His work has taken him to hotspots of conflict all around the globe including Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Liberia, Iraq, Kosovo and the Persian Gulf as well as to the heart of Olympic and FEI sport. Award-winning photographer, Jim Hollander, has worked for UPI and Reuters, and was appointed Staff Photographer for EPA covering Israel and the Palestinian Territories in 2003. He has seen a lot in his 71 years.

But one of the most treasured experiences of his exciting lifetime is a 1,000-kilometre ride across Spain that he undertook back in 1973. It took four weeks to cross from Pizarra to Pamplona, and it epitomises the adventurous spirit of an extraordinarily creative family.

Much of the magical story is driven by the character and energy of Jim’s father, Gino Hollander, a decorated WW2 veteran who worked alongside his second wife Barbi as a film-maker before deciding to become a painter. Yes, just like that…. 

Artist

“It was his way, he wanted to be an artist so he made himself one. His philosophy was that if you want to do something and you work at it you’ll get good at it, so you should always do what you want to do. He had a cavalier way of enjoying life to the fullest and he imparted that to the rest of us”, says the American-born photographer. Clearly Gino’s work ethic wasn’t lost on his children. “It wasn’t easy for me to become a photographer but I wanted to do it and I stuck with it and eventually got a break. There were plenty of hard knocks along the way, but I didn’t give up!”, Jim adds.

Gino became a leading light of the abstract expressionism movement of the 1960s and opened a gallery in Greenwich Village, New York. Then a year later he suddenly decided to uproot his entire family and move to Spain. “He packed up three young kids, a couple of dogs, a cat and his wife and took a boat to Europe. While the boat was docked in Gibraltar he visited Torremolinos where he met a real-estate developer who took him to a 25-room house that came with a gardener, a cook and a maid - all for $120 a month - and he decided to take it!”, Jim explains. Thus a Spanish love-affair began that lasted 30 years for his father and continues to this day for Jim himself.

He was just 12 years old when he visited the family in Spain for the first time in 1963. And it was 10 years later that Jim came up with the idea of the long-distance ride. Gino wasn’t keen on the idea to begin with however. “My father and the rest of the family had been on several horse trips from Malaga to Seville so locally we were known as a horse family. But it was just three years after my brother Marc died in an accident, and Dad said it wasn’t the right time for him”, Jim explains.

Marc, four years his senior, was a trainee photographer and the one who inspired Jim’s fascination with the camera lens.  

A friend

With no great enthusiasm coming from the rest of the family Jim invited a friend, Peter Whitehead, to join him instead. “He was a dairy farmer from Vermont who never sat on a horse before, but when he showed up we rode for a month and he picked it up quickly. We bought supplies and equipment and spent hours looking through maps and making our plans”, Jim explains. In the end the lure of the proposed adventure proved too much for Gino and the rest of the crew, and six riders set out on 16th May 1973 while Jim’s stepmother, Barbi, followed in a Volkswagen Camper “with pots and pans and sleeping bags and food for the horses”.

Gino’s horse was Marejada, Jim rode Flamenca and Peter was partnered with Alexi. Jim’s sisters, Lise who was 16 years old and Siri who was 14, rode Gaspacho and Yael while his younger brother Scott, aged just 11, rode an un-named mare. They set out in appalling weather conditions, torrential rain creating a sea of mud, but the trip was underway at last. And what an adventure it was. 

Armed with a diary, a Leica M5 camera and rolls of film, Jim kept a record of the extraordinary journey. He didn’t know it at the time, but it would mark the beginning of the documentary photography career that he would follow for the rest of his life. 

Inched across Spain

“We basically took off with a Firestone map of Spain in pouring rain and day by day inched across Spain, almost to the French border. We spent three weeks in the saddle with about a week of downtime drying ourselves out and resting the horses.” It was during the final years of the Franco era, and the country they passed through was very different to today. 

“We rode through the back country and saw places most tourists would never get to see. Some of the towns don’t exist anymore because so many rural farmers moved to the cities and now they are dead towns. We camped out almost every night, cooking food with the horses tied up close by, we lived like cowboys and in the mornings we would break camp and ride north, asking a farmer how to get to the next village. He’d tell us to follow that path, go as far as the big olive tree and then turn right. I don’t know if you could that today in Spain because there are so many more fences. The people are still really hospitable but there are less farmers and more private land with ‘no trespassing’ signs”, Jim explains.

After three weeks together some stresses began to develop amongst the group, “so Peter and I broke off and we did the last week with just the two of us, so we arrived in Pamplona before the rest. That last week was really exciting, we rode for hours, with nowhere to sleep and got caught in the rain again. But there was a great sense of achievement at the end”, he says.

And when they all got together again the stress was gone, and it was time to celebrate.

Jim continued riding until his father left Spain in 1991 and went back to America. Gino passed away four years ago at the age of 92, and was painting until the day he died. 

Returned

The rest of the family also eventually returned to the US while Jim lives in Jerusalem, Israel. 

“Siri is a great horsewoman and owns a few horses in New Mexico. She’s a very successful sculptress and specialises in horse sculptures. And Scott is an amazing rider as well. He’s 12 years younger than me and works as a grip in the movie business, makes commercials and is a rock climber and skier. The three of us are very creative”, Jim says. 

In recent years Jim’s connection with horses has been mostly from behind the lens, covering the equestrian events at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. He was commissioned by the FEI for the Final of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ series in Barcelona on three occasions and the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Paris in 2018 and was looking forward to returning to Barcelona in 2020 until the pandemic got in the way. 

He says he has enjoyed capturing the great rivalry between Dressage riders Isabell Werth from Germany and America’s Laura Graves and that his Jumping hero is Great Britain’s Nick Skelton. He loves “shooting” horses - “when you are close with a long lens and you can see the horse’s muscles ripple and smell their sweat it all speaks about the essence of the sport”, he says.  

He believes he owes a lot of his success to the experience gained on what the family still describe to this day as “the Hollander horse trip”. Using his diary and photos, in 1993 Jim published “From Pizarra to Pamplona - Across Spain on Horseback” to recall it in all its glory. The book is as much a homage to his late father as the story of a shared experience, and it captures a moment in time when horses and people could still roam the Spanish countryside in a way that would be impossible today.

In the epilogue is an extract from Barbi’s own book “Tapestry” written in 2008 in which she writes….. “mile after mile, day after day, we traveled with the soft clop, clop of horses’ hooves beating out its mesmerizing rhythm; ever-changing cloudscapes, flights of birds, past orange grove and olive grove, fields of tender, pale, new green barley struggling up in threadbare fields, then mile upon mile of lovingly-tended grape vines. Off in the distance a sleepy village - always off in the distance…..No supermercados here. No McDonald’s. This forgotten land, smouldering under the luminous Iberian sun, a shabby remnant of a proud past still living in another century, still going on about its daily life, unchanged, these many years”.

No wonder Jim treasures the memories……

It’s probably not that surprising that David O’Connor’s career thrived throughout the era of long-format Eventing, because if you’ve crossed the vast expanse of North America on horseback when you’re just 11 years old then going the distance is unlikely to be daunting at any stage of your life. 

The 2000 Olympic Eventing champion retired from international competition in 2004, served as President of the United Stated Equestrian Federation (USEF) for the next eight years and was inducted into the United States Eventing Association’s Hall of Fame in 2009. He now trains young horses, coaches riders and designs courses, and he sees it all as a natural progression. “I’m in this game 45 years, and as time goes on you move on to the next level. For me that’s the training side of the sport, and I really enjoy it a lot”, says the man who became Chair of the FEI Eventing Committee three years ago.

