By Adriana van Tilburg
Photography: Thomas Hellmann and Private collection
We all know that the horse world is about ‘connections’, especially on a global scale. This became obvious to me after I received a WhatsApp message from Nathalie Obiol from Equador: “Listen; I have a very nice story behind this mare if you’re interested in doing something...”
This mare happened to be Chyazint who recently sold for a record-breaking €4 million during the PSI auction. It was mind-boggling how someone from Equador could suggest a good story about this mare, and I was sufficiently intrigued to call Nathalie. She only had to give me some brief information before I was booked, and she also shared the contact information for the breeder whose story is about having a true passion for horses and never giving up.
The love for bloodlines
Anna Christina Gansäuer (35) is young woman who is very passionate about breeding and showjumping. She lives in Ocala, Florida in order to remain within easy travelling distance of her parents in Equador, and also her beloved Germany is an easy plane ride away.
Her father is German and her mother is from Equador, so in order to understand the story we have to go back almost 20 years as Anna Christina recalls: “I grew up in Ecuador and I always loved horses although my parents had nothing to do with horses. My father told one of his friends in Germany that his daughter had started riding, and it happened to be that the boss of one of his friends was also a rider. My father asked them if I could go to Germany and maybe spend some time in the barn and learn how to ride and speak German. Florian Meyer zu Hartum was the trainer and rider of this boss, which is how I came to meet him.”
This story has a lot to do with Florian Meyer zu Hartum (and his family…), who has now a very important position with Paul Schockemöhle in Mühlen. According to Anna Christina; “I’ve known him already for more than 18 years, he basically taught me how to ride, and I’ve been following him ever since. Florian started manuy horses now famous in sport, and has bought horses from all over the world, including a Heartbreaker mare from Estonia. This was Hyacint.
“Hyacint (Heartbreaker - Paravatti x C-Indoctro) was born in Estonia from a KWPN motherline. She was four years old and not started under saddle and I personally have an obsession with Heartbreaker. Initially, the first horse in my life was Kandor, who was by Nimmerdor, but I couldn’t get any offspring by Nimmerdor, so the stallion that came closest was Heartbreaker.”
Anna Christina continues: “I was already fan of Heartbreaker when I was very young. I remember seeing this little four year old mare and I said ‘I want that one’, but Florian told me, ‘you cannot ride that one’. And so an obsession started with this mare; I knew her sire and grandsire from what they produced. They were actually the only two stallions that I knew at that point. She was just perfect for me; young, which is probably how I could afford her, and that’s how it all started.”
Never give up
Anna Christina continues to recall an important chapter in this story that shows true grit, saying; “Hyacint stayed with Florian because I could not ride her at that time. She has a really good pedigree; by Heartbreaker x Indoctro x Faram x Pericles xx. I was there at the right moment, so Florian took her under his wing and developed her under saddle. She sadly got injured in her stall, which had nothing to do with Florian – just one of those freak accidents. It was very bad and there was a moment when a decision had to be made or she wouldn’t be able to survive. She was laying down and not able to get up properly. But with the held from a very dear Mexican veterinary (Dr. Diego Ulibarri), he somehow managed to find a clinic in Germany where Hyacint could go, and they saved her. A couple of surgeries later they saved her life. The only goal had been to give her her life back. It had been my perfect dream to ride international Grand Prix classes with her, then breed her, but her breeding career started a bit sooner than planned.”.. To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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