Connections of the Olympic and world silver medal-winning dressage horse Suppenkasper have paid tribute to the 16-year-old gelding, as he bows out of competition as one of the most successful campaigners in the US sport. Steffen Peters partnered “Mopsie” to help the US to team silver on home soil at the 2018 World Equestrian Games, and at the Tokyo Olympics, where he was dubbed the “Rave Horse” by non-equestrian fans. The gelding will retire to his owner Akiko Yamazaki’s Four Winds Farm. “The individual victories were amazing, but I always felt the proudest delivering for our team, and it meant the world when we accomplished that in Tokyo. Mopsie became the Rave Horse; that’s still special to me because he connected so many people,” said Steffan.
H&H columnist Carl Hester reflects on the LeMieux National Dressage Championships and makes suggestions to move dressage forward in his exclusive column this week. Carl shares an exchange of ideas that he had with Kyra Kyrklund at the nationals, saying that “with the amount of criticism thrown at dressage – tension, not in self-carriage, that horses aren’t happy or confident” – both agreed that “that something has to change”. “Kyra has lots of ideas but this one I think would be brilliant. As the FEI young horse tests have a give and retake the reins in trot, why don’t we introduce it at prix st georges and grand prix level?” he says. “Kyra’s thinking is that instead of having three trot extensions in the grand prix, the final one could be replaced by two half circles over X in trot, where the rider allows the horse to lengthen its neck, showing it’s carrying itself.”
Olympic, European, world and Dutch national champions are set to switch horses in a special class at the Dutch Masters next spring. Henrik von Eckermann, Christian Kukuk, Steve Guerdat and Willem Greve have agreed to recreate the “final four”, which was part of the World Championships from 1978 to 2014. Dutch Masters sports director Jeroen Dubbeldam, the last world champion to win in the old format, is behind the move, with Yvonne van Bergen. “We are still discussing which horses they will start with, but it will be a serious class at 1.45m/1.50m level. We really think this will catch on, so we can expand this class further in the future,” said Jeroen.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.
