By Sally Reid
Photography: FEI/Martin Dokoupil; FEI/Libby Law; Cornege Photography
The elite of New Zealand’s jumpers, eventers, and dressage horses met at Hastings – mid-eastern coast of the North Island – last month to do battle for the coveted Horse of the Year titles. The victors and their bloodlines are detailed in the article that follows.
Horses from two of the country’s leading dressage breeders, Judith Matthews and David Wooley, topped 2025’s GP Dressage Horse of the Year – and there’s a notable pedigree connection, too, as both are grandsons of the outstanding Hanoverian Anamour (Aalborg - Lucille x Lombard) – a breeding legend in this country. See footnote.
Dressage: Don Vito MH does it again
The Matthews-bred Don Vito MH (Don Frederico -Adelheid x Anamour) took the title on a score of 71.02%, with Jax Johnson (Johnson - Ala Mode x Anamour), a New Zealand Warmblood bred by Wooley, reserve on 69.44%.
It was a back-to-back triumph for Don Vito MH and his owner/rider Wendi Williamson, as they also won the title in 2024. The 12-year-old NZ Hanoverian gelding has almost never finished outside the top three in any competition, either here or in Australia, where he has had some superb results.
Don Vito MH is a son of a wonderful broodmare, Adelheid MH (Anamour - St.Pr.St. Wel Kantje x Weltmeyer), from Stamm 1189102, Schridde 231 (Delfina line), who was also bred by Judith Matthews. She has now retired from breeding but is the mother of some very good foals. Don Vito MH has two Grand Prix full siblings, Dejavu MH who died in 2018, and Don Amour MH, plus several half-sisters, including Decadance MH (Dacaprio), who was the national five-year-old young dressage horse in 2015. Adelheid MH’s own dam is Wel Kantje (Weltmeyer - Pikantje x Pik Bube), whom Judith Matthews imported from Germany.
Don Vito’s sire, Don Frederico, was the champion of his 1999 Hanoverian stallion licensing. He is a son of Donnerhall, and a grandson of the elite Trakehner, Consul.
The reserve 2025 NZ Dressage Horse of the Year, Jax Johnson, is a 15-year-old New Zealand Warmblood gelding bred by David Woolley and Rania Todd. He is owned and ridden by Gaylene Lennard, who took up competitive dressage in her 50s after a lifetime as a show rider. Like Don Vito MH, Jax Johnson has been very successful in Australia. He won a CDI3* Freestyle in Sydney on a score of 76.875%, which broke not only the New Zealand record, but the record for the Sydney competition, which had stood for 18 years...
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