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Eurodressage
F.O.C.U.S.
Anky van Grunsven about Bonfire
 Bonfire
is, besides Prisco, Anky van Grunsven's second 'big
love' with four legs. She had his name in mind almost
a year before they even bought him. "A racehorse from
the book 'The Black Stallion' was called like that and
I always remembered the name", she said. Anky's father
bought Bonfire without knowing if he would be a true
champion or not. When Anky first saw him he was two
and a half years old and was only ridden for a week.
Yet knowing that Prisco changed that much due to serious
work, good feed, the variation and the competitions,
they took the chance and purchased the Oldenburger gelding.
But one year after Bonfire moved from Germany to the
Netherlands, the youngster had
not evolved as they hoped for. Bonnie's canter was too
hectic, and due to his hot temper and over-demanding
character, his trot looked more like a Hackney's trot.
But what Bonfire did seem to have was his incredible
talent for the difficult Grand Prix movements. Piaffe,
passage, pirouettes were child's play to him. Anky never
had to put any pressure
on him to teach him these exercises, and at age 7 Bonfire
was already running Grand Prix.
Competitions and the exercises were not a problem to
Bonfire, but his fear for the
smallest items near the dressage ring. If he turned
round 180 degrees in the middle of a
test, Anky's dad said a mouse had sneezed. Yet Anky
has never been angry on Bonfire because of this. She
never had the feeling that he was trying to test her;
he just was a
scary cat.
Luckily his extreme reactions of fear have decreased.
Riding to the dressage arena in a normal fashion is
still a great difficulty as he tries to hide himself
behind the back of a familiar person like Sjef Janssen
or Anky's father. In the ring Bonfire looses all his
tension and stays attentive to her aids. That's
when Anky van Grunsven and Bonfire show their moment
of brilliance!
Image copyrighted: Dirk
Caremans - No reproduction without permission/payment
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