Frank van Dijck died in car accident

On Sunday evening July 16, 2000, Belgian dressage rider Frank van Dijck died in a car accident. While driving from the CDI-PJY Lanaken to the Belgian coast to spend a two week vacation there with his wife and two children, Van Dijck crashed his car on the expressway to Knokke and died instantly.

His best friend and business associate Stefan van Ingelgem was deeply struck by this tragedy. "We shook hands and I told him 'see you on Thursday' right before he left the show ground in Lanaken," Van Ingelgem grieved. "It's hard to find best friends but he was really my best friend, especially because we both worked with horses." 

Van Dijck was known as a successful dressage rider and inventive horse dealer. As a multiple Belgian champion with several young horses, Van Dijck was respected amongst his fellow competitors. With Kurioso (by Furioso Z) and with Ritmeister (by Rosenkavalier) he won the gold medal at the Belgian Championships in the 5 and 6 year old division. Further, he gathered bronze and silver medals on young horses Welther (by Weltmeyer), Le Farmer (by Farmer) and Laurier (by Farmer).

Ritmeister, the horse which gave him international recognition at CDI shows, was recently sold to Florida, USA, where the black approved stallion will pick up a young rider's career. Van Dijck recently bought 20 highly talented German foals of which one De Niro-get absolutely stands out in his collection. The Belgian equestrian world loses one of its most known and respected dressage riders.

Image by Dirk Caremans