He’s travelling to a show the day I call him up to ask him about his life and times. So how did he get started with horses? Did his family have a generational connection with them? 

“No, my mum was brought up in suburban London (GBR) and she rode a bit, but it was only when she came to the US that she really got into it. My father wasn’t horsey at all, he worked in the Navy, but my brother Brian and I went to the local Pony Club when we were kids and that’s how it all began”, he explains. Mum, Sally O’Connor, would go on to become a Dressage rider, judge and author while Brian’s voice is one of the most recognisable on the US equestrian commentary circuit. David, meanwhile, became a superstar Eventing athlete, greatly admired for the long and successful partnerships he established with a superb string of horses.  

Ambitions

He says he didn’t have big ambitions as a child. “We weren’t wealthy so I never thought horses would be my life”, he explains. But when he was 17 years old fate intervened. Spotted by legendary coach Jack Le Goff, he joined training sessions for development riders staged at the USEF Training Centre in Massachusetts (USA) and was invited to stay on. “It was an amazing opportunity, a door that opened for me and I kinda ran through it as fast as I could!”, David says. “I was there for four-and-a-half years, and without that opportunity I’m really not sure where my life would have gone”.

His teenage heroes included Jimmy Wofford, Mike Plumb “and Bruce (Davidson) who was dominating the sport across the world at the time”. David has maintained a lifetime connection with Jimmy, who he describes as a mentor and great friend. Like Jimmy, David’s career almost completely embraced the long-format era of Eventing which was very different to the scaled-back test horses and riders face today.

The old three-day formula consisted of Dressage on day 1 followed by Roads and Tracks, Steeplechase, more Roads and Tracks and then Cross-Country on day 2, with showjumping on the third and final day.

“I was the last long-format winner at the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000) and World Championships (Jerez 2002) and I experienced the change to the modern-day sport”, he points out. “It’s certainly different doing a 13-minute course back then and an 11-minute course now. Today the intensity is higher, so horses can get out of breath quite quickly if you don’t manage your speed. Back then we managed galloping all the time, the horses were very fit, more thoroughbred types. There are horses that are not as thoroughbred that can do quite well in a 4-Star today but they can’t manage a 5-Star. Now it’s all about turning and accuracy and having horses jump narrow fences….the rideability is more important than the athletic ability, whereas the athletic ability was more important back then. And there’s a huge difference between showjumping after cross-country and showjumping before”, he adds.

Brilliant horses

David had many brilliant horses, the best-remembered possibly his Olympic rides Giltedge and Custom Made. At the 1996 Games in Atlanta he rode Giltedge to team silver and Custom Made to individual fifth place, and four years later Custom Made claimed individual gold in Sydney (AUS) while Giltedge was on the bronze-medal-winning US side.

So how would these two special Irish-bred horses cope with the challenges of the modern sport?

“Giltedge would be just as successful now as he was back then because he was extremely rideable and a very good showjumper, in fact he would have an even better career now because he would have been totally in the game! Custom Made would still be a big 5-Star horse, he would revel in it just like he did because his big wins were all over galloping courses like Badminton, Kentucky, the Sydney Olympics, but probably not so much at Olympic Games and World Championships because the courses are getting shorter and more twisting and turning and that wouldn’t play to his strengths.

“One of the great things about these two, and many of our other horses like Biko and Prince Panache, was that they stayed sound and played the game for so long. They were Irish-bred and we can’t afford to lose the genetic advantages that the Irish bloodlines bring, like longevity and athleticism, which maybe some of the other countries don’t have”, he says. 

When it comes to longevity, Custom Made was a perfect example, only passing away last year at the ripe old age of 34. 

Prepare

So how did he prepare horses like these two all-time greats? “With a lot of long, slow work three or four months away from the event to put a base on them, and faster work closer to the competition”, he explains. The long, slow work was exactly that. “Sometimes you’d spend two hours on them riding up and down hills, trotting, slow cantering and walking. Some of the kids coming up now don’t want to put that work in”, he points out. 

And did the horses have similar personalities? “No, Custom Made (aka Tailor) had tremendous strength and scope and the most unbelievable gallop. He never got tired in his life and was an incredible athlete but he was quite sensitive about a lot of things and when he got nervous he got very strong.

“But I never had a horse try as hard as Giltedge, he always rose to the occasion. There was this super-power thing that happened at a competition, he would turn into a horse that fought for you more than any other horse I’ve had in my life. That’s why he became such a great team horse for the US. I only ever had one rail down in showjumping with him and he was always going to be in the top 10 - he was one of those troopers you could always rely on”, David says proudly.

He relishes the relationships he had with both horses. “At the beginning of their careers I felt they were part of my career but towards the end of their competitive cycle it was me who was part of theirs! I just had to do my job and let them get on with theirs. When they retired we gave demonstrations and they became even more famous. They had a huge fan-club, people just loved them, and not many horses get that because there are not a lot of really famous horses around anymore - I think their longevity had a lot to do with that”, he comments.

Family ride

When I ask him about the family ride across the United States of America I can tell that there’s a determined streak in the O’Connor gene pool. He recalls a family dinner during which his mother announced her plan. “She had this romantic image of the US as the Wild West….John Wayne and all that. We lived in Maryland on the East Coast and she came up with the idea that we should ride to California on the West Coast, and the more people said it couldn’t happen the more she was determined it would. It was an amazing decision for her to make!”, David says with a laugh.

So on 13th May 1973 they set off on the 3,000 mile trip that took 14 weeks to complete. “I was 11, Brian was 13 and it was just the three of us. We ended up going to Oregon instead of California because otherwise we would have had to cross the desert, and we didn’t quite make it to the west coast because Brian and I had to go back to school at the end of August”, David says. Brian’s horse did the full distance while David and Sally both needed remounts en route, turning the original two out to rest until they were collected on the way home. 

“My mother knew people across the first-half of the country and we stayed with them about every 10 days and gave the horses a couple of days off each time. But we didn’t know anybody beyond the Mississippi River so we just knocked on people’s doors when we got to the end of the day, explained what we were doing and everyone East of the river said “you’re going WHERE?!!” and everybody West said “you’re from WHERE?!!” We were doing 30-35 miles a day and local newspapers started following us. 

“It was an amazing trip for an 11-year-old kid and taught me a lot about spending time with horses and appreciation of the land and how people make a living. And it gave me a sense of time, not control over time but how to enjoy being in the moment, and that has always stayed with me. It was 47 years ago, and I still think about it often”, David says, clearly enjoying the memories.

Bitless

I ask David about riding without a bit in the horse’s mouth. He’s quite an advocate for bitless riding, but he points out that it has its limitations when it comes to competition.

“We start all of our young horses in rope halters without a bit, and when we are going on a quiet hack most are in just a halter, and we practice this a lot. They learn to go, stop, turn, rein-back and all that, so when we put a bit in their mouth there is no anxiety about it.

“But there’s a huge difference when you are out on a course for 8 to 10 minutes galloping at a speed of 570 metres a minute. You can’t compare riding in a ring or quietly hacking with the need for the horse to be able to answer cross-country questions - they are two totally different things. From a risk-management point of view there is no way I would ever go cross-country for miles without having a bit”, he says.

Admired

I ask him about the people he most admired during his time at the top of the sport and the first person he mentions is, unsurprisingly, New Zealand’s Mark Todd - “a great horseman and a good friend”. 

