By Hillevi Brasch
Photography: Roland Thunholm
I guess we can all agree the year 2020 has changed almost everything, trickling down to the most basic things such as enjoying our families, young and old. Enjoying our horses proved to be a challenge as well in the showing and competition departments.
The show season was halted for several months in Sweden, and being able to take your horses to your trainer was suddenly not as easy anymore. The Swedish Warmblood association decided that even though the show season was considerably cut short, hence limiting the qualifying period for the championships, the SWB Young Horse Championships would still go ahead. On this occasion, instead of audience members, SWB online TV gave everyone the opportunity to watch the proceedings from the comfort of their own home.
‘Breeders Trophy’ as the SWB young horse championship is called, is the one event where breeders receive just as much attention, if not more, than the owners of the horses. The top three- to seven-year-old horses meet and compete in dressage and jumping, while the eventing horses have their own competition as well, with the top four- to six-year-olds competing for the coveted Breeders Trophy award.
Online elite foal auction
Similarly, the traditional Elite Foal Auction went digital this year proving to be a smart move, as it introduced the foal collection to the rest of the world resulting in several foals being sold overseas. In fact, there was a surprisingly great increased interest, and the auction closed with a record-breaking average price for the dressage foals (€15,000), with the top-selling foal being Flexible, a colt by Franklin x Don Primero who sold for €35,000. The jumping foals meanwhile fetched an average price just as high as in a traditional auction (€12,000) with the top seller being Aventador, a colt by All Star 5 x Cardento selling for €25,000. Perhaps this is the way to go, coronavirus or not, in the future?
Dressage Week
The lovely 2017-born mare Bergsjöholms Barletta (For Romance II - Via Veneto x Epson), bred and owned by Marita Strauch, Stall Bergsjöholm, took home not only the National Mare Championship but also the three-year-old championship overall. Barletta is the sister of Patrik Kittel’s new mount Bergsjöholms Valbonne, an approved stallion born in 2013, by Blue Hors Zack.
After inviting Charlotte Dujardin as the test rider for the four-year old dressage horses for the last four years, it was time for a new rider to evaluate the top 12 horses. Cathrine Dufour of Denmark was asked early on to take on the task and eventually accepted, despite wondering if she could fill the very big shoes Dujardin left behind. (Cathrines’s own words). But there was no doubt that she did, as her beautiful and thoughtful test riding of the four-year-olds proved to be a success, and Cathrine was impressed with how these horses were trained: On a par with their age; nothing more, nothingless.
The Swedish Warmblood Vancouver (Blue Hors Veneziano - Bologna x Zuidenwind) a gelding bred in 2016 by Gränsbo Stuteri, owned by Asp i Simris AB, won the test riding as well as the four-year-old championship class... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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