Robin Hood, Sue Blinks' Last Grand Prix Horse, Passed Away

Dressage

U.S.A.

Robin Hood, the last Grand Prix horse which former U.S. Olympian competed at international level, has passed away. He was 22 years old.

Robin Hood was a Dutch warmblood gelding by Jazz out of Lionne (by Zep). He was bred by T. Van de Berg in The Netherlands.

Pavo Cup Champion

Robin Hood made his first claim to fame as a 4-year old winning the 2003 Pavo Cup Finals.

Under Judith Ribbels, the liver chestnut won the semi finals and got the highest score from guest judge riders Ellen Bontje and Tineke Bartels in the Finals.

In 2004 the horse was in the running to be selected for the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, Germany, but due to his sale to America, the Verden project ended.

Sue Blinks' Grand Prix Hopeful

In May 2004 Sue Blinks and her new sponsor Louise Leatherdale purchased two-thirds of the ownership in Robin Hood from Dutch Annebeth Reesink-Brouwer. Later on Leatherdale, who in 2005 also purchased Leslie Reid's Mark for Blinks to ride, would be credited as Robin Hood's sole owner.

“Robbie was owned by very good friends of mine and their original plan was for him to be ridden by Annebeth,” Blinks explained. “I would help her train him while I was based in Europe for the summers competing with Flim Flam. He was exceptionally talented and we discussed that when he needed the next step in his training, I would pick up the ride on him to develop him into a Grand Prix horse.”

Ribbels and Robin Hood win the 2003 Pavo Cup Finals

In 2004 Blinks retired her number one Flim Flam from competition sport and was looking for a successor. Wwned by sponsor Fritz Kundrun, Flim Flam had taken her to the 1998 and 2002 World Equestrian Games and 2000 Olympic Games.

In September of that year Blinks sold her Florida farm Bedford Mews and moved to Rancho Santa Fe in California.

Team Selection Attempts in 2010 and 2012

The brand new combination made its international show debut at Grand Prix level in July 2007 at the CDI-W Pebble Beach, where they finished third.

In 2008 the Olympic selection trials were held on the West Coast and Blinks and Robin Hood competed at Burbank, Del Mar, and Sacramento. In the summer they went to Europe and showed in Verden and Mondorf Les Bains.

There were no internationals in 2009 for Robin Hood, but he came back in 2010 trying for the 2010 World Equestrian Games on home turf in Lexington, Ky. At the 2010 U.S. Dressage Championships they were 5th after week one, but withdrew from the Kur on week two.

Since 2010 Robin Hood only competed at international shows each year in springtime. In the 2012 Olympic year, Blinks gave it her all for team selected and competed in Del Mar and San Juan Capistrano. At the 2012 U.S. Dressage Championship and U.S. Olympic team selection trial, the pair finished 11th.

The horse's last competition year, as well as Sue Blinks' final time in the international arena (so far) was in 2013. Robin Hood's last CDI was in Del Mar in April 2013, where he finished fifth in the Grand Prix (66.809%) and third in the Special (67.688%).

Out of 34 international starts, the pair won five. Their Grand Prix high score was a 70.723% achieved at the 2010 CDI Caledon in Canada.

Schoolmaster

After Blinks ended her sport career with Robin Hood, the sensitive gelding went on to become a much-loved schoolmaster to youth rider Molly O’Brien. She rode the gelding for three more years until 2016.

“He was by far the smartest horse I ever trained and he learned new concepts really quickly,” Blinks recalled. “He had a hot athleticism paired with a really can-do attitude. He never passed judgment and always seemed to say “Ok! Let’s go!” in a total fulfillment of what he believed he was asked to do. I was very lucky.”

Blinks admits that Robbin Hood's 'Jazz' temperament could be a hurdle at times

"A mother is overly proud and positive of their horse, but he was quirky and sometimes unreliable in the ring," she confessed. Nevertheless, "he always performed with a great sense of humor – I had so much respect for his character. He didn’t have a weak link but piaffe and passage were his favorite and he could perform super pirouettes. He was so expressive and cat-like – he was able to extend and collect with such ease.”