Laura Tomlinson's Capri Sonne JR Passed Away

Dressage

Great Britain

Laura Tomlinson shared the news on social media that her retired Grand Prix horse Capri Sonne JR has passed away.

Capri Sonne Jr was a 19-year old KWPN stallion by Rhodium out of Wendela (by San Remo x Glendale). He was bred by Renate van Steijn-van der Vliet.

Dinja van Liere's Break Out Horse

Originally owned by Jan Cees van der Endt of company Duval, the stallion was first competed by the Yerseke based Nathalie van der Endt who began riding him in May 2011.

He was then matched to Dutch young rider Dinja van Liere, an assistant rider at Leunus van Lieren's stable Hexagon, and he became her career break out horse. They represented KWPN at the 2012 World Young Horse Championships in Verden and won bronze in the 5-year old division with a 8.94 score. They returned to the 2013 World YH Championships but he did not pass the vet check due to an injury.

In 2014 he became Dutch Indoor Champion at Z-Licht level and then claimed the title at the Dutch Outdoor Championships at ZZ-level. In February 2015 they claimed the VHO Trophy at the KWPN stallion licensing and a month later won the 2015 Dutch Indoor Championships at small tour level.

Laura Tomlinson

In April 2015 Dr. Wilfried and Ursula Bechtolsheimer acquired the then 8-year old stallion as a successor for Mistral Hojris, who was retired from sport in December 2013.

Their international show debut was at the CDIO Hagen in July 2015. Capri Sonne Jr then disappeared from the international show scene for three years. He did one national small tour show in June 2016 and did not return to the arena until November 2017 after Laura gave birth to her second baby.

Laura picked up international showing on Capri Sonne at the end of May 2018 at the Aachen Dressage Days. In 2019 they campaigned in Hagen, Wiesbaden, Hartpury and Hickstead with the latter show in July 2019 being the stallion's last CDI. Nationally they were third in the Grand Prix (71.06%) and seventh in the Freestyle at the 2019 British Grand Prix Championships. In 2020 they did three more national shows in February, July and August.

Retirement

After August 2020 the black stallion was retired from sport when he was diagnosed with a heart murmur and a high performance sport career was no longer in the cards. He spent his retirement happily in the field at Laura's yard.

In 2014 Capri Sonne Jr had been accepted as a breeding stallion for KWPN after a shortened performance test and also got approved for AES and Oldenburg. He did some very light breeding in The Netherlands and the U.K.

Passing

On 29 June Laura posted that "Cas" passed away.

"Over the weekend I lost an old friend. Capri Sonne Jr, “Cas” to us, died in his field," said Laura. "Having retired early due to a heart condition, he lived out his retirement years in the field a few metres from my living room window and was on great form right up until his heart stopped. He was one of my father’s favourite people so I hope they are galloping around the heavenly fields together."

Wilfried, Cas, Laura at the 2018 Aachen Dressage Days

Also Dinja paid tribute to the horse that launched her career.

"Capri was my dream horse, my best buddy, my great love, my once in a lifetime horse," said Dinja. "The bond I had with this horse was so unbelievably strong and tight I don't think I'll ever have the same with another horse.. The sadness when he left is really indescribable as if my heart was ripped out of my body.. And I've always continued to miss him. Capri brought me my breakthrough and fame in the horse world, because of Capri I am where I am today. And this is how I will always remember him."