Karen Nijvelt's Elysias Passed Away

Dressage

The Netherlands

Dutch Grand Prix rider Karen Nijvelt had to say goodbye to her recently retired Grand Prix horse, Elysias. He was 17 years old.

Elysias was a Dutch warmblood gelding by Jazz out of Whisper D (by Rhodium x Zandigo). He was bred at Stall De Utrecht in Esbeek, The Netherlands.

Karen Nijvelt

Owned by the rider, Niels Leenaars and Twan van Woensel, the black stallion was produced from young horse level to Grand Prix by Karen Nijvelt.

The pair first hit the spotlight by winning the 2015 KNHS Subli Championships for young dressage horses. They made their CDI debut by winning the 5-year old classes in Pompadour. A year later they were nominated on the Dutch team for the 2016 World Championships for young dressage horses, competing in the inaugural 7-year old division and finishing 12th in the Finals. They ended the year with their international small tour debut at Roosendaal Indoor.

They competed for two years at small tour level (2017 - 2018) after which which a three-year break from international showing followed. Elysias was gelded in that period. Their CDI Grand Prix debut was in Le Mans in June 2021, scoring 68.652% in their first international Grand Prix test.

In the next five years the pair showed at plenty of CDI's in Meerle, Grote Brogel, Le Mans, Lier, Hagen, Compiegne, Exloo, Aachen, Waregem, Troisdorf, Kronenberg, 's Hertogenbosch, Tolbert, Fontainebleau, Falsterbo, Leeuwarden, and Herning. They were part of the Dutch team in three FEI Nations' Cups: aachen 2022, Falsterbo 2023 and Compiegne 2024.

Their highlight year was 2022 when they were long-listed and named second, non-travelling reserve for the World Championships, rode in Aachen, and scored a double win at the CDI Waregem. They were 6th at the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix Championship.

The pair competed in only one CDI in 2025, in Hagen, where they got 66.022% in the Grand Prix

Short Retirement

In October 2026 Nijvelt announced Elysias' retirement, explaining that the work no longer came easy for him and she didn't want to push him.

Unfortunately he didn't get to spend his senior time very long. Nijvelt took to Facebook on 8 April 2026 disclosing that she had to put him to sleep.

"Words cannot express how we feel. The king of the stable is no more," Nijvelt posted. "Last night we had to say goodbye to Elysias. Sadly, his retirement was short-lived. A torn suspensory sustained late last week proved too serious and painful for him to recover from. We are going to miss this magnificent horse so much. All the wonderful memories remain."