Trakehner stallion Peron died unexpectedly of antibiotics injection

Shortly before the opening of the 1999 European Dressage Championships, Trakehner stallion Peron died of an allergic reaction to an antibiotics injection. Due to a severe wound the stallion was treated with antibiotics which immediately made him go into a shock and die. With his newest rider, the Swiss Françoise Cantamessa, Peron was planning to participate in the Championships at Arnhem from 1st till 4th July. 

Peron made his international debut in 1996 by winning the Festival of Champions with the American Michelle Gibson and by collecting the bronze team medal and individual fifth place at the Olympics that year. Soon after this overwhelming success, the stallion was transported to Germany to be trained by Rudolf Zeilinger who lives near Bremerhaven. His student Ann Kathrin Ehlen made a better pair with the stallion and the combination conquered the German and international dressage world. Before his supposedly retirement, Ehlen and Peron placed second in the Grand Prix Speciale by scoring 70.93% at the CDI Donaueschingen. Owner Dr Carole Meyer-Webster sold Peron to Hermann Trosscher of the breeding centre Hofgut Albfuhren in Dettigshofen, south Germany. Peron would be solely used as a breeding stallion but because of Trosschers good relation with the Cantamessa family, he decided to re-introduce Peron into the international dressage sport. In only half a year Cantamessa and the Mahagoni x Coktail son became Switzerland's strongest combination and was the pillar of the Swiss dressage team for the European Championships.

Read a longer bio on Peron which was featured in Focus in November 1998

Image copyrighted Mary Phelps
 

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