By Hillevi Brasch
Photography: Roland Thunholm / SWB, and private collection
Swedish dressage’s new star duo has been much in the news lately: Sandra Dahlin (30) on the spectacular mare Ichi (F.2) (SWB) born 2006 by Bocelli out of Dynastie (F.2) (SWB) – Donnerschlag x Amiral. The tale of Ichi, the horse born out of the raffle-prize mare Dynastie, is almost like a fairytale; a beautiful mare, the perfect person to win the raffle and a talented rider in combination. The puzzle pieces have all fallen into place.
We all know that the cornerstones of success are talent and hard work, but luck? This holds true for Dahlin as Ichi’s dam Dynastie (bred by Flyinge AB) was the grand raffle prize at the Gothenburg Horse Show 17 years ago. Dahlin was there with her group of barn friends to watch the show, and at the same time just happened to buy a couple of raffle tickets. The family was overjoyed when they realized they had won. The director of breeding at Flyinge, Birgitta Bentzer, probably second guessed her decision to donate the lovely well-bred mare. Unfortunately, Dynastie had a career ending injury relatively early and that’s when Dahlin’s mother, Birgitta, a long-time breeder, decided to relaunch her career as a broodmare – using Swedish Warmblood Bocelli (Don Schufro - (SWB) – Bernstein), a former team horse for Sweden who was chosen as the sire, and enter Ichi.
Queen of the stable
Ichi is a strong-willed horse with great integrity, and she wasn’t an easy horse in her younger years. Many were the times when she reared up on her hind legs in protest. Dahlin stuck it out, although at times was hesitant whether she and the horse would ever make it together, saying, “My father was increasingly anxious and worried about Ichi and was not happy I when I got up on that ‘crazy’ horse. We have a racetrack in the vicinity, and I decided one day that I was going to take her out there for a hack – one way or another. Ichi was not cooperating and almost launched me a couple of times. My father saw all this and yelled ‘I’m going to shoot that crazy horse before she kills someone!’ He has regretted that statement many times over since then, Dahlin laughs... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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