He describes the period when he and his wife and fellow-Olympian, Karen O’Connor, lived in England as “magical. In the 90s we were part of a group of riders including Mary King (GBR) and Blythe Tait (NZL) who were all there at the same time competing against each other and who became the best of friends. It drove us all to be better, there were 15 players at the top of the world sport all living near each other and it was a very special time”, he recalls. 

So why didn’t he and Karen stay in Great Britain? “We had the opportunity to ride for Mrs Mars who became a big supporter of ours. She bought a place in Virginia and asked us to come back and run a High Performance Programme out of there. But if that opportunity hadn’t come our way we might have stayed - who knows!”, he says.

Wisdom

Finally I ask David to share some wisdom with the next generation of young Event athletes. “The main thing is to have a goal that’s way out in front of you and to work hard to get there. Surround yourself with the best people you can find and learn your craft to the nth degree. 

“As Mark Twain wrote ‘it’s very easy to learn the tricks of the trade and never learn the trade’. You need to learn every aspect of the trade and that includes the people part, the horse part, the riding part, the competitive part and the management part. You don’t become a winner because you’re talented and you deserve it….you have to be driven and you need to be hungry if you want to succeed.

“And one of the things I tell all my students is that when you get an opportunity (like David did when spotted by Jack Le Goff) then grab it with both hands!”.

FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ 2020

Team Italy posted a runaway win at the third and last leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ 2020 series on home ground at Montelibretti today, but the overall title goes to The Netherlands. In the lead after the first two legs at Le Pin au Haras (FRA) and Strzegom (POL) in August, the Dutch could only be threatened by Poland at this final competition.

A Polish victory would have left them on level pegging with the Dutch at the top of the leaderboard, but it wasn’t to be as they lined up third of the four competing nations who enjoyed a great weekend of sport in the autumn sunshine at the Montemaggiore Estate which is home to Italy’s Military Riding Centre. 

Austria finished second while the three-member Swiss side lined up in fourth place this afternoon. For the Italians this was a really special day because it marked their first-ever FEI Nations Cup™ success according to veteran team member Juan Carlos Garcia.

“We had a good lead after cross-country yesterday so we had a good feeling going into the showjumping today. But you never know the result until the horses and riders are over the last jump. We are very happy this evening!”, he said.

Held the lead

Poland held the lead after Dressage, buoyed up by a strong test from Mateusz Kiempa and Lassban Radovix who put 33.79 on the board. However their team total of 106.00 left them only 1.5 points ahead of Austria in second and just over two points ahead of the Italians in third at this stage, and cross-country day would change everything. 

“It wasn’t a difficult course, but the time (6 mins 49 secs) was tight”, explained Garcia who galloped through the finish with Ugo du Perron in 7 mins 11 secs to add 8.8 time penalties to his scoreline. All four Italian team members stayed clear over the fences and they had a commanding lead going into today’s final phase on a score of 132.20. Austria lay second on 159.60 but less one rider following cross-county elimination for Lea Siegl and Van Helsing P, while Poland sat in third on 178.30 ahead of Switzerland in overnight fourth on 189.4.

The Italians sealed it confidently when both Garcia and Arianna Schivo riding Quefira de L’Ormeau were foot-perfect and within the time, while both Pietro Majolino riding Vita Louise DH Z and Marco Cappai partnering Santal Du Halage dropped only a single pole and added a few time faults. 

Debut

At 23 years of age, and making his Nations Cup debut, Majolino was the baby of the winning side but his team-mates have a world of experience behind them. Garcia is a veteran of two Olympic Games and four FEI World Equestrian Games™ (WEG), competing in both Jumping and Eventing at the very top level. Schivo and her 16-year-old mare were on the Italian team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the WEG in Tryon, USA in 2018 while Cappai finished individually 14th at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA in 1996. 

The final Italian team total of 138.60 left them well clear of the rest of the field and celebrating a big moment. They finished second in the final classification after lining out in all three legs of the series this season, and as Chef d’Equipe Giacomo Della Chiesa said this evening, “it’s been a very good competition for us and we finish the year in a very good way”. 

Title

The Netherlands can also celebrate tonight after taking the title. Tim Lips (Eclips), Janneke Boonzaauer (ACSI Champ de Tailleur), Elaine Pen (Divali) and Laura Hoogeveen (Wicro Quibus NOP) flew the Dutch flag when runners-up behind French winners Thibaut Vallette, Thomas Carlile, Christopher Six and Karim Florent Laghouag at the opening leg at Le Pin au Haras. 

And when Germany’s Ingrid Klimke, Andreas Dibowski, Beeke Jankowski and Heike Jahncke came out on top in Strzegom later in August then Hoogeveen was joined by Merel Blom (Ceda NOP), Jordy Wilken (Burry Spirit) and Raf Kooremans (Dimitri NOP) to fill second spot. 

Their total of 180 points couldn’t be bettered today, and the final standings at the end of the abbreviated FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ 2020 series are as follows: 

1. Netherlands - 180 points

2. Italy - 170 points

3. Poland - 160 points

4. Austria - 150 points

5. France - 100 points

6. Germany - 100 points

7. Great Britain - 80 points

8. Switzerland - 70 points

9. Sweden - 70 points

10. New Zealand - 55 points

11. Australia - 50 points

Results from Montelibretti here www.equiresults.com

There was an exciting conclusion to the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships for Young Horses 2020 at the Haras National at l’Isle de Briand in Le Lion d’Angers (FRA) yesterday, where German star Ingrid Klimke steered Cascamara to claim the 6-year-old title and compatriot Sophie Leube topped the 7-year-old category with Sweetwaters Ziethen T.

In a world so full of uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to play havoc with all things including the sporting calendar, there was both relief and delight that the annual event went ahead. Speaking during the prizegiving for the 6-year-olds, in which she finished third, Dutch athlete Merel Blom praised the tremendous effort of the organisers who ensured the much-anticipated fixture took place with careful consideration for health protocols while also offering a strong test for the latest crop of talented young horses.

Riders from 19 countries and horses representing 22 international Studbooks competed for the prestigious titles. 

6-Year-Olds

Mares claimed the top five places in the 6-year-old division in which there was 38 starters, but it was the Irish Sport Horse gelding MHS Brown Jack who was out in front going into the final day with Great Britain’s Tom McEwen onboard. The pair posted a Dressage score of 26.6 and added nothing on cross-country day, but two mistakes in the final Jumping phase dropped them to sixth in the final analysis.

Klimke and Cascamara (Cascadello ll and Taramanga x Templer GL XX) lay second on their Dressage mark of 27.4, and when they added nothing to that scoreline had victory in the bag. There were just four eliminations on cross-country day when 20 combinations jumped clear across the beautifully-designed 20-fence track, and amongst those eliminated were the fourth-placed Australian partnership of Kevin McNab and Cute Girl.

The leaderboard was shaken up again on the final day when clear rounds proved hard to get. A total of 31 made it through to the final test and 25 of them collected penalties. Zero scores saw Ireland’s Cathal Daniels and the Irish Sport Horse LEB Empress rocket up from 15th to eventual fifth place while America’s Tiana Coudray make a spectacular improvement from 12th to fourth with the Holsteiner Cabaret. 

Lying in overnight fifth, The Netherlands’ Merel Blom and the Holsteiner mare Corminta Vom Gwick finished third despite the addition of 1.2 time penalties, while a pole down and 0.4 for time saw Germany’s Sophie Leube and Isselhook’s First Sight drop from fourth to eighth. 

All the pressure

Great Britain’s Oliver Townend was lying third with the Irish Sport Horse Cooley Rosalent and added nothing to his scoreline, and when Klimke and Cascamara followed suit then all the pressure was on leader McEwen and MHS Brown Jack. A single error would have dropped them to third, but two down saw them having to settle for sixth. Klimke’s smile was as a wide as an ocean when she stood top-of-the-line with her lovely mare at the end of the day.

