New Riders, New Horses and Their Results

Spectacular horse sales have been concluded throughout this year 2011. We have reported from horse transactions from one country to another and from new riders, who get accustomed to their new rides. But what’s the outcome of these deals?

Let’s start with one of the latest horse deals. Beezie Madden’s (USA) sponsor acquired the top mount Simon from Dutch rider Jeroen Dubbeldam for the American show jumper. The new horse/rider combination had a great entrée at the CSI5* Paris.

The Dutch Equestrian Federation provided Dubbeldam with Utascha, the European championship horse of his compatriot Eric van der Vleuten. This new pair also had a harmonious start in Paris. However, it was obvious that Dubbeldam put the emphasis on security and not on speed during his ride.

Swedish Angelica Augustsson also presented her new ride in Paris. She competed the former horse of Swiss Christina Liebherr, 12-year-old L.B. Sir Singular (Singular Joter x Graf Grannus). Augustsson ranked tenth in a world ranking competition during the CSI5* Paris.

Swiss jumper Steve Guerdat presented his new horse Nasa (Cumano x Prince d´Elle) in Salzburg, Austria. The pair stayed clear in Friday’s competition and was placed in the 1,45m competition. Nasa moved to Steve Guerdat’s barn about a month ago. Before Steve Guerdat rode the mare, she was trained by Niels Brynseels from Belgium.

The new mount of Irish Cian O´Connor is called Blue Loyd. The pair showed impressive rounds, but so far no clear ride. O’Connor’s ex Grand Prix horse Larkhill Cruiser is already successful with his new rider Abdullah Al Sharbatly from Saudi Arabia, for example at the CSI El Jadida. The pair claimed victory of a world ranking jumping competition.

Unfortunately, there are also horse deals that had not been so successful. One example is the stallion Vivant from Chris Chugg. During the season 2010 Vivant and Chris Chugg performed very well and claimed numerous victories and placings. Alexander Onishenko and Vivant could not impress with their performance until now. Kathi Offel did a better job riding Vivant during the Nations Cup in Barcelona. With her successful ride the Ukrainian team managed to win the Nations Cup competition. Up to now we have not heard of any victories of Onishenko’s further horse acquisitions Spender S, Sandrhea Star, Nifrane de Kreisker and others. He had only ranked nineth in Barcelona with Comte d´Aursouilles (1,45m competition). It is unknown who is riding all these top horses at the moment.

One of this year‘s most expensive horse deal was the sale of „Delphi“. Kamal Bahamdan bought Delphi from the family McVean for more than 10 million euros. Since the purchase of his new mount, Saudi Arabian Kamal Bahamdan achieved a second and a seventh place during the CSIO5 * Calgary.

It will be interesting to observe the further development of the new horse/rider combinations in 2012.