according to De Hoefslag.
Horses.nl reported that Madeleine Witte-Vrees scratched from the CDI Roosendaal because the rider has been struggling with health issues herself. For the past twenty years, Madeleine has had a herniated disc and has to deal with regular back pain. Instead of an operation, she dedided to get nerve-blocked right before the CDI Roosendaal and could not compete there. She continued to train at home and with Cennin aims for a team spot at the 2017 European Championships.
German Under 25 Grand Prix rider Juliette Piotrowski has lost her rising Grand Prix ride Peteman (by Prince Thatch xx x Graf Top). The 12-year old Hanoverian suffered from colic and could not be saved. The horse was bred by Eckhard Goes and owned by Sarah Runge. Elmar Frey competed him until 2013 but most recently Piotrowski was showing him in Intermediaire II classes at local shows in Germany.
American Grand Prix rider Jennifer Hoffmann and her German husband, Grand Prix trainer Jurgen Hoffmann, have relocated again in Germany. The couple was based in the U.S. for almost twenty years before returning to Germany in 2012. They were first based at Gestut Letter Berg, then moved to Austria for a year, then returned to a yard in Dusseldorf and were last at Gestut Wiesenhof. The pair has now found their facility where they can develop their own business properly with clients, students and their own barn block at Gut Hohenkamp in Dorsten.
On 6 June former Italian Technical Dressage Director Laura Conz married her long-time partner Carlo di Bello. Congratulations!
Spanish Olympian Severo Jurado Lopez has been named Andalusian Sport Athlete of the Year 2016. Severo's parents picked up the trophy at the award ceremony. "Being rewarded and valued is always nice, but it comes from my home country, it's double," said Lopez. "My parents collected the prize. This is an award for them as I can never give them back enough what they have done for their children."