“I bought her last year directly from the breeder, Helmut Bergendahl - one of the only breeders I know who still breeds for Eventing by crossing Thoroughbred mares with Jumping stallions. She competed at her first show on the last weekend in July and did a good job so I thought she could be ready for a 2-star quite quickly. She did three 2-stars and won the third, and when I brought her to Le Lion she was already more confident in the dressage. 

“She was a bit green in the cross-country, especially at the water and the house, but when I asked her to give it a try she was right there - so bold and smart and clever. I thought nine minutes might be too long for her but she galloped around easily. In the showjumping she right away said ‘I know my job’, and she was never close to touching a fence, she was so easy to ride and I feel I have a new superstar coming along!”, Klimke said.

7-Year-Olds

Leube was all smiles too when enjoying a runaway victory with Sweetwaters Ziethen T (Abendtanz and Zaria AA x Campetot AA) in the 7-year-old category. The German pair were on familiar territory having finished fifth in the 6-year-old division last year, and the stallion never put a foot wrong after posting the best Dressage score of 27.6. 

There were 42 starters and 27 completions in this class in which there was an optimum time of 9 minutes 19 seconds on the 22-fence cross-country track. Leube and her handsome horse did it to perfection when crossing the finish line in 9 minutes 14 seconds, and when they kept a clean sheet yesterday they were simply untouchable.

On his fifteenth visit to these Young Horse Championships, French star Nicolas Touzaint slotted the Selle Francais gelding Diabolo Menthe into second after Dressage on a mark of 29.1, ahead of The Netherlands’ Blom in third with the Holsteiner Crossborder Radar Love (30.3) and New Zealand’s Caroline Powell with the Irish Sport Horse Greenacres Special Cavalier in fourth place (30.6).

Powell collected 20 penalties at the middle element of fence 15 to drop out of contention however and it was Leube and Touzaint, followed by compatriot Donatien Schauly in third with the Selle Francais gelding Dgin du Pestel Mili and Britain’s Laura Collett with the Irish Sport Horse Moonlight Charmer who topped the leaderboard on Saturday evening. 

Regrouped

But Collett’s mare didn’t pass the final horse inspection so when the field regrouped yesterday it was Italy’s Filippo Gregoroni who was lying fifth with another Irish-bred, disarmingly called Unnamed, and despite a fence down this pair only dropped a single place in the final standings.

Two mistakes dropped Blom to eighth while French rider Camille Lejeune, 26th after Dressage and 10th after cross-country, shot up to fifth when the Selle Francais mare Dame Decoeur Tardonn picked up just 1.2 showjumping time penalties. Meanwhile Great Britain’s Alexander Bragg and the Irish-bred Ardeo Premier moved up from seventh to fourth when clear. 

In the battle between the top three, Touzaint dropped a place when his fabulous big grey gelding left one on the floor allowing Schauly into runner-up spot when foot-perfect. And then Leube held her nerve to clinch the win in fine style. 

As Klimke remarked, these Championships are held in high regard by the world’s top riders. “It’s one of my favourites for young horses because they learn so much here, there’s no other course with such a variety of fences and terrain. My inexperienced mare was spooky at the first water, but by the time she got to the second water she had already learned a lot and was in a nice easy rhythm. Thanks to everyone at Le Lion for giving us riders and horses a great opportunity in these difficult times!” 

For more information and full results visit www.mondialdulion.com

Germany’s Werth and von Bredow-Werndl finish second and third

There’s nothing like a home victory to please the crowd, and although numbers were limited as pandemic protocols were strictly in place, Cathrine Dufour’s winning ride with Bohemian at the first leg of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2020/2021 Western European League in Aarhus (DEN) brought spectators to their feet today.

Last season, when the opening round of the series was staged at the Boxen arena in Herning, the Danish pair claimed top honours in both the Grand Prix and Freestyle. And this weekend they did it all over again in the considerably more modest confines of the Danish National Equestrian Centre in Vilhelmsborg, but with even more confidence and flair. 

Fifth-last to go in the field of 15 starters they posted a big score of 88.200 to take the lead. And although defending five-time series champion Isabell Werth came dangerously close when last to go with Emilio, her score of 87.845 wasn’t enough to prevent another Dufour double. 

Werth filled runner-up spot ahead of German compatriot Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Zaire-E in third, and the Danes had even more to cheer about when Carina Cassøe Krüth and Heiline’s Danciera put in a brilliant performance to line up in fourth.

Same top three

It was the same top-three in yesterday’s Grand Prix in which Dufour’s winning margin was much wider, her mark of 88.435 leaving her more than five percentage points ahead of the two Germans who both posted 77 percent scores. 

“Bohemian was really good in the Grand Prix, he was just playing with all the moves. Today I had to push him a bit more, but he’s getting more and more brave and he loves being in the ring!”, Dufour explained.

She had the leading score of 82.105, set by Germany’s Helen Langehanenberg and the 18-year-old Damsey FRH, in her sights as she set sail this afternoon. Bohemian seemed to be listening as she spoke quietly and patted him before their music began, and the harmony between the partnership oozed through every movement, with crisp, clean piaffe and passage a particular highlight throughout a lovely test. 

When they came to a halt, the horse dropped his head in complete relaxation knowing that was a job well done. And when over 88 percent went up on the board it was obvious it was not going to be an easy score to beat.

Consummate ease

Von Bredow-Werndl’s mare, Zaire-E, produced a lovely test for 85.335 while Sweden’s Patrik Kittel and Delaunay Old, who presented no less than 18 one-tempi changes with consummate ease, earned a score of 82.575. 

Second-last into the ring, Cassøe Krüth whose nine-year-old mare Heiline’s Danciera gave notice of her great promise when finishing fourth at the FEI WBFSH Young Horse Championships at Ermelo (NED) two years ago, provided another Danish treat for a mark of 84.455 to slot temporarily into third place. 

However Werth was still to come, and although Emilio had not given his rider his full cooperation in yesterday’s Grand Prix, few doubted the German legend’s capacity for pulling off a big result this time out. But it didn’t happen and it was Dufour who was the one waving at the masked crowd during this evening’s prizegiving ceremony.

Achieved so much

The 28-year-old Danish athlete achieved so much with her little chestnut gelding Atterupgaards Cassidy who took her all the way from Junior level to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and on to three bronze medals at the FEI European Championships in Gothenburg (SWE) in 2017 and Grand Prix Special bronze at last year’s Europeans in Rotterdam (NED). Bohemian is now stepping into the spotlight, and Dufour believes he has a lot more to show.

“He hasn’t reached anything like his limits, he’s still developing mentally and there’s definitely more room for improvement from him - I’m delighted with him!”, she said happily.

The second leg of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2020/2021 Western European League is scheduled to take place in Salzburg (AUT) from 3 to 6 December 2020.

Results here

More information about the series here 

Persisting in the face of the disruption caused by the pandemic that has led to the cancellation of multiple equestrian events in recent months, the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2020/2021 Western European League gets underway in Denmark this week. 

Initially scheduled to take place in Herning, this opening leg has been relocated to the National Equestrian Centre in Vilhelmsborg near Aarhus, where the main manor house, a listed building that dates back to 1842, is closely associated with the world-famous master of fairytale-telling, writer Hans Christian Andersen.

Vilhelmsborg staged the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Final in 2001 when the all-German podium was topped by Ulla Salzgeber with Rusty, while Isabell Werth lined up second with Antony FRH and Rudolf Zeilinger finished third with Livijno. 

