Where Are They Now? Erlentanz

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F.O.C.U.S.

In 2019 Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin competed Sonnar Murray-Brown's Trakehner Erlentanz on the international Grand Prix scene. In 2020 Sonnar showed the elegant gelding himself through May 2021. The horse totally disappeared from the competition world. Where is he now?

From Germany to Great Britain

Erlentanz is a 2007 born Trakehner by Latimer out of Eldana (by Benz x Falke). He is bred by Ingrid Lejeune-Dirichlet in Germany.

The bay was first competed by Zara-Adina von Zitzewitz in Germany in 2012 when the horse was five years old. She showed him at local events between May 2012 through July 2013 from A- to M-level.

He sold to Brit Sonnar Murray-Brown who premiered Erlentanz in Germany in July 2014 at the local show in Beckum-Unterberg at M-level. He then took the horse to the 2014 Trakehner Championships in Hanover. Their first show in the U.K. was in February 2015 at Advanced Medium level.

The pair moved to small tour level in the late spring of 2015 and finished fourth at the 2016 British Small Tour Championships. They did their first Grand Prix test in July 2017.

Sonnar trained with Charlotte Dujardin at the time and the duo made its international show debut at the CDI Keysoe in March 2018. They posted 68.891% in the Grand Prix. That year they also went to Compiegne, Bolesworth, and Hartpury. At the latter show they got 71.609% in the Grand Prix.

Charlotte Dujardin

At the start of March 2019 Charlotte Dujardin took over the ride on Erlentanz as Murray-Brown was recovering from a broken leg. She debuted him at the CDI Keysoe to a 73.413% followed by the CDI Windsor, where they got 78.087%/

"I helped him (Sonnar) with the horse anyway, and I had ridden him a few times, but it’s one thing just popping on a few things and another going in there and doing that (competing at the CDI Windsor)," Charlotte explained at the time. "Because I’ve trained him and ridden him a bit, that definitely helped me – I wouldn’t do that on a horse I didn’t know. I knew his strengths and his weaknesses already from Sonny, and so it made it easier to just get on."

Dujardin then took the horse to the CDI Bolesworth for a 75.717% GP score and was nominated on the British team for the CDIO Aachen, choosing to spare Mount St. John Freestyle who was heading to the European Championships in Rotterdam that summer. In Aachen, Dujardin and Erlentanz scored a whopping 79.152% in the Grand Prix, 80.277% in the Special, and 83.995% for a 5th place in the Kur.

These results made Erlentanz one of a handful of horses in the world able to score that highly.

Back to Sonnar

The ride on Erlentanz returned to Sonnar and he made his come back at the CDI Le Mans in February 2020 to a 73.652% Grand Prix score. In Lier they upped it to 74.174% and at Keysoe to 74.261%. Then the corona lockdown came. They showed again in October 2020 in Keysoe for a 75.500%, making them an exciting candidate for the British Olympic team long list.

In the spring of 2021 they went to Hagen for two Grand Prix starts with 69.348% and 70.261% as scores. Their last CDI start in their career was three weeks later in Wellington Heckfield, where they got 70.870% in the Grand Prix.

Erlentanz disappeared from the show scene entirely. In the summer of 2022 Sonnar told Eurodressage he hoped to return to the competition ring in 2023, but that did not come to be.

In August 2023 Sonnar posted a video of him riding the gelding in a Stephen Clarke clinic at Matt Hicks equestrian in Hurstbourne Priors. Eurodressage asked him about a potential come back to which Sonnar replied, "I’m not sure about competing I have no definite plans yet. Was great to ride him out in front of an audience again. He enjoyed himself for sure."

Erlentanz did not return to the competition ring until May 2025 after a four-year hiatus. He scored 71,980% in a Grand Prix at Somerfield Park. It was the horse's last show.

Where is He Now?

In April 2026 Erlentanz suddenly resurfaced at Snowhill stables in the U.K. where he moved to as a schoolmaster for Thomas Blazey-Standing.

"Still pinching myself that we've been trusted with this absolute superstar," Thomas wrote. "So ready to learn all he has to teach me. Endless training and lessons to be had to do him any sort of justice."

Blazey-Standing told Eurodressage, "I have been riding him around 4 months. Sonnar still owns him. I have him now as a kind of semi retirement for him. He now enjoys lots of time riding on the beach, and I am learning the more advanced movements from him as he is such a school master."