Vloet Victory, Medal Winning Dutch Young Riders' Team Horse, Passed Away

Dressage

The Netherlands

Kimberly Pap's medal winning young riders' horse Vloet Victory has been euthanized on 14 July 2020. He was 18 years old.

Vloet Victory was a Dutch warmblood gelding by Jazz out of Gera (by Ulft), bred by J. Vloet in Westerbeek, The Netherlands.

Bours, Hanzon, Van Vliet

Victory had three different rider before he became an international winner under Kimberly Pap.

The horse was originally owned by Dutch junior rider Niki Bours, who got Victory as a foal from her father in 2002. She saddle broke, trained and competed the bay at first.

Theo Hanzon took over the ride and brought him to small tour level in 2013 - 2014.

In October 2016 the horse sold to Joop van Uytert and Renate van Vliet and was renamed Axia's Victory U.S. Trained by Jeff Heijstek, Van Vliet competed him at ZZ-Zwaar and Prix St Georges level in Holland for one year.

Junior/Young Riders Horse for Pap

At the 2017 European Junior Championships

In December 2017 Van Vliet give the ride on Victory to Dutch junior Kimberly Pap, who did not have an international horse to compete after her transition from ponies to juniors in 2017.

With Victory it matched straight away and after winning the Dutch Indoor Junior Championships and two successful CDI's in Nieuw en St. Joosland and Sint-Truiden, the combination was selected on the Dutch team for the 2018 European Junior Riders Championships in Fontainebleau, where they won team gold and placed fourth and fifth in the individual test and Kur. They were absent form the 2018 Dutch Junior Championships in Ermelo.

In 2019 they moved to Young Riders' level and competed in Lier, Joosland, Compiegne and Exloo before getting selected on the Dutch team for the 2019 European Young Riders Championships in San Giovanni in Marignano, where they won team and individual silver and kur bronze. At the 2019 Dutch Young Rider Championships they were fourth.

Their last international was the CDI Aachen in November 2019, where they won all three rounds.

Injury

Pap and Victory at the 2019 European Young Riders
Championships in Italy

Pap and Victory competed in one show in 2020, winning the CDN Tolbert in January, but then Vloet Victory sustained an injury, which ultimately led to the horse's demise.

"He was injured and unfortunately it went the wrong way," Pap told Eurodressage. "He was in a lot of pain and there was no chance for recovery so he got to spend a retirement pain-free. That is why we sadly had to make this choice."

Pap had hoped to ride him in her final year at Young Riders but it was not meant to be.

"We had many beautiful moments together and I enjoyed them very much. We taught each other many things, gave each other trust and achieved goals I didn't dare to dream," Pap said.

Kimberly is now focusing on the two 6-year olds - Turfhorst Jersey (by Vivaldi x Ferro) and Just a Dream STRH (by Dream Boy x Jazz) - she's training towards small tour level.

"For the rest it will be wait and see what comes my way," she added.