Werth returns 19 years later as the most decorated athlete in the history of equestrian sport and chasing her sixth FEI Dressage World Cup™ title. She currently holds the top two places on the world rankings with Bella Rose and Weihegold, and brings seventh-placed Emilio to this first qualifier of the new season. 

Five nations

Athletes from five nations will compete, and the top-class German contingent also includes world number three, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl partnering Zaire-E, and world number eight Helen Langehanenberg with Damsey FRH, along with Jessica Süss with Duisenberg.

Finland will be represented by Emma Kanerva and Dambacu NL, while Nars Gottmer (Dicaprio Swing), Margo Timmermans (Catch Me) and Thamar Zweistra (Hexagon’s Doublt Dutch) will fly the Dutch flag. Sweden’s Patrik Kittel (Delaunay OLD), Therese Nilshagen (Dante Weltino OLD) and Antonia Ramel (Brother de Jeu) will also add plenty of quality to the line-up.

However, the host country’s Cathrine Dufour may well prove to be the one to beat. She is armed with the 10-year-old gelding Bohemian with which she stole the show at last year’s Danish leg of the series when winning both the Grand Prix and Freestyle.

Talking about the horse that day she said, “imagine what he can do when I start to push him some more!”, and he hasn’t disappointed, topping both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special at the CDI5* in Herning in March of this year, just before the sport was locked down due to the spread of Covid-19. 

Newly-crowned champion

And Dufour comes to Vilhelmsborg as newly-crowned 2020 Danish Grand Prix champion. She took the title for the fourth time in her career with great performances from her 17-year-old superstar Atterupgaards Cassidy at the championships staged in Uggerhalne last month, where she also became engaged to girlfriend Rasmine Rosedahl Laudrup, daughter of former soccer star Brian Laudrup who is now a popular Danish TV commentator and pundit. 

Dufour will be joined by compatriots Andreas Helgstrand (Fiontini), Lone Bang Larsen (Bakkely’s Onandt), Charlotte Heering (Bufranco), Carina Cassoe (Heiline’s Danciera) and Helene Melsen (Aston Martin) in what promises to be a great weekend of sport. 

The FEI Dressage Grand Prix will take place at 17.30 local time on Saturday 17 October, with the Grand Prix Freestyle on Sunday 18 October kicking off at 14.00. 

Attendance is limited, as the event will be conducted strictly in line with national Covid restrictions and FEI guidelines. However you won’t miss a hoofbeat because all the action will be LIVE ON FEI TV as horse-and-athlete combinations take their first steps on the road to the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2021 Final in Gothenburg, Sweden next April.

Check out the Western European League here 

A fabulous Freestyle finale brought the third and last week of the FEI Dressage European Youth Championships 2020 drew to a close at Pilisjàszfalu in Hungary today, with Germany’s Lucie-Anouk Baumgürtel the runaway star of the Pony Championships having bagged three gold medals. 

Teams

A total of 51 combinations started in the Pony Team test in which Baumgürtel was joined by Antonia Roth, Shona Benner and Rose Oatley to take the title. A final scoreline of 232.771 gave them more than a 10-point advantage over the silver medallists from Denmark who pinned The Netherlands into bronze by less than a single percentage point.

From a field of 11 nations, Belgium finished fourth ahead of Austria, Poland, Ireland, Finland, France, Czech Republic and Italy in that order.

A great pathfinding score of 75.971 was posted by 14-year-old Roth partnering the nine-year-old stallion Daily Pleasure WE. And when 16-year-old Benner and Der Kleine Sunnyboy WE, Team and Freestyle bronze medallists at the 2019 championships in Strzegom (POL), put 75.886 on the board then Germany was already out in front on Wednesday with two riders still to go.

Youngest team member 13-year-old Oatley and her 10-year-old palomino pony Daddy Moon then raised the bar on Thursday morning when scoring 76.743. So when 16-year-old Baumgürtel posted a massive 80.057 then German gold was safely secured.

After the first day The Netherlands lay in silver medal spot ahead of Belgium in bronze, but the fourth-placed Danes eventually overtook the Dutch which pushed the Belgians off the medal podium. Scores of 76.743 and 75.228 from Sophia Boje Obel Jørgensen (Adriano B) and Liva Addy Guldager Nielsen (D’Artagnan) really lifted the Danish effort, while the pure consistency of the Dutch side, and a smart mark of 75.314 from anchor Lara van Nek (Baumann’s Despino NRW), bagged the bronze. 

Individual

It was a German one-two-three after Friday’s first stage of the Individual competition, with Baumgürtel once again leading the pack after posting a spectacular new record score. Great Britain’s Phoebe Peters set the previous European Pony Individual record at 81.39 at Malmo (SWE) in 2015 where she won triple gold, but Baumgürtel blew that out of the water when awarded 82.351.

And then she had to sit back and wait to see if anyone else could improve on that. In the end her victory was clear-cut, as none of her rivals earned over 80 percent.  

When the Individual competition resumed yesterday her compatriots, Roth and Oatley, were holding silver and bronze, the former posting 77.297 and the latter, daughter of Australian Olympian Kristy Oatley, putting 76.649 on the board for a test filled with glorious trot extensions but hampered by mistakes towards the end.

In the team event Oatley’s score had been matched by silver medallist Sophia Boje Obel Jørgensen from Denmark. And when the Dane and the charming gelding Adriano B, gold medallist for Alexander Yde Helgstrand last summer, produced a lovely performance yesterday their mark of 79.000 ensured it wouldn’t be an all-German podium as they slotted in behind Baumgürtel and pushed Oatley off the podium. 

Haul

Baumgürtel’s haul of European medals already included Team and Freestyle gold at Vilhelmsborg (DEN) in 2016, Team bronze and Freestyle gold at Kaposvar (HUN) in 2017 and Team gold at Bishops Burton (GBR) in 2018. She intended competing at the Junior Europeans last summer but it didn’t happen when her horse was injured. So she decided to return to Ponies in her final year of eligibility, and she has enjoyed every moment of it. 

“Nasdaq is the pony of a lifetime, he gave me an amazing feeling and I’m so happy!” she said after accepting the Individual gold medal. “We bought him as a four-year-old stallion so he’s with us for five years and it has been lovely to see him develop”, she added.

Last year her sister, Lana-Pinou, took over the ride on the pony that brought her all her previous successes, Zinq Massimiliano, so Lucie-Anouk didn’t have high expectations this time around. “I can’t believe it, it’s amazing because I have only been riding Nasdaq since September of last year and he has come so far! When we made it to the Europeans I didn’t expect anything to be honest, I just wanted to enjoy a great pony time and I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to ride here in this lovely place!”, said the rider who hails from Munster region of Germany.  

Freestyle

In today’s Freestyle finale she proved untouchable again. The standard of competition was breathtaking, and when Oatley and Daddy Moon set the target at 81.400 with just four more to follow, that really piled on the pressure. Her super-cute Daddy Moon was elastic, responsive, expressive and on the button all the way, and his diminutive rider didn’t hide her delight after riding into her final halt.

But, to the strain of Queen’s “Its a kind of magic”, Baumgürtel followed with another extraordinary performance from Zinq Nasdaq that saw judges Orsolya Hillier (HUN), Eduard De Wolff Van Westerrode (NED), Ulrike Nivelle (GER), Paula Nysten (FIN) and Eva-Maria Vint-Warmington (EST) award 85.735, just fractionally short of the Freestyle world record for ponies set by Phoebe Peters at those 2015 championships. 

