Surprise at the Dutch National Dressage Championship

by Fran Jurga | 7 June 2009 | The Jurga Report

On Saturday, June 6th, Anky Van Grunsven's long reign as the national champion of dressage in The Netherlands came to an end. It ended not because she and her Olympic champion Salinero failed at the national championships at Brabant. Quite to the contrary, they were their usual selves, technically perfectionist, and scored an astounding rack of 9s, to total 84 on the freestyle on the final of the three days of competition.

Can you imagine scoring an 84...and losing?

Their problem was the exquisitely tailored Edward Gal on the Dutch stallion Moorlands Totilas. As tightly wrapped as was Salinero, Totilas was equally unwrapped. He moved like a horse with tendons not of steel but of true elastic. A horse reminescent of Blue Horse Matine at WEG 2006, Totilas is a nine-year-old Dutch stallion by Gribaldi who may be ready to take on the world. He will surely be aimed at the European Championships this summer and perhaps at the WEG in Kentucky in 2010.

The judges unanimously scored Totilas higher than Salinero, with an ending score of 86.7 on the freestyle, which Gal rode wearing a new buff-colored coat with contrast piping to enhance the horse's coloring. Dressage coats are traditionally dark colors and the light color with contrast piping really helps embolden the dark horse's frame.

One of the most interesting facets of this horse is what his rider calls his relaxed attitude, which certainly shows. Gal told Claartje van Andel of Dressagedirect.com that the horse progressively relaxed through the test in the huge indoor stadium, unlike other horses in the competition, and that "He enters the ring all sweaty, during the test relaxes and departs from it all dry! It’s not as if it doesn’t take any effort".

Anky was gracious in defeat, and complimentary of her competition. She will be back; this was only Salinero's second show since Hong Kong last August. Click here for all the scores.

Edward Gal posted this video of his new freestyle with Totilas on his web site, which has English pages where you can learn more about him and his horses.

Anky's Dressage Star Painted Black Injured in Holland

News from the Netherlands today: Dressage champion Anky van Grunsven reports that a stable accident has affected the competition plans for her stallion I.P.S. Painted Black, whom she rode to a third-place finish in the 2009 FEI World Cup in Las Vegas last month.

Painted Black injured his hip while being prepared for semen collection. The injury is certainly not the end of his career but it will keep him from performing both of his current jobs--competing in the international arena and breeding mares by artificial insemination.

Anky's statement about the accident said, "‘Although an injury is never good, I am satisfied that Painted will be okay again. I had plans to compete him at some important show but that’s impossible now. Of course I will give him all the time he needs to recover."

Anky will continue to compete with her 2008 Olympics mount, I.P.S. Salinero, with whom she is training for the Dutch National Championships the first week of June.

Thanks to my friend Claartje van Andel in Holland for sharing this news with me.

Just for Fun: Sharing the Bandwidth of Fame with Anky

Photos from readers add a personal touch (and some humor) on Anky van Grunsven's web site

There's probably only one way in the world that my name and Anky van Grunsven's will ever be spoken in the same sentence. And I'm letting you in on the secret.

The ultimate dressage queen/empress/diva--whatever you'd like to call her--has a great web site at http://www.anky.nl/. There's plenty of news, updated daily. There's wallpaper for your computer to download. Horses to meet. Videos to watch. Music from her kurs to delight your ears.

But she also has something else: an upload link. You can upload photos of your horse or you or whatever you like, or videos, up to a certain size and within parameters. Each week, the Anky crew posts favorites on the web site. You have your week of fame at the top of the web page, then you move down the next week, but you're always there. You always have the web URL to your photo sitting amongst Salinero, Bonfire and all the Anky activity.

Here's the link for uploading:
http://www.anky.nl/index.asp?page=upload

Some of the stuff is goofy and makes you laugh (like the horse and human facemakers shown here, posted a few weeks ago): some is serious, but most photos show ordinary people from all over the world having fun with their horses.

This is somewhat akin to uploading your best singing-in-the-shower to Barbra Streisand's site (you can't). Good for you, Anky!

Video: Everyone Is Talking About...The Sliding Diva!

by Fran Jurga | 2 February 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com



Plenty of prize money and international prestige were at stake at this weekend's Exquis World Dressage Masters Weekend series in Wellington, Florida. Congratulations to winners Stefan Peters, Anky van Grunsven, and Michael Barisone, winners of the Grand Prix, Freestyle, and Grand Prix Special, respectively.

But if it was a dressage show, why is that everyone is talking about Anky's exhibition of western riding?

