After six years on the job, Spanish assistant rider Ivan Nieto Sanchez has decided to go independent and leave long-time employer Hubertus Schmidt.
From Bilboa to Paderborn
Originally from Portugalete, a small town near Bilbao, Spain, Nieto first made the big move to western Europe at the beginning of the 2010s. He started working at dressage breeding farm Gestut Sonnenhof in Belgium, but was then briefly drawn back by the sun and worked for a year at Yeguada Mile in Spain until in 2014.
He moved to Germany and worked at Irina Zakhrabekova's yard near Düsseldorf, Germany, for a year and a half under the watchful eye of trainer Jan Bemelmans. In 2015 he was hired as an assistant rider by Hubertus Schmidt after Finnish Emma Kanerva left that job.
Fleyenhof
At Schmidt's Fleyenhof, Nieto got the chance to ride and compete famous breeding stallions, talented dressage horses, as well as client's horses. He earned his German "Golden Rider Badge" after scoring 10 S-level victories.
His national show career in Germany was thriving and Nieto rode internationally four times in six years. He made his CDI debut in April 2015 while still working for Zakhrabekova. Under Hubertus' tutelage he showed in three more CDI’s, including CDI Verden and Herlake on Dunensee in 2021.
Independence at Van Laak's
Nieto has now decided to make the step to independence and will set up his own business at Norbert Van Laak in Möhnensee (Soest), re-uniting with his life partner Daniel Duarte, who works at that yard.
"It has been a long time that my wish one day was to be independent and create my own business," Nieto told Eurodressage. "After 6 years riding by the side of Hubertus I now feel like I am ready and it is the right moment to do it, professionally and personally. It has been a great pleasure to be able to work and learn so much from Hubertus and Doris, we have a great relationship, Hubertus understood and supported my decision . We will be somehow still doing things together."
Nieto will not start from scratch. "There a couple of horses that I am currently training and they will come with me," he added.
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