Anna Abbelen Leaves Hof Kasselmann and Puts Sport Career on Backburner

Dressage

Germany

German professional Grand Prix rider Anna Christina Abbelen has left her job of almost two years, assistant rider at Hof Kasselmann, and is putting her sport career on the back burner.

She has decided to pursue a new path in life, out of the saddle

From Youth Team Rider to Young Professional

The 27-year old Abbelen was the 2014 European Junior Riders Champion on Furst on Tour) and won double silver at the 2017 European Young Riders Championships (on First Lady).

In 2018 she made the transition to Under 25 Grand Prix level with Henny Hennessy and mainly competed on the national Piaff Forderpreis circuit for Under 25 riders in Germany.

In the spring of 2020 she made the move to independence and set up her own business at her former partner Christoffer Lindenberg's yard. Aboard Sam Donnerhall she made the definite transition into the senior Grand Prix division.

In the early summer of 2022 she joined the riders' team at Hof Kasselmann in Hagen and two years in a row got the opportunity to spend winters in Wellington, Florida, competing and assisting in the sales of horses. This year she won the Palm Beach Dressage Derby for the second consecutive time and she wrapped up the season with a CDI Kur to Music victory.

A New Chapter

Abbelen has resigned from her job at Hof Kasselmann at the beginning of April and decided to fold back on her Masters degree in Business and Communication for the next chapter.

"I am trying to settle into a job without riding, an office job dealing with Marketing or Sport Sponsoring, which I studied," Anna told Eurodressage. "For the moment, I'm based back in my home area near Düsseldorf and applying for jobs at the moment."

Abbelen continued, "I try to fully focus on this part of the career which is why I am not riding a lot at the moment, but as I rode my entire life until now, this passion will never go away. Of course at a given point of time i'll come back into sport and professional dressage arenas."

Connected to Horses

Anna on Jida Selly A at the 2024 CDN Wellington

In the past two years, Abbelen sold her horse Hyatt (by Apache x Sandreo) to Lovsta Stuteri for Tinne Vilhelmson to ride and shortly afterwards invested in a young Grand Prix horse, Jida Selly A (by Zardando x Wynton). She also sold her experienced mount Sam Donnerhall at the end of the Florida winter season to Chloe Gasiorowski.

Anna has decided to keep Jida Selly in training with Frederic Wandres in Hagen.

"I am Kasselmann forever thankful for all the great experiences and opportunities they’ve given to me," said Anna. "That’s why i could not imagine a better place with more professional system for my horses, than in Hagen, and therefore I am glad that I could stay there with my private horses. I'm very regularly visiting Hagen, but mostly grooming and watching Freddy ride Selly."