FS Capelli de Niro Finds New Rider in Germany

Dressage

Germany

FS Capelli de Niro, the European Pony Championship silver medal winner of 2024, has found a new rider in Germany. Owner Nora Feldmann has handed over the reins to

FS Capelli de Niro is a 15-year old Rhinelander bred German Riding Pony by FS Champion de Luxe out of FS Donna Gracia (by FS Don't Worry). He is bred by Josef Wilbers at Ferienhof Stucker.

Melanie Miesch

The buckskin pony was bought as a 3-year old by Swiss Melanie Miesch from Nussbaumen, Switzerland. She competed him in his first classes in Switzerland as a young pony from March 2015 till October 2017.

She entered him for licensing as a stallion at the performance test in Bätterkinden (SUI) on 8 February 2015 but very few offspring is one the ground. One of them is the Swiss bred pony mare Cataluna (by Capelli de Niro x Harlekin), who is competing in show jumping with Annik Dudler.

Miesch sent Capelli back Josef Wilbers in Germany to be sold and this is where the Belgian Everars family discovered Capelli in 2018.

Liezel Everars

The pair made its national show debut in the winter of 2018 and did their first international at the CDI Lier in February 2019 but got eliminated from the team test. In the Individual test the next day they were 21st with 65.811%. From there they have only gone upwards.

As of 2019 the pair has been a fixture on the Belgian pony team, competing in five, consecutive European Pony Championships. The pair recorded no less than 91 international competition starts in their career. At the 2019 European Pony Championships in Strzegom, they were 31st in the individual test. At the 2020 Europeans in Pilisjaszfalu they were 19th in the individual test. In 2021 they became a consistently 70+ scoring pair. They recorded their first international victory at the 2021 CDI Meerle, where they achieved a hattrick. At the 2021 Europeans they were 9th in the Kur to Music Finals.

At the 2022 Europeans they moved into 7th place in the Kur to Music and in 2023 they won 8 out of 12 CDI starts. At the 2023 European Pony Championships in Le Mans, they scores bronze in the individual test and silver in the Kur to Music. At the Belgian Pony Championships they won bronze in 2020 and triple gold in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Nora Feldmann

In October 2023 FS Capelli de Niro sold to German pony rider Nora Feldmann, who trained with Semmieke Rothenberger at the time.

With Liezel at the 2023 CDI Aachen Festival

The new pair debuted in November 2023 at the local show in Darmstadt with a 72.150% winning score. In 2024 they aimed for a spot on the German team but missed out on selection after a 13th placce in the Preis der Besten and having to withdraw at the CDI-P Hagen. Their second international was in Kronenberg where they were 3rd, 1st and 11th.

In 2025 Feldmann and Capelli showed at the CDI Lier, where she was 2nd in the team test (72%), won the individual (72.702%) and was second in the kur (77.083%). At the 2025 Preis der Besten they were 7th and 10th. From there they went to the CDI Exloo and at the CDI-P Hagen they were 7th with 70.333% in the team test. They did not ride the individual. At the 2025 German Pony Championships they were 22nd overall. The pair's last show was in Frankfurt in the team masters, which they won

New Rider

With Feldmann having reached the age limit and moved on to horses, she handed over the reins on Capelli to Anna-Yara Sophie Keller.

"Yara and Capelli will now be a new match," Nora explained. "I am very happy for the two and wish them the best for their future. Have a lot of fun with this special pony and I am looking forward to your journey together."

Keller is a member of the Baden Wurttemberger regional pony squad with pony Nacro's Dancer, an 18-year ZFDP pony by Nacromancer in the Dark ax Scampolo. She trains with Hella Kandziora.