Denmark’s Liva Addy Guldager Nielsen and D’Artagnan put 78.390 on the board when third-last to go and then her team-mate Sophia Boje Obel Jørgensen threw down a great challenge with a relaxed, harmonious test for 82.555 that moved her into silver medal spot. The question now was whether the final rider, Antonia Roth, could push fellow-German Oatley off the podium once again, but a break in counter-canter proved costly with Roth’s score of 79.710 leaving her in fourth place this time around and the happy, smiling Oatley with the bronze medal around her neck.

Results here 

Fantastic performances from the next generation of Dressage superstars

Dutch take four of the six titles on offer

If the stunning Freestyle performances that brought week 2 of the FEI Dressage European Youth Championships 2020 to a close at Pilisjàszfalu in Hungary today are anything to go by, then the future of European Dressage is in very safe hands. Both the U25 and Young Riders athletes and their horses presented top sport and demonstrated an abundance of promise all week, with The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark sharing U25 gold but the Dutch completely dominating the top step of the Young Riders podium.

U25

There was a fairytale finish to the U25 Championship today when Denmark’s Anne-Mette Strandby Hansen steered Foco Loco W to Freestyle gold. The 15-year-old gelding made a dream come true for his owner, Dominican Republic’s Yvonne Losos de Muniz, when he carried her to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where they finished 59th individually. And after sealing victory today, Strandby Hansen said, “I’m so lucky I got to ride this horse and it’s unbelievable what he did for me - he has a heart of gold!”. It was indeed an extraordinary achievement because this was the Danish rider’s championship debut, and she sparkled.

The pair helped Denmark to bronze medal position in Tuesday’s team finale in which The Netherlands claimed gold despite elimination for Mercedes Verweij. It was the top score of 74.765 produced by Jeanine Nieuwenhuis and TC Athene that clinched it for the Dutch when added to 72.882 from Jasmien de Koeyer and Esperanza and 71.647 from Febe van Swambagt and Edison. Germany claimed silver bolstered by the second-ranked score of the competition from Ann-Kathrin Lindner and FBW Sunfire who put 74.588 on the board.

Turned the tables

Lindner, U25 team gold medallist last summer, turned the tables when pipping Nieuwenhuis for the Individual title the following day while Germany’s Raphael Netz steered Lacoste 126 into bronze with a charming ride. Strandby Hansen missed out on a podium placing when lining up in fourth, but a stand-out performance today saw them awarded 79.025 by judges Paula Nysten (FIN), Peter Hansaghy (HUN), Henning Lehrmann (GER), Elisabeth Max-Theurer (AUT) and Annette Fransen Iacobaeus (SWE) for Freestyle gold. Nieuwenhuis claimed silver on 78.450 while Lindner slotted into bronze medal spot on 77.610.

Foco Loco W, whose stable-name is Dobby, simply smiled his way through today’s winning test, making every movement look as easy as can be. He listened to his rider from beginning to end, presenting lovely tempi changes, piaffe, passage and pirouettes and the only time he was the tiniest bit naughty was when he spooked when someone waved a Danish flag in celebration after he left the arena.

He remained at the Helgstrand Dressage stables in Denmark after Yvonne Losos de Muniz last competed him at the FEI Dressage World Cup™ qualifier in Herning (DEN) in October 2019. And in November Strandby Hansen, who has been working at Helgstrand for the last two years, got the ride on the horse who took individual silver for Losos de Muniz at the Central American & Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico back in 2014.

Partnership

They’ve been building their partnership together ever since, but today’s Freestyle was a first for the Danish rider, and it’s one she will never forget. “I only got the floorplan last Monday and I rode it just once at home before coming here, I never competed in a Grand Prix Freestyle before!” the delighted rider said. 

Foco Loco is at Helgstrand “for training and sale”, and Strandby Hansen, who rides everything from three-year-old stallions to top-level horses, says he has a heart of gold and is a bit of a show-off. “He is so well behaved but still has the fire to do his work, and he loves it. When people started whistling at the end (of the test) he just lifted his legs higher and higher! And today it was so warm, over 30 degrees, but he still kept on fighting for me”, said the rider who is now looking forward to moving up to Senior level.

Young Riders

The Netherlands’ Young Rider team was also reduced to just three, this time due to  elimination for Thalia Rockx and Golden Dancer de la Fazenda. However, just like their U25 counterparts, the rest of the Riders in Orange didn’t let that stop their country from coming out on top thanks to solid performances from Quinty Vassers, Daphne van Peperstraten and Marten Luiten. 

Their score of 222.940 was good enough to edge Germany’s Henriette Schmidt (Rocky’s Sunshine), Luca Sophia Collin (Descolari and Lia Welschof (First Class 88) into silver on a score of 222.030, while 215.794 sealed the bronze for Denmark. And once they got the bit between their teeth the Dutch went on to make it a hat-trick of Young Rider gold when adding the Individual and Freestyle titles.

Judges Kurt Christensen (DEN), Maria Colliander (FIN), Evi Eisenhardt (GER), Eduard de Wolff van Westerrode (NED0 and Eva-Maria Vint-Warmington (EST) were in complete agreement when placing 18-year-old Luiten, a double-silver medallist at Junior level last year, at the top of the Individual scoreboard with the 10-year-old mare Fynona on a mark of 77.559. Germany’s Welschof took silver while Luiten’s team-mate, van Paperstraten, claimed the bronze with Greenpoints Cupido.

However van Peperstraten threw down an extraordinary test for a score of 80.69 when fourth-last to go in today’s Freestyle, and when Luiten was one of several to make mistakes in his tempi-changes he had to settle for bronze behind Welschof. 

Maturity

Van Paperstraten, gold medallist at the FEI Junior European Championships in Fontainebleau (FRA) in 2018 and at the FEI Young Riders European Championship at San Giovanni in Marignano (ITA) last summer, showed great maturity in her riding and was thrilled with the result.

“I was already so happy with how things went this week because the gold team medal was something I didn’t expect, and then yesterday I had a great feeling on Cupido and was super-happy with my test although it was a pity we had a mistake at the end. I was still very satisfied with my Individual bronze medal”, the 20-year-old rider explained. “So today I just wanted to enjoy my Freestyle. It was the first time to ride it in competition and I was excited to see how it would work out and fit with the music. When it all worked out I knew we had done a very good job and that’s the best feeling. I couldn’t be more happy!” 

She rode a daring centreline of three-tempi changes to her final halt. “I knew that had to be good because if you make a mistake it’s not possible to win a European medal”, she pointed out. “We did it because it’s something different, and Cupi is always amazing in the canterwork. You have to take the risk if you want to take a medal!”

The action now moves on to the FEI European Pony Dressage Championships 2020 which will take place from 28 to 30 August.

Results here 

 

Clean sweep of gold and plenty of drama

It wasn’t the biggest surprise when Team Germany dominated the first week of the FEI Dressage European Youth Championships 2020 which drew to a close at Pilisjàszfalu in Hungary today. But plenty of drama accompanied their clean sweep of gold in both the Junior and Children’s categories and, as this afternoon’s Junior Freestyle winner Valentina Pistner said, “it’s been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster!”

Juniors

Ups and down are the order of the day in equestrian sport, and although Pistner joined Allegra Schmitz-Morkramer (Lavissaro), Jana Lang (Baron 321) and Anna Middelberg (Blickfang HC) on the top step of the Junior Team podium on Tuesday, hers was the team discount score.  

