Analysis by Adriana van Tilburg: This is the conclusion of Fein Cera’s story that appeared in the March 2017 edition of BN. From being a world championship horse herself, Fein Cera became a grandmother to an Olympic competitor: Rio 2016’s Onellaia with John Whitaker. Read on...
As US international showjumper Alison Firestone has already said, she sold Fein Cera to fellow countryman Peter Wylde, who recalls re- calls: “The years between 2000 and 2002 were a very successful part of Fein Cera’s career. During these years I was showing her only in Europe. I was riding Macanudo De Niro (Calvados - Catrichta x Zeus) in the World Cup season of 2000/2001 and qualified for the World Cup final in Gothenburg, having won the qualifiers in Dortmund and Mechelen.
“Macanudo was really in form and was doing fantastic and then they had foot and mouth disease in Europe, so after Dortmund nobody was allowed to transport horses. So Macanudo hadn’t been to shows from around the middle of February until the second week of April. That was actually a total disaster, especially for him because he is super super careful and a little bit spooky and he was always going the best when we had a rhythm in showing. The Dutch got us a court order to let us travel to Denmark to get us closer to Sweden. We were able to travel a week before the World Cup was due to start. We only had a small indoor to train and that was quite difficult for him.
“The reason I’m saying is be- cause I ended up riding Fein Cera in the final round on the Sunday. Macanudo was good and I think I was al- ready in 10th or 12thplace, but he got a little bit injured. He spooked in the jump-off on the Friday and hit a pole very hard and that made him sore. Together with my chef d’equipe we decided that I should ride Fein Cera. She was than 10 years old and had never jumped a 1m60 class. I had only jumped her in a nice 1m50 class, before going to Gothenburg – that was the highest I’d jumped her. She was second in that class, but that was nothing compared to going into a World Cup final. The result... She was fourth and clear in the final, she was un- believable and it moved me up to finishing fifth or sixth. That was absolutely the first big moment for Fein Cera with me. (In 2002 they won individual bronze at the world championships.)...
