Maddox Mart, the price highlight of the 2025 Aloga Auction, has resurfaced at Helgstrand in Denmark. Gestut Schafhof's KWPN licensed and WCYH competed Maddox Mart (by Hennessy x Bordeaux) sold for a reported 750,000 euro at the auction in May "to a bidder on the auction floor." The black moved to Denmark.
Tragedy for Danish junior rider Frida Løvgreen Jessen. Ridehesten reported that at the 2025 Danish Junior/Young Riders Championships in Vallensbaek her horse Halmtofte Sir Hamilton (by Sir Donnerhall II x Solos Landwind) died in the tent stalls. On Saturday the pair had scored 65.973% in the first round of the Championships but on Sunday morning 1 June 2025 the 11-year old Danish warmblood, who was bred by Hanne Brebøl & Ole Thorsen, suffered a severe colic attack and had convulsions in the stall. The vet was called immediately and arrived after 45 minutes. The horse's condition was so severe he could not be transported to the equine clinic and was put down on the spot. A ruptured intestine is the suspected cause. Frida had only been riding Hamilton for four months.
Ridsport reported that Lasse Forsström (SWE) has passed away at age 76. He was an innovator for Swedish horse breeding through his company, Hippo Essentia, which enriched Swedish breeding with imported frozen semen. It took two and a half years for the Swedish Board of Agriculture to investigate and finally come up with a permit to import frozen semen. Lasse compete with the Swedish state stud Flyinge by gathering private stallion owners and presenting the privately owned stallions in an exhibition tour named "Stallion Train." He bred dressage stallions such as Warsteiner (Michelle Hagman) and dressage mare Tiramsu (Amanda Lindholm).
Spanish Olympian Borja Carrascosa and his life-partner Alexander Brenninkmeijer have acquired the full sister to Borja's number one Grand Prix horse Frizzantino. Mare Bella is like Frizzantino by Finest out of Quality Choice (by Quaterback x Worldly).
The 22-year old Painted Black II (by Gribaldi x Ferro) has been euthanized following an accident in the field. The NRPS, Oldenburg and Swedish licensed stallion broke his leg after spooking from a low-flying Chinook helicopter. Owner and breeder Frank van der Valk is upset as the practice fields of Dutch Airforce are expanding with more air traffic flying over his fields. The breeder told the local newspaper he's angry and wants to be informed by the army when they will be flying. The stallion has gone by four different names: Wiseguy, Willow, Genesis, and Painted Black II.
Yara Reichert has acquired two new horses in Denmark: the foal Valido II RV (by Valverde x Sezuan's Donnerhall) bred by Søren Riis Vester and the 5-year old Danish and Hanoverian licensed stallion Sir Security (by Springbank II x Hesselhoj Donkey Boy).
Right before the CDI Jardy, French Olympian Corentin Pottier had to withdraw himself from the competition because he had to be hospitalised with pneumonia. He ended up spending two stints in the hospital battling his pneumonia. Pottier and his wife, Camille Judet Cheret, are awaiting the imminent arrival of their first child, a baby girl.
Gunter Van Lent, father of Belgian Grand Prix team captain Jeroen van Lent, has been elected as Secretary General of the Belgian Equestrian Federation.
The Italian Senate recently hosted the launch of The Horse Athlete: Protections and Prospects, a bilingual volume examining the legal, scientific, and cultural recognition of horses as athletes. Italy remains the only country to grant horses this legal status. The book builds on discussions from a 2025 conference in Bologna and includes a chapter by FEI Director of Governance Dr Francisco Lima, who also spoke at the launch event in Rome on 6 June. The book is available here.