Middelberg and her nine-year-old horse produced the highest individual mark, and the German total of 222.212 gave them a generous advantage over the Danes in silver on 214.818 while the bronze-medalled Dutch posted a final tally of 213.515. However the margin of German victory might have been even greater if Pistner, who finished 27th individually, hadn’t run into trouble.  

“Sadly my horse had his tongue over the bit. It happens sometimes and there is little you can do in that situation, but we tried fighting, we tried to finish our test so that we could give a fourth score for the team”, the 17-year-old rider explained. She pulled it right back on Wednesday however when lining up in silver medal spot behind Middelberg in the Individual Championship in which Lang made it a German whitewash when taking the bronze. 

One better

And then Pistner went one better when Flamboyant danced his way to the top of today’s Freestyle scoreboard. Middelberg, who took team gold at the FEI Dressage Pony European Championships in Kaposvar (HUN) in 2017 and the Juniors in Marignano (ITA) last year, threw down the gauntlet with a score of 78.480 when fifth-last to go, and that was always going to be tough to beat. Team-mate Lang challenged strongly when posting 77.040, but she had to settle for bronze when, last into the ring, Pistner nailed it with a mark of 79.285.

“It’s such an incredible feeling - this is my third European Championship and my ninth medal!”, said the rider who lives near Frankfurt (GER) and who describes the fabulous Flamboyant as “just the sweetest”.

She could have allowed Tuesday’s result to affect her for the rest of the week but she kept her head and carried on. “My motto is ‘just do it, stay calm and try your best because that’s all you can ever do!”, this wise young lady added.

Flamboyant was bought from German Dressage superstar Isabell Werth in December 2017, and the new partnership were already being scouted for the 2018 European Championships just a few weeks later. “We were able to win three silver medals that year and our journey has continued since then, but now it may be time for us to step up to another level”, the new champion revealed this evening. “I’m not sure yet, it hasn’t be fully decided, but I have been riding Juniors since I was 13 and it’s maybe time to move on and try to progress and improve.”  

Children

The Children’s team title went to Germany on Wednesday when the three-member side of Clara Paschertz (Danubio OLD), Emily Rother (Jasper 224) and Caroline Miesner (Angelina 331) pinned their Dutch counterparts into silver while France claimed bronze. It was a tight contest when the winning total of 245.468 left Germany just 0.2 ahead of their nearest rivals. The highest marks of the competition went to 14-year-old Rother who put 84.025 on the board, and she made it a golden double when topping this morning’s Individual Championship with 86.145.

This year a new judging system was introduced for the Children’s category, placing the focus on riding skills. So the Ground Jury members have different roles depending on where they sit around the arena, those on the short side overseeing the technical aspects of the test and those on the long side judging the ridden work. A “Quality” score is awarded with marks for position and seat, effectiveness of the aids, precision and general impression, and in this morning’s Individual Championship Rother racked up a massive 95.500 for Quality to secure a clear-cut victory with her nine-year-old gelding.

Courageous team-mate

Silver went to her courageous team-mate, 13-year-old Paschertz, who was last to go and put a strong 81.355 on the board. A member of the winning Children’s team at the Tokyo 2020 Test Event in Hagen (GER) in May of last year, Clara was taken to hospital for observation following a fall from Danubio during the team prizegiving ceremony on Wednesday. But today she showered her seven-year-old gelding with praise after their lovely performance pinned The Netherlands’ Maura Knipscheer, riding the 15-year-old gelding Amaretto, into bronze medal position. 

Rother, who hails from Bavaria in the south of Germany, was competing in pony classes until last year. “I have only had Jasper for the last six months and this is just our fifth show together. My parents got him from my riding teacher Sabina Schroedter, and he gives everything to me!”, she said. 

Asked what her ambitions were coming to Hungary for these championships, the newly-crowned FEI Dressage Children’s European champion replied, “I just wanted not to finish last!” She definitely succeeded in doing that…..

The FEI Dressage European Youth Championships 2020 continue next week when Young Riders and U25 athletes take centre stage from 17 to 21 August.

Results here 

 

 

Mexican showjumper, Federico Fernandez, had just arrived in Madrid (ESP) by train when I spoke with him last week. He was en route to a business meeting and had intended travelling by air from Valencia (ESP), but the flight was cancelled at the last moment. 

Considering his story, I asked him if he has any fear of flying. Federico was one of just three people who survived an horrific air-crash back in 1987, but he has more than come to terms with the tragedy that claimed the life of his friend and team-mate Ruben Rodrigues and at least 50 others. The horse transporter carrying the Mexican contingent to a Young Riders Championship in Chicago (USA) fell out of the sky and ploughed into rush-hour traffic on the eight-lane Mexico-Toluca highway before slamming into a restaurant on a drizzly Friday afternoon 33 years ago. 

“To be honest I never think that something bad can happen to me - the place I sleep the best is on a plane!”, he says.

My first close encounter with this remarkable man, who has competed at three Olympic Games and six FEI World Equestrian Games™ (WEG), was in the aftermath of his team’s historic victory in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ in Dublin in 2018, when Mexico claimed the coveted Aga Khan Trophy for the very first time. I moderated the post-competition press conference that evening, and in all my years in the sport I have never experienced so much immense joy and such wild celebrations. 

And Federico’s words that day embedded themselves into my memory. “After what happened to me I feel an obligation to be happy, and today was one of the happiest days of my life!”, he said.

Family passion

His uncle, Fernando Senderos, won individual gold and team silver at the Pan-American Games in Mexico City in 1975, and Federico inherited the family passion for horses. He was nine years old when he first climbed into the saddle, and when I ask him about his childhood heroes he tells me that the legacy of individual champion Humberto Mariles and his gold-medal-winning military team-mates was still very much in place when he was growing up. They swept all before them at the London Olympic Games in 1948.

“Captain Mariles rode a small, one-eyed horse (Arete) and was a fantastic rider. It was the Mexican golden era of showjumping when they were the team to beat for about 10 or 12 years, we’ve never had anything like that since”, he says. 

However US riders were the big stars on his own horizon when he was child. “We heard a lot about Nelson Pessoa and the d’Inzeo brothers but they were faraway legends because we didn’t get to see them. The guys we had around the corner were Americans like Rodney Jenkins and Michael Matz, great horsemen. And at home Gerardo Tazzer was my trainer and I was lucky enough to jump on many Nations Cup teams and at the Olympics in Athens (GRE, 2004) with him”, Federico explains. 

Business

Riding hasn’t been the only thing in his life however. Federico is one of those exceptional people who successfully manage to combine careers in both business and sport. He was something of an entrepreneur in his teens. “I sold hot-dogs outside my school, and then got more and more hot-dog cars as I went along!”, he says.

“Mexico is an incredible country that gives you amazing opportunities”, he points out. He began his career by creating companies that functioned as service-providers to big corporations. “Then a few big international companies came to start businesses and I partnered with them and ended up selling the business to them. After doing that a few times I have a business with two arms - one providing small/medium businesses with a high level of services in terms of payroll, administration and human resources, and the other providing small businesses with loans to help them grow. 

“In Mexico we really need to support young entrepreneurs. I’m proud of what we do, and it makes me really happy when we can help people source a loan and build a secure business”, he explains.

However while researching his competition profile I was staggered by the number of horse shows Federico attends. How does he manage to combine his business commitments with his sporting endeavours?

“I’m an incredibly lucky man, I have an amazing team and with today’s technology you can stay on top of your business even if you are on the other side of the world. It works well because sometimes when you are doing horses it’s good to take the focus off them for a while, because we can forget that they are animals and need some time alone. When you dedicate too much time to thinking about new things to do with them then sometimes it goes backwards! And the same thing happens in business. Sometimes you need to step away so you can see the wood for the trees…..”, he points out. 

