It's been a wedding month this September 2024. Former Norwegian youth rider Alexandra Andresen married former American race car driver Colin Thompson. Andresen won silver and bronze at the 2013 European Junior Riders Championships and double silver at the 2014 European Junior Riders Championships on Belamour. She last rode internationally in May 2018 after having developed back issues. Thompson is is the son of 1989 American Racing Series driver John Thompson and winner of a series of GT Cups between 2014-2015. The couple runs a business together, Paramount Wood Co, custom handcrafting wood furniture. They got engaged on 28 January 2023. They had a destination wedding at Villa Cimbrone in Ravello, Italy on 6 - 8 September 2024.
Danish Olympian Anna Kasprzak has married her long-time partner and the father to her two children, Mathias Skov Rasch. Anna, who is the daughter and heir to the Danish shoe empire Ecco, has dropped her father's last name Kasprzak for a combination of her mom's last name and her husband's. She now goes by the name Anna Toosbuy Rasch.
More wedding bliss in the U.K. Young British Grand Prix rider Lewis Carrier married Olivia Robertson in a lavish ceremony at Kin House in Wiltshire. The couple first met during the 2021 European Under 25 Championships in Hagen where Lewis competed on Team GB and Olivia groomed for tem mate Alexander Harrison. Six months later he proposed in Hogarths Hotel’s fairy lit garden sin February 2022. They run a dressage training business in Malmsbury, U.K.
German based South African Grand Prix rider Gretha Ferreira-Hausmann gave birth to her second child, a baby girl on 11 September 2024. AbbY-Louise Hausmann came 2.5 weeks early and was born at 23h30, weighing 3.690kg and measuring 50 cm. "She didn't want to wait any longer to come meet the world," said Gretha. "We are both happy, healthy, and us all,including Leotjie, just oh so utterly in love with you already, little girl."
Meanwhile in Germany, Johanne Pauline von Danwitz married her partner Alex Moll. The couple celebrated their wedding in a civil ceremony on 23 July, but held their big wedding celebration at Villa Rotschild in Koenigstein near Frankfurt on 14 September 2024. Von Danwitz was the 2013 European Junior Riders Champion. After that year an 8-year break from international showing followed, for her to return to the CDI ring in 2021 and 2022 aboard F-Type OLD which is now being shown by trainer Heiner Schiergen.. Schiergen, her previous trainer Warwick McLean and Louisa Luttgen, the owner of Habitus with whom she won triple gold at the 2013 Euros, were in attendance at the wedding. Her husband Alex Moll runs an exclusive car dealership.
Christian Springborg, a young horse handler who has worked for Blue Hors before becoming breeding manager and consultant att Helgstrand Dressage for almost six years, has found a new base for his independent operation. In April 2023 Springborg went solo, yet briefly worked for a well known breeding farm in the Copenhagen area. Now he has partnered with breeder Henrik Hansen. He and his pregnant girlfriend Bianca Lunn Hvolbøll moved to HH Horses in Solrød Ridehesten reported.
In Portugal young Grand Prix rider Francisco Vila Nova married his high school sweetheart Helena Gomes on 14 September 2024. The couple got engaged in January 2023 and had already been dating for nine years. The day started with a grand church wedding followed by a lavish party into the night.
In the U.K. Ursula Bechtolsheimer is getting sued for £200,000 by a former stable hand, George Day, who got kicked in the face by a horse and claims his "Olympic dreams have been shattered and has been left with few other job prospects," as the Telegraph stated. The accident happened in 5 March 2021 while hand grazing a horse. He was rushed to the Great Western hospital in Swindon with severe facial injuries and underwent surgery. According to the Telegraph, Bechtolsheimer has admitted some liability for the tragic accident, but wants Mr Day to prove he "was a highly skilled rider, who had competed up to the Prix St George level, was riding professionally at the time of the accident, and that his proposed career path would have included the possibility of competing at Grand Prix dressage and beyond." Day never competed internationally as there is no record of him in the FEI database. His British Dressage show record reveals he has competed up to Advanced Medium level in 2014 and rode one Prix St Georges test in August 2014. His last show was at elementary level in August 2020, seven months before the accident.
Former Canadian Junior and Young Riders team member Nicholas Hansen married his partner Hanna Bundy, on 31 August 2024. The couple celebrated their union at Nic's family farm in Catawissa, PA, USA. Hanna is an international and Canadian squad listed eventing rider, while Nicholas has shown internationally up to small tour level. His last CDI was in Devon in September 2017 aboard Eliane Cordia-van Reesema's Jewel's Amethyst. The couple has been together for eight years and met while training with Canadian Olympian Jacqueline Brooks, who officiated and was the MC at the wedding. The couple runs a breeding farm and Nicholas also trains an CVI vaulting team.