What's Happening in the Dressage World?

May 2008

Renowned Dutch stallion station and horse dealership Reesink Horses is holding on Open Day on June 8, 2008. Reesink offers you the unique opportunity to take a look behind the scene. For this day a diverse programme has been set to getter that the real dressage fanatic cannot miss. The stables at the Molenweg 12 in Eibergen, The Netherlands, will be open from 10 o’clock in the morning. The programm starts at 11h with dressage clinics. At 1 pm, the stallion presentation will take off. Featured stallions are KWPN Licensing Champion and Performance Test Champion Ampère (Rousseau x Flemmingh), as well as Sir Oldenburg, Spielberg and French Kiss. The program will be completed with an auction. Amongst the auction horses some brood mares. It promises to become a spectacular day.

The past month, Eurodressage was on the scene at two international competitions. At the CDI Hagen at Hof Kasselmann, we had a great time shooting Germany's best Grand Prix riders as well as seeing new combinations compete from all over the globe. Ridehesten journalist Thomas Bach Jensen, who has freelanced for Eurodressage before, joined ED's editor-in-chief Astrid Appels for two fun days of Hagen competition. Something not so fun happened at the show, though. Thomas lost his car keys and the spare key was in the Ridehesten office in Denmark. A concerned Maximilian Schreiner helped Thomas break a window of his car and push him inside. Thomas spent the night sleeping in his car with his dog Lola, and, fortunately, got the spare key delivered the next day.

At the CDI Weert, Appels stumbled across Cees Slings, the famous kur composer, who was recently featured in the South China Morning Post in a wonderful article about Kur composition for the Olympic coverage. Cees also revealed that he has been working hard on Beatriz Ferrer-Salat's absolutely fantastic website which includes Slings' music for the Copa Ferrer, a special Spanish national dressage show circuit with finals sponsored by Ferrer-Salat.

British team rider Fiona Bigwood and her partner Danish team rider Anders Dahl have become the proud parents of their second child, Morten Christian Dahl. Fiona gave birth to her baby boy at the end of April, seven weeks earlier than scheduled. The baby is completely healthy but because of his early birth, had to stay in the hospital for two weeks. Born in Germany, Morten Christian is now home with his toddler sister Mette Clare and parents Fiona and Anders.

Dutch junior rider Angela Krooswijk has sold her junior rider's horse Red Diamond (by Rohdiamant) to Nikos Georgopoulos in Greece. Krooswijk has been performing so well on Roman Nature (by Rohdiamant) and Flash (by Fidermark) that she no longer needs to compete the chestnut Red Diamond with which she made the transition from FEI pony level to junior riders' level.

British Young Rider Georgina Somerset has lost her horse Paris , who was put down after breaking his leg. Paris represented Britain with Georgina at the 2005 Junior European Championships and 2007 Young Rider European Championships. Georgina and the 15-year-old 16.2hh Hanoverian stallion by Prince Thatch had recently won two young rider classes at the Under-21 Addington International and were eligible for selection again this year. Georgina’s mother and Paris’s owner Sara Somerset of the Longdean Stud in Sussex said: “The vet thinks he might have had a stress fracture. He was a little tight in the back after Addington, so we took him for a check up. We were at the vets lungeing him when it happened. Not only was he a talented horse, he was such a pleasure to own: so kind, gentle, generous as well as a character. It was ‘Georgie’s’ only advanced horse and it is her last year of young riders. I have been proud of her many times, but I have never been as proud of her as I am at the moment, the way she is dealing with his loss.”

Horsehero.com has filmed Laura Bechtolsheimer and her groom Carole Levitt how they groom Laura's number one Grand Prix horse Mistral Hojris. View this very interesting and fun video clip as Carole demonstrate the Bechtolsheimer method of grooming including 'banging' (this procedure is also known as 'strapping,' a traditional but very effective method to promote circulation and to build muscle).