Federico talks a lot about having balance in his life. “I try to understand the things I need to get that balance, like family, horses, entrepreneurship. I love to eat and I love to travel, so I put everything in the mix and every few years check that the mix I have is the right one. Because that’s very dynamic, it changes, so you have to adjust from time to time”, he says wisely.

He is married to Spanish-born Paola Amilibia, ‘the love of my life’, who also competes for Team Mexico, and Federico has three children from a previous marriage - Juan Pablo, Eduardo and Federica. 

Mature young man

He was already a mature young man in his early 20s because he had been through a lot. He had only just returned to competition after back-packing across Europe for a year when the air-crash happened. The cargo plane was an all-but-obsolete 4-engine propellor-driven Boeing 377 that dated back to the 1940s, and it came down just seven minutes after take-off.

I ask him if it’s difficult to talk about the crash, and he insists it is not. “Incredible things came from it. At this point in my life it’s easy to say that, but if I could re-live my life I wouldn’t change it”, he insists.

His clothes were ablaze, and he suffered severe burns but survived along with two other people and just one of the horses on the flight. Hard as it is to believe, that surviving horse, Pepito, went on to compete with Mexico’s Everardo Hegewisch at the Seoul Olympic Games the following year.  

Federico doesn’t dwell on the horror of it all. “Everything happens for a reason”, he says. 

"It’s your will, your spirit, your determination, your power that turns a thing like this into something good instead of something that goes against you"

“Since that day I learned to not be worried about things that don’t matter, to really focus on the things you can change and not on the things you can’t, and to live every day like it’s your last. To create a life so that you go to bed hoping the night goes fast, because you really want the next day to start again. If you can make this your every day then you are a very happy person!”  

He had surgery on his face at least 50 times. In the end he decided he’d just had enough of it. “The difficult part was I was just 19 years old, and when you get your face destroyed at that point in your life you have to really spend some time re-organising your feelings. It made me completely change my scale of importance, and I started looking more into the inside of things and less into the superficiality of life. And I found a lot of comfort and happiness in that.

“It made me grow up very fast and made me a person I like better today. All kids are superficial, I loved riding and everything to do with it which in many ways is very superficial. Success - or not - with the girls was important to me, and my work was all about making money. But those things changed in a positive way”, he insists.

Back in the ring

He spent six months in a hospital burns unit in Galveston, Texas, and the doctors told him it would be a long, slow path to recovery. But he was back in the ring and winning his next Grand Prix in Mexico City a year later, and in 1989 he qualified for the FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Tampa, Florida (USA). That would be his first, and his last Final…..

“In Mexico we don’t have an indoor circuit because of our fantastic weather, so I qualified at outdoor shows and when I went into the indoor I realised for the first time that my eyes had some issues after they were burned. When I was looking at the light that came from lamps I couldn’t see where I was, and I’ve never competed in an indoor again. Daylight is ok and in stadium lighting (under floodlights) I see even better, but the problem is lamps. My pupils are in only one position and can’t adjust, so when I go from bright to not-so-bright then it’s like looking into a cloud”, he explains. 

I ask him what sporting successes he treasures most, and he tells me that every Grand Prix win is special. “I’m good at enjoying the moment when it happens. I try to enjoy it deeply because this sport is cruel in many ways, the next competition you have a fence down and the magic is gone very quickly! The good thing about Grand Prix classes is that they are on Sundays, so you’ve a whole week to feel proud knowing that maybe the next one won’t be so lucky for you!”

That Nations Cup win in Dublin two years ago and the team silver medal he earned alongside Gerardo Tazzer at the Pan-American Games in the Dominican Republic in 2004 are stand-out moments, along with finishing 13th at the WEG in Jerez (ESP) in 2002.

Favourites

When I ask about his favourite horses he doesn’t hesitate. "My darling Bohemio! He’s Irish-bred and the most amazing horse. He has been Mexican National champion and took me to the Pan-Ams, the Olympic Games and the WEG. In the Masters at Spruce Meadows (CAN) the Cana Cup is the big class on Friday, and there were only two clears and we went into a jump-off against Jos Lansink and Cumano who had just won the World Championships (in 2006) and we beat them, it was amazing! In 2008 he was the top horse in the summer series (at Spruce Meadows) but he was injured after winning a class. That injury ended his career, but he finished the best possible way with a win! He’s 28 years old now and enjoying his retirement out in my fields.”

And then there is Gitano, “a great Grand Prix winner in Mexico, not scopey enough to do the same in big Grand Prix competitions in Europe but a fantastic character and a winner. In Mexico he gave me so many successes that I really love him, for that and for his character. These two horses were not just very special in the ring, they also had so much personality, they gave you their best every time you rode them. When you feel that your horse is completely with you and willing to do anything for you that creates a kind of magic!” 

I ask Federico if there are any famous horses he would have liked to sit on, but he replies that he prefers watching them with their own riders “because I truly believe some couples are made in heaven!”  He lists Hugo Simon and ET, Jos Lansink and Cumano and John Whitaker ‘in my opinion the best rider in the history of the world’ with Milton as some of his favourites, along with Eddie Macken and Boomerang and Rodrigo Pessoa with Baloubet. 

And then he moves on to Rio 2016 individual Olympic champion Nick Skelton from Great Britain with Big Star. “Since London (Olympics 2012) Nick didn’t ride another horse, he was just determined to win that gold medal and he spent those four years helping the stallion to recover from a bad injury and getting him back into the sport only to show up up at the Games and win that gold - just brilliant!”, he says. 

Tokyo

I ask him if Landpeter de Feroleto, the horse that carried him to that historic Nations Cup victory in Dublin two years ago, had been aimed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games before the world was brought to a halt by the pandemic. The horse is 18 years old now however, so hardly surprising that the answer was in the negative….

”I had planned with our Chef d’Equpe to give Peter his retirement tour this year, he’s been an amazing horse for many riders, he gave me the win at Dublin and also in the Nations Cup in Mexico and was very generous with me. Unfortunately with the Covid situation there have been no Nations Cups so it would be very unfair to stretch his retirement one more year. He isn’t on my list of favourite horses because he came to me when he was 15. If I’d had him since he was eight who knows what we might have done together. But he is a special horse with a huge heart who would do anything for you”, he points out.

Feredico is placing his hopes for Tokyo elsewhere, and the hiatus caused by the virus may just work to his advantage. “Coming into this year I was not in the best situation because I had a horse that was coming along but not ready. However one year more really benefits me in terms of my possibility, I have a horse that needed the extra time and now he will have it. His name is Grand Slam and I got him three years ago but he had a bad injury and was out for one year. Now he is strong and healthy and jumping great, so I think he’ll be in super shape”. 

Thoughts

Finally I ask for his thoughts about the pandemic and its effect. “I don’t want to sound like a preacher”, he says with a laugh, “but we’ve had the opportunity to slow down in a world that normally goes so fast. At some stage we have all felt annoyed and anxious, and in many cases - including my own - it was financially disruptive and took away our peace of mind. But we’ve been given a chance to take a really good dive inside ourselves, to understand who we are and to regain the understanding of how incredibly beautiful life is, and liberty, and the right to walk in the streets and breathe the air and smell the flowers, all of that. 

“And I honestly think that you always have to believe that the best is yet to come. We’ve been given a fresh start, so now is the time to re-prioritise things in your life, to put some dreams on the table, and to try to make them real. It’s in everyone’s hands to make that happen….”