As 2022 comes to a close, join us in celebrating the wonderful achievements of these top dressage horses who left us this year. They certainly all left their mark on the dressage world, with a number of incredible victories between them.
It wasn’t possible to include every horse in this piece, but our thoughts are with connections of all horses that died during 2022.
Sophie Christiansen’s para ride, “Louie”, won at international level and was picked for the Tokyo Paralympics after scoring a plus-80% freestyle test in the build-up, although he was later withdrawn owing to a “minor veterinary issue”.
“It feels bittersweet that he never got to show off his full potential, but he taught me so much,” said Sophie. “He wasn’t the sassiest but he was good, solid and dependable, so it was up to me to squeeze out every mark. He did wonders for my riding.”
João Miguel Torrão and Equador at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
João Torrão’s Tokyo ride, the dressage stallion Equador MVL, helped secure Portugal’s Olympic spot with their performance at the 2019 Europeans. They also won the grand prix special at Hickstead CDIO3* that year.
The Lusitano suffered a cervical injury and did not survive emergency surgery.
“Equador has left no one indifferent with whom he crossed paths, impressing with his adorable character, golden heart and fighting spirit,” said Diogo Lima Mayer, director of Monte Velho Equo-Resort, which owned the stallion. “The perfect gentleman, whose spirit stays with us in the hearts of his offspring.”
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U-Genius is by Uthopia (Metall x Inspekteur), out of Weidyfleur II — Valegro’s full sister (Negro x Gershwin)
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Described as the “best-bred horse in the world”, U-Genius never had the chance to fulfil his undoubted promise, dying of colic at the age of 11 having competed successfully at small tour with Amy Woodhead. He was a dressage stallion by Uthopia and out of Valegro’s full-sister Weidyfleur II, owned by breeder Claire Hester, Carl Hester, Roly Luard and Anne Crohn.
“He was generous with his cleverness and trainability, gentle with his power and personality, exuberant and expressive in his enjoyment of learning and understanding grand prix movements, while being understated, so easy to handle as a stallion and a genuine gentleman,” said Claire.
Isabell Werth’s German team dressage stalwart accrued a dazzling medal collection. They won individual and team gold at the 2006 World Championships. The following year, they collected individual gold, plus freestyle and team silver at the European Championships in Turin, going on to take Olympic individual silver and team gold at the 2008 Games.
“He was the most difficult, but also the most important horse in my career as a trainer and rider,” Isabell said of Madeleine Winter-Schulze’s Hanoverian gelding.
Björsells Briar, pictured at the 2008 Olympics in Hong King (Beijing Games).
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)
The dressage stallion competed at three Olympics with Sweden’s Jan Brink. The son of Magini was owned by his breeder Hans-Yngve Göransson and was a stalwart of the Swedish team for nearly a decade.
The partner of Dutch rider Anky van Grunsven, Salinero (Salieri x Lungau) became a true legend of the sport, winning individual gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
“Salinero, my hero, left us in tears behind. Memories will never fade away,” said Anky, herself a triple Olympic champion.
The pair set a world record for the freestyle at ’s-Hertogenbosch in 2006, scoring 87.925%, and followed it up with individual gold at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen that year. Over the course of his career, Salinero won five individual gold medals – at every consecutive championship from 2004 to 2008 – as well as four World Cup Final titles.
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
