BUSY BUSY BUSY

By International Dressage Rider
CHRISTA LAARAKKERS

This time of the year it is always very hard work for us. All things come together and we want to compete with everything.

The selection for Verden is finished now. Last Monday the 12th of July, the 6th and last selection was in Ermelo. After this selection we were selected to go to Verden in August with two horses representing the best young horses that Holland have at the moment.

Vai our rider is riding Annebeth. She is an Oscar mare out of a Corleone mother. Last year she was the best mare at the PAVO Cup in the Netherlands. I will be taking Aston Martin with me, the young Uphill horse, out of a Cabochon mare. Both these horses were bred at the Pretendent Hoeve by Gert Willem van Norel, the owners of the top dressage stallions Oscar and Uphill.

Christa Laarakkers

The other 5 year old horses that were selected to represent Holland were:

Aaron (Florencio x Record)
Annerijke (Jazz x Gribaldi)
Astrix (Obelisk x Olivi)
Broere Argentino (Jazz x Ulft)

The 6 year old horses that were selected to represent Holland are:

Zamora (Krack C x Farrington)
Zarah (Oscar x Montecristo)
Zhivago (Krack C x Jazz)
Ziësto (Lancet x Clavecimbel)
Zjenghis Khan (Rousseau x Rubinstein)
Zolena (Sir Sinclair x Cabochon)

Christa Laarakkers with Aston Martin

All these horses are going to Germany in the first week of August. On the Wednesday there will be the vet check and on the Thursday the 5 year olds will start their tests.

Besides the above, in this month we also have the selections for the Semi Finals of the PAVO Cup in Holland. The horses that are selected for Verden can go straight to the semi finals, but the 4 year old horses have to earn their ticket.

We were in the North part of the Netherlands at a selection with Bonbini (Oscar x Vincent), she is the half sister of the Approved KWPN stallion Carlton Hill, who recently passed his Stallion Performance Test. Secondly with Bugatti Veyron (Uphill x Cabochon), he is full brother to Aston Martin, who has been selected for Verden as above.

Bonbini won the competition with 78 points, with Bugatti Veyron on a score of 76 coming in second place. We bred Bonbini and then sold her to the USA, and are happy that the owner decided to let her stay at our place for her training. The Semi Finals take place on the 19th August in Ermelo.

On top of all the riding competitions we also attended two KWPN Inspections for the mares to become KEUR. In Luttenberg, which is in the East part of the Netherlands we had the winner! It was Contessa who won the 3 year old group of mares and became KEUR; she is by Johnson out of a Chronos mare. The other mare owned by the same people, the family Hoogenslag from Haarle, was also awarded the KEUR predicate! Both these mares were purchased at auctions as foals.

Christa Laarakkers with Divoza Horseworld Ovation

We had one mare with us for the inspection in the northern part of the Netherlands and she won her group as well, out of the 4 years old mares. Last year it was Bonbini that was the Overall Champion. This year the four year old Universeel mare became second, with the winner being a three year old mare.

Beside all those things we have a lot of international dressage shows. These last months we are almost living in our lorry. In the last few weeks we went to Rotterdam with Divoza Horseworld Ovation, who came fourth in the Freestyle. After that we went to Falsterbo, Sweden, which is a beautiful place to see and experience. This has to be one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. The people were very enthusiastic and very nice. This year they had the World Dressage Master show. The first one was in Florida, USA and I competed there with Ovation as well, and the other shows were in Munich and Cannes. The last one will be at Hickstead in the UK.

When we came home from Falsterbo we had to go immediately to the last selection for the Verden Selections, and in the afternoon we went straight to Aachen.

In Aachen Divoza Horseworld Ovation was too nervous to concentrate on me, which was a great pity. However the younger horses that I had with me did a really good job. Don Fuego (German bred by Don Bedo x Fidermark) I have had in training for an American owner, and he came 7th (68%) and second in the small tour with 70%. It was great!! It was my first time in Aachen and I hope not the last because these kinds of shows are so awesome.

Christa Laarakkers with Don Feugo

Sunday the 25th of July I am going to leave home again. This time I am going to the most wonderful country I know, besides my own, Great Britain! If I ever have to leave my country I would certainly move to Great Britain - I like the people, with their humour, their mentality and the beautiful landscapes.

In Bishop Burton there is the European Championship for the ponies . Dana van Lierop is one of my students and I am going to help her with the training. Last year she won the Team Silver and won Bronze in the Individual Freestyle on the last day.

Christa Laarakkers with Don Feugo

When I come back at Monday the 2nd August I only have one day to do my washing, because I will leave again the next day to Germany to compete at the World Championship at Verden with Aston Martin NL.

You see we are really very busy, but it is all so beautiful that we cannot choose, and as long as my dogs still recognize me I will go on this journey.

Christa Laarakkers

FOR CHRISTA'S WEBSITE GO TO - DRESSUURSTAL LAARAKKERS