That's right! The Olympic gold medalist came from Europe to compete in dressage but wowed the American crowd with an exhibition of her new skills in reining.

Rumor has it that Anky may try to make the Dutch reining team for the Alltech World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky in 2010.

The video from Dutch television gives you an idea of what Anky's demo may have been like. This demo was at Jumping Amsterdam in Holland recently. Anky is riding her American Quarter horse, Hilda's Smart Chic.

Anky rode Hilda's Smart Chic in a demo at Jumping Amsterdam recently.

Still photo courtesy of Anky van Grunsven.

Video: Watch Dutch Dressage Team Horses Enter Quarantine for Olympics

There are two women in the world who can get away with the appellation "dressage queen" without it being an exaggeration. Both are about to embark on the trip of a lifetime to Hong Kong, and are likely to be one-two/gold-silver (ah, but which one on top?) at the Hong Kong Olympic Dressage competition next month.

The horses of both Germany's Isabel Werth and the Netherlands' Anky van Grunsven are settling into quarantine. Anky's horses are in Handel, Holland for isolation and observation before they are flown to Hong Kong. They will be in isolation for the next eight days.

Luckily for us, Dutch television filmed the departure of Anky's Salinero and Painted Blank, and you can see a little behind-the-scenes glimpse of the training center for Anky and Svef Jepsen, the Dutch chef d'equipe. The horse vans are amazing; the "Hunter Douglas" one really is related to those honeycomb blinds in your house. The company sponsors the #2 horse on the Dutch team, Hunter Douglas Sunrise, a beautiful mare ridden by Imke Schellekens-Bartels. That combination will surely be at or near the top in Hong Kong.

You will see the vet taking swabs from the nostrils of the horses before they are allowed to unload at the quarantine facility.

The Olympics will be here before we know it!

2008 Olympics Politics: Anky Speaks Out

Olympics Gold Medalist and World Champion dressage rider Anky Van Grunsven of The Netherlands has posted a statement on her web site regarding her view of the political impact of Chinese human rights violations in Tibet and how riders should respond at this time:

"Of course I follow the situation in Tibet. Sporters (riders) should know what is going on there. But I think the human rights aspect gets more attention because of the Olympic Games. Hopefully it will work out in a good way and it would be nice if we, sporters, could help a little bit to make the situation better."

I know it is hard for Americans to imagine this, but Anky is a "brand" of her own in her home country, with her own line of clothing, interviews with the prime minister, and guest appearances on every imaginable television program. The logo above emblazons her web site and says it all.

She doesn't need a last name.

Happy Birthday: Dressage Superstar Bonfire Begins His 25th Year

A basket of fruit for the aged dressage super-hero, Anky's Bonfire.

Many arguments can be made for the leading senior citizen of the horse world. In Great Britain, there is even a Veteran Horse Society that promotes the health and welfare of the “senior” horse and rewards the efforts of those who continue to compete with older horses. In Kentucky, the “Old Friends” retirement home warehouses elders of the racing world whose stud or racing careers are over, but who live on in the hearts of their fans.

In the sport horse world, one horse, personifies the electric charge that overcame the sport of dressage in the 1990s and transformed it into an exciting spectator sport. No longer would people say that watching dressage was like “watching paint dry”. Not with a horse like Bonfire in the ring.

Bonfire was the horse who carried Dutch rider Anky van Grunsven to super-star status. For years, they battled tooth-and-nail against the technically-perfect Germans. Always crowd favorites, Bonfire and Anky infused the sport with risky, expressive performances that dropped many a jaw and elicited worldwide wows.

Together, Anky and Bonfire won the World Cup five times. According to her web site, they have shared an Olympic Gold Medal…and three Olympic Silver Medals. They won the World Championship, the European Championship and were National Champions of the Netherlands eight times.

Today, Bonfire is retired at Anky’s training center. He turned 25 a few days ago and was rewarded with a basket of fruit from a Dutch charity that uses the Oldenburg gelding as their poster boy. The charity provides a retirement home for old riding school horses to prevent them from being slaughtered.

Speaking at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in Palm Beach, Florida last fall, Anky's farrier Rob Renirie included senior horses in his four-part master class on sport horse farriery. When it came time to talk about the retired athletes, Rob proudly drew on the example of his old friend Bonfire, who has retired to life as a sound, healthy pensioner.

Bonfire has his own page on Anky's web site. He is the first horse among all those featured--obviously always at the top of her list!

All horses should have it so good. Bonfire certainly has earned his place in the paddock. Long may he graze.

Among Bonfire's routines are solarium sessions.