Dutch Grand Prix rider Tommie Visser no longer is a combination with his number one Grand Prix horse Vingino. Owner Valentijn van Weering has taken over the ride on the 16-year old as Visser moves on with Chuppy Checker CL.
Tommie Visser has been riding the Dutch warmblood gelding Vingino (by Polansky x Variant) for the past 8 years.
The combination was one of the rising Grand Prix stars in The Netherlands back in 2014 but a major dispute with owner Margriet van Beelen resulted in one of the biggest Dutch dressage soap operas of legal disputes, bickering, fighting, shots being fired and punches being thrown. Eventually Valentijn van Weering came to the fore, bought Vigino as his schoolmaster but as soon as the purchase was finalized, the horse moved to Tommie Visser's yard.
In 2015 Visser and Vingino returned to the show ring and they have been competing consistently at a select number of CDI's until 2018. This year they showed in Le Mans, Compiegne, Aachen and Leudelange, which was their last event. Visser finished 8th in the Grand Prix (68.043%) and fifth in the Kur (72.990%) at his last show in Leudelange.
Visser will now focus on his husband Rob van Puijenbroek's Chuppy Checker CL, while Vingino has moved to Van Weering's barn.
"I'm going to cuddle Vingino first for a few months and quietly ask him how he does the Grand Prix movements," Van Weering stated. "And I don't really get them, I can always go back to master Tommie who trained him for 8 years and got the best results out of him. I've already had a few lessons and I got that the master will stay the master. Even though I have the hope, the show ring is not yet a goal for me."
Photo © Astrid Appels
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