Pia Gabriel's Junimond Passed Away

Dressage

Austria

Austrian Grand Prix rider Pia Gabriel has lost her number one Grand Prix horse, Junimond. The 16-year old KWPN gelding passed away on 1 June 2020.

Junimond was a 1.64 cm standing gelding by Jazz out of Surona (by Flemmingh). He was bred by Luuk van Rijn and originally named Zegerwaard.

The horse was first competed in The Netherlands under a third name, Zoeff. In 2011 Birgit van der Drift competed the horse at M-level and became winners of the Hoefslag Dressuur Cup.

Junimond in Austria

In 2013 Zegerwaard sold to Pia Gabriel in Austria and was renamed Junimond.

"He was the first horse I wanted to rename," said Pia. "We chose "Junimond" because both my father and I have our birthday on 22 June."

The combination made its international show debut at small tour level at the 2014 CDI Fritzens. They continued that year with starts in Nice, Kaposvar, and Zakrow.

Gabriel trained Junimond to Grand Prix level herself. In 2017 they made their international Grand Prix debut at the CDI Caselle di Sommacampagne. That year they campaigned at Stadl Paura, Wiener Neustadt, Mariakalnok, Lipica, Brno and Nice.

That year, the pair was submitted to the Austrian Grand Prix squad and finished fifth at the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix Championships.

"It took some years for him to learn the Grand Prix, not because of his body because he was so talented and lovely moving, but because of his head. He was too sensitive and stressed and spooky and tense, very Jazzy. And I trained him myself to Grand Prix Level, which took longer than a professional would need," said Pia, who runs a real estate development company in Austria, alongside owning 6 to 8 horses and managing her family.

In 2018 there were no international shows as Pia gave birth to her daughter that year. The pair returned to the arena at the CDI Wiener Neustadt in April 2019, followed by Mariakalnok and Nice. The CDI Nice in August 2019 was the combination's last international. They went on to place fifth at the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix Championships and competed at national level until February 2020.

Knee Injury

In March 2020 Junimond sustained a severe injury to his knee while spooking during a routine training session.

"We tried everything to help him, but the pain stayed, also with painkillers," Pia explained. "He was suffering so much, we had to decide what was best for him. I was with him on his last journey to heaven."

Although Gabriel will continue her Grand Prix career with her two other horses, the 11-year old Hanoverian mare Sunrise Avenue and the 11-year old KWPN gelding Eros Ramazzotti, she will greatly miss Junimond.

"He was such a gentle horse, like a dog you want to take to bed with you," she reminisced. "But he was also very, very sensitive, not always easy to cope with that."