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In Memoriam

Media updates
09 November 2004 Author: webmaster
Nikki van der Bijl (NAM) 
 
Young rider Nikki van der Bijl (NAM) sadly passed away last October after having fallen of a horse during a training session. She was only 16 and had just won the FEI Dressage Challenge Novice Level in Namibia a few months ago.

Born in 1988, Nikki started riding when she was only 3 year old on a little Shetland pony called Schecki. A few years later, she took lessons with Annette Künzle and Summari Piepmeier of the Swakopmund Riding Stables. She looked for sponsors, organised pony rides for children, worked as a baby sitter and as a waitress in a local restaurant to earn enough money to live her dream and ride at a competition level. In 2003, she finished second of the FEI World Dressage Challenge.

Nikki was known as the sunshine of the Namibian riding community, always positive and smiling and finding a way to make her ideas happen.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

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