Former British team Young rider Charlie Hutton married his long-time girlfriend Abigail Lyle on 5 April 2014. The couple got engaged mid October 2012. Lyle and Hutton both work at the Talland School of Equitation in Gloucestershire. The pair spent a mini-moon in Cornwall as Charlie had to compete at the British Indoor Championships on 11 - 13 April 2014.
The German Championship for Professional Dressage Riders has moved location. Initiated in 1995, the Profi championships had a steady home at Hof Kasselmann in Hagen from 2003 till 2013, but this year they will be held at the equestrian centre Unna Massener-Heide on 24 - 26 April, at the same time as the CDI Hagen.
Austrian junior rider Xenia Herta Schumann has declared for Italy and will ride under the Italian flag as of 2014. "Xenia opted for sole Italian citizenship since she prefers to continue her studies back home in Italy and wants to join Italian armed forces," her mother Sabine Schumann told Eurodressage.
Another German show bites the dust! The German Classics Hanover will not take place in 2014. The show was scheduled to take place in October, but due to lack of funding it was cancelled. Previously the CDI's in Bremen and Lingen for this year were cancelled.
British FEI pony rider Clare Hole has received the ride on Maisie Scruton's former British team pony, Rembrandt (by Renoir). Hole recently took over the ride on her older sister Ruth's FEI pony, Bernwode Brokat, and she will now be adding the black beauty Rembrandt to her collection.
Rider Tanja Krampe has left stallion station Beckmann in Wettringen to return home. Beckmann's 5-year old Westfalian stallion Brisbane (by Belissimo M x Londonderry) has moved in training with Isabel Bache and will no longer stand at stud this season.
Gestut Famos' dressage rider Jessica Andersson has fractured her foot and the open day of the stallion status had to be cancelled because of that. In 2013 Andersson became reserve Bundeschampion in the riding horse division with Coal Diamond (by Christ).
Polish Grand Prix rider Michal Rapcewicz has been sentenced to pay 30,000 euro to Dutch stable owner Yvonne Bos by the Court in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands on 4 April 2014. The Polish rider did not disclose nor pay money in the sale of one horse and three ponies which were owned by Bos. The court awarded Bos approximately 10,000 euro for the horse and approximately 20,000 euro for three ponies which all sold to Italy. Rapcewicz put a part of the sales price in his own pocket without telling Bos. Rapcewicz was already convicted in absentia last year, but this time Rapcewicz had a lawyer present in Leeuwarden. The rider was found guilty on all accounts and also has to pay the legal fees and interests.
Rapcewicz' lawyer P.M. Wawrzyniak notified Eurodressage through Schelstraete lawyers that "in all likelihood Rapcewicz will appeal the decision of the Leeuwaren court and has all confidence that Bos' other claims concerning Ramona and the ponies will also be denied." Wawrzyniak added that the court "denied several of Bos' original claims", while Bos' lawyer Stephan Wensing told Eurodressage that "Bos won on all accounts."
Anky van Grunsven fractured a bone in her foot, playing soccer with her kids. Anky felt some pain in her foot but didn't worry about it. Ten days later she had it X-rayed and the doctors noticed a fracture.
On Saturday 12 April 2014 the members of the Zuchtverband CH-Sportpferde (Swiss Sport Horse federation) voted yes to the inclusion of "Cheval Suisse" bred horses at the Swiss Young Horse Championships held annually in Avenches in the middle of September. Now all qualified Swiss horses, either registered with the "Zuchtverband CH-Sporpferde“ or with "Cheval Suisse“, are allowed to compete at Avenches. Previously Cheval Suisse horses were excluded from the finals.
DIXIT - Alois Podajsky, director of the Spanish Riding School, on the FEI Championships held in Aachen in 1961:
"Today the importance of the judges' judgement is significantly bigger than before the war because mostly the cavalry schools which trained and choose their representatives have closed! Because they raised the national standard, civilian riders only dared competing when they were really ready. Today too often riders compete who are not ready. This on the other hand hand means that dressage competitions are not only a contest, but much more important the guidelines for the correct training if the dressage horse and this has to be recognised in the judges' judgement."
"It was very interesting to observe the horses leaving the arena in free walk after each ride. In my opinion this should be part of the programme and get marks like the entrance because the horse's behaviour shows the quality of his training. A dressage horse trained after the classical principles which is physically and mentally in balance, will leave the arena relaxed and with long strides what could not be observed in many horses here at Aachen. When a dressage horse leaves the arena with hasty irregular strides one has the best proof that the basic training was wrong and included severe mistakes."