By Yvonne Buis-Franken / KWPN
Photography: Jacob Melissen
The Pavo Cup season is in full swing, and by now the first horses have qualified for the semi-finals in Ermelo. Last year, the competition for six-year-olds was won by Svenja Grimm aboard Kadiene. This year, the Chilean resident rider makes her appearance in the ring with five horses. “I find it a very valuable competition for the young horses.”
The German rider Svenja Grimm lives in Chile, but every year she spends a few weeks in the Netherlands to find new talent. And that’s how it came to her to present three horses in last year’s Pavo Cup when, remarkably, the six-year-old Zhivago daughter Kadiene (out of Glamour Girl ster PROK x Belissimo M, bred by De Radstake of Varsseveld) won the competition.
“Of course, I knew I had a good horse, but to win the Pavo Cup; that came as a total surprise. It was a wonderful experience, not only for me but also for the horses. That’s the reason I decided to enter this year’s competition with five horses.”
The Chilean connection
Together with her partner Mario Vargas, Svenja runs a dressage stable that is exclusively home to her own horses. “I am originally German and used to ride the international Junior classes. After high school I worked at dressage stables in the US and South-Africa for a while before moving to Amsterdam to start my Business Administration studies. During that time I made a lot of Dutch friends, but then left for Chile for one year but came across so many business opportunities that I took a job there. After three years, Mario and I decided to start or own dressage stable. By now, our accommodation stables fourteen horses. The goal is to produce them up to international Grand Prix, that’s why we rarely sell a horse. Mario is my trainer. At the start I was a little sceptical about that; would that work, doing everything together with your partner? But he has vastly improved my riding. When I am in the Netherlands I train at Stal Laarakkers, and last year I went to Emmelie Scholtens a few times, however at home it is just the two of us.”.. To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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