Eurodressage got an exclusive preview to an awesome video clip of Tinne Vilhelmson practising her brand new Broadway freestyle on Favourit at home in Sweden. Produced by Cees Slings, the "in the saddle" video-clip is yet another teaser for the forthcoming DVD about Vilhelmson and her farm Lövsta Stuteri.
Slings is currently finishing up Favourit's Broadway kur, working on Don Auriello's new music, as well as preparing a kur for Norwegian team rider Cathrine Rasmussen on her new horse Fernandez (previously ridden by Charlotte Dujardin).
"It's a bit hectic in the studio and all my Macs are occupied," Slings told Eurodressage. "The video editing team in one part of our house, the audio team in the studio and I'm in between," he joked. "It's really fun because we have some great clients to work for, beside that we have made some stunning videos last month in Stockholm and Aarhus. Our first video teaser "It's Broadway" was an instant hit and got viewed more than 2000 times in 10 days. We think there's a broad audience interested in this kind of information."
On the "In the Saddle" video clip (embedded in the top right corner of this page), Slings said: "We've invited some friends (all experienced riders, trainers, journalists, and judges) here in the studio and asked them for their comments. They can't get enough of it, experiencing how it feels and looks like when riding passage, piaffe or pirouettes on top-level horses. And of course how it feels when riding the freestyle to music, in training and in competition."
With his first World Cup victory in his career, Swedish Patrik Kittel is on a rise with a new horse, Toy Story. The big bay is owned by his wife's parents Andrew and Carol Oatley and they have added Kittel's name on the passport as future prospect. "Whilst Scandic will be my focus for my Olympic Games campaign next year, Carol and Andrew Oatley have kindly put my name into Toy's passport as a back up if god forbid something would go wrong," Kittel explained.
By the way, Patrik Kittel is also working on brand new music for Scandic. His in-house composer Michael Erdmann is working on a new piece based on music by Billy Idol. We can't wait Patrik's new music, though we really LOVED the energy and swing of his Depeche Mode freestyle! " It is going to be a lot of fun," said Kittel. "Good friend Christoph Koschel has assisted with the lines, and together the entourage surrounding Scandic and I have put a lot of thought and effort into this Kur."
We were pleasantly surprised to find out the "breed" of Patrik and Lyndal Kittel-Oatley's mascot dog Ozzy: The tousle-haired Ozzy is a mix between a Highland Terrier and Saint Bernard.
Jessica Krieg's second FEI dressage pony Ghost has been sold to Austrian Nicola Ahorner. The 8-year old black licensed pony stallion is by Going Top x Dublin. Krieg and Ghost won the 2010 German Pony Championships in Aachen and were fourth in the 2011 Preis der Besten.
Horses.nl reported that Willem Jan Schotte has two new young stars in his stable Begijnhoeve in Retie, Belgium. The Grand Prix rider is now training Chuppy Checker (by Osmium x Balzflug) and Citho (by Johnson x Florestan), which were previously competed in the Pavo Cup by Niels Bax and Judith Ribbels.
Danish young rider Ann Cathrine Elkjaer-Holm has lost her 16-year old Danish warmblood Rohmario (by Rohdiamant x Märchenprinz). The dark bay gelding was competed by Danish junior Kathrine Sumborg Christensen, who has been leasing the horse for the past two years and won team silver at the 2011 European Junior Riders Championships in Broholm, Denmark. The gelding was at the equine clinic for a small treatment when he suddenly sustained an aneurism and died on the spot. Sumborg now has to rely on her young horse for her competition career, though the youngster is not ready for the Junior/Young riders circuit.
Portugal's number one Grand Prix rider of the moment, Gonçalo Carvalho, had to withdraw Christine Jacoberger's Lusitano stallion Rubi from competing at the 2011 CDI Arruda dos Vinhos. The bay stallion suffered from a bout of colic on 1 December. He still had fever the next day. "We decided to retire our horse from the CDI Arruda dos Vinhos to preserve his health for future important events," said the owner.
St. Georg reported that the Holsteiner licensed Grand Prix stallion Carabas will be available again for breeders. Owner Rainer Schwiebert decided to put the stallion back at stud for the 2012 breeding season and semen can be acquired via the Adelheidsdorf Stallion Station. Carabas was trained to Grand Prix level by Olliver Luze and then sold to Andreas Helgstrand, who competed him for Denmark at the 2009 European Championships. The stallion sold to Schwiebert in 2010, who campaigned him at Grand Prix level himself for a brief while.
Now that Dana van Lierop has moved on to junior riders' level, both her ponies have moved on to new riders. Her European gold medal winning Day of Diva returned to her Belgian owner Laviania Arl and her second ride, the chestnut Truly Yours has been sold to Norwegian pony rider Ellen Carina Horn, who is trained by Camilla Kalseth.
The Swedish warmblood stallion Tight Junction (by Temptation x Sandro Hit x Master x Maraton), the crowd favourite of the 2011 Oldenburg stallion Licensing, has been renamed into Tomahawk by his new owner Jamie White-Welling. The bay stallion will stand at stud at Bockmann's and be trained by Markus Gribbe.