Italian Team Horse Rockabella Retired

Dressage

Italy

Italian FEI level dressage horse Rockabella has been retired from competition sport. The 15-year old Hanoverian mare competed at international Grand Prix level and then served a schoolmaster at junior/young riders level.

Rockabella is bred by Guenter Lübbers and is by Rosentau out of Whitney (by Weltmeyer).

Discovered by British Kate Moisson as a youngster and then sold privately through an English horse dealer, the mare ended up in ownership of Italian Grand Prix rider Nausicaa Maroni in 2010. The pair made its international show debut in Vidauban in 2012 at Developing Prix St Georges horse level. Maroni kept her at small tour level through 2013, but that year French Marc Boblet showed her once at the CDI Villach, before returning to Maroni.

In 2014 Nausicaa and Rockabella did the medium tour, but there were no CDI's in 2015. In 2016 The combination made its international Grand Prix debut in Jerez de la Frontera and went on to show at CDI's in Valencia, and Oliva Nova. They won four gold medals at the Italian Championships as a pair.

In 2017 Rockabella turned into a schoolmaster for Nausicaa's son Filippo di Marco and competed at junior level, first at the CDI Caselle di Sommacampagne. Later that year they represented Italy at the 2017 European Junior Riders Championships in Roosendaal, where they finished 56th in the individual test. They also won double silver at the 2017 Italian Junior Rider Championships

In 2018 Filippo and Rockabella moved to Young Riders level which culminated in a 22nd place in the individual test at the 2018 European Young Riders Championships in Fontainebleau, France. It was the mare's last show and she has now been retired from international competition sport.

Maroni is very appreciative of how instrumental Rockabella was in her riding career. "She has taught me a lot, because she has a strong character: the respect for the horses, the time which you can spend hour and hour of work try to find a correct way to do it, the little achievements that you can find every day, more for a "green rider " like me, not for my age, but because I started riding at 30 years old and I worked hard with passion to arrive at this level with the help of my husband," said Maroni.

Rockabella will now become a broodmare.

"After one year at junior level and this year at Young Rider level my family and I decided to stop the show for her," said Nausicaa. "She gave us so much that now we want see her really happy. She is a super mare with a very good bloodline, so I think that she can be a top mummy. Her destiny is with me, for life. Now we keep her in training and in the paddock till next year, because is too late to breed her this season. We wait till next spring."