Morgan Barbançon Retires Sir Donnerhall II from Competition Sport

Dressage

France

French Olympian Morgan Barbançon will be retiring her number one in the barn, Sir Donnerhall II, from competition sport. The 20-year old stallion had his last trip down the centerline at the 2026 World Cup Finals in Fort Worth on 11 April 2026.

Sir Donnerhall II is a 2006 born Oldenburg stallion by Sandro Hit out of Contenance D (by Donnerhall x Feldherr). He is bred by Heinz and Maik Kanitsky.

Licensed Stallion in Celle

The bay stallion was licensed at the 2008 Oldenburg Stallion Licensing in Vechta as a premium stallion and moved to the Celle State stud.

He did the 300-day stallion performance test in Adelheidsdorf and scored an index of 127.42 points. He got 143.03 (2nd) for dressage and 93.59 (25th) for show jumping. He only did a limited amount of breeding in his career, siring three licensed sons (Sonnenschein, Spongebob, Swag), all born in 2010. His most successful offspring in sport is former Swedish Grand Prix team horse Astoria.

He was first competed as a 3-year old by Wolfhard Witte and made it to the 2009 Bundeschampionate, where he finished 6th. In 2010 Witte showed him at two local shows.

Move to Denmark

In 2011 he was offered for sale at the Oldenburg Spring Elite Auction in Vechta, where he sold to the Nyrerod family from Sweden for 250,000 euro but moved to Helgstrand Dressage in Denmark.

He came in training with Thomas Sigtenbjerggaard, who first showed him in May 2012 in Denmark in the 6-year old tests. They competed at the 2012 World Young Horse Championships in Verden and won bronze. At the 2012 Danish Young Horse Championships they were 5th.

Sigtenbjerggaard last competed Sir Donnerhall II in January 2013 at Prix St Georges level in Hjallerup, scoring 76.842% for a win.

Morgan Barbançon

The tall dark bay stallion sold to Morgan Barbançon. She had left her coach Anky van Grunsven and moved to Helgstrand in Denmark to train with Andreas Helgstrand. He offered her Sir Donnerhall II and the Barbançon family bought the 7-year old stallion.

In July 2013 Morgan and Sir Donnerhall II were set to compete in the small tour at the CDIO Falsterbo in Sweden, but the stallion had a severe accident in the stable, which left his life hanging in the balance. While rolling in his box he got his left hind leg trapped between the metal and wood compartment of the stall and panicked, scraping off a patch of skin and flesh to the bone. He required surgery and a long rehabilition. In 2014 he contracted Lyme disease on top, but the stallion persevered and came back to full health.

The duo made its CDI debut in November 2014 at small tour level in Maastricht, followed byy Roosendaal Indoor and Mechelen. Their first international Grand Prix was at Under 25 level in April 2016 in Oliva Nova, Spain. At the time Morgan focused on Girasol as her senior Grand Prix tour horse. They did their first senior Grand Prix in July 2016 in Deauville and booked their first CDI victory at the CDI-W Mariakalnok.

French Team Horse

Their big break through came in 2018 when they began trainining with Alex van Silfhout and Kebie van der Heijdenb while being based in Weert, The Netherlands. They competed at the 2018 World Cup Finals in Paris, placing 10th, and in July they won the 2018 French Grand Prix Championships. At the end of 2018 Morgan moved her horses home to Geneva, Switzerland after having been based in Holland for eight years aside from the short Danish intermezzo. Most recently she has been working with Gareth Hughes as her coach.

As of 2019 Barbancon and Sir Donnerhall II have been fixtures on the French team. The pair represented France in six World Cup Finals: 2018 (10th), 2019 (14th), 2022 (7th), 2023 (10th), 2024 (disqualified), 2026 (13th).

They competed at the 2019 and 2021 European Championships finishing 27th and 23rd in the Special. At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo they were 24th in the Grand Prix (70.543%). At the 2022 World Championships in Herning they scored 71.009% to place 32nd in the Grand Prix.

At the 2023 Europeans, Morgan rode Habana Libre E and she missed out of the 2024 Olympics due to a suspension. Aboard Sir Donnerhall II she recorded 159 international starts and 15 wins.

Retirement

The 2026 World Cup Finals were Sir Donnerhall's final show.

"He has given me everything, 14 years of partnership," said Barbançon in Fort Worth, moved to tears. "I just get really emotional about him. He just makes me very very proud. I have the horse of a lifetime. I hope that one day I'll get (another) horse that does half of what he did."

Morgan is now based with her horses in Belgium. She was initially in Massenhoven, but has just moved to a newly bought farm in Geel. She sold her second GP horse Habana Libre E in 2025, but has Magic Mike (by Spielberg x Patijn) as her up-and-coming big tour horse.