With a sports program like the one in June, choosing was clearly losing. In and month full of ultimate top sport, the prestigious show in Aachen still remained the icing on the cake for many, but the 60th edition of the Hickstead Derby also attracted huge visitor numbers. Another hotly debated topic turned out to be the mandatory six-month maternity leave imposed by the FEI. German rider Janne-Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann publicly raised this issue ...
The month of June had numerous brilliant competitions of the highest level. A handful of these were: CSI4* Devon, 5* CSIO Sankt Gallen, CSI5* Cannes, CSI4* Wiesbaden, CSIO5* Sopot, CSI4* Sentower Park, CSI5* GCL and CGT of Stockholm, CSI5* Spruce Meadows, CSI4* Poznań, CSIO5* Rotterdam, CSI4* Milan, and last but not least, the 60th edition of the Hickstead Derby and the start of the iconic CHIO Aachen.
Riders from all around the world looked forward to the Aachen show even more eagerly after it was announced that the prize money of the Rolex Grand Prix was increased to a whopping 1.5 million euros. In addition, the iconic grass arena also provided the stage for this year's FEI Youth Equestrian Games.
The Nations Cups were also back in full swing. Amongst others, Italy won in Athens, Ireland excelled in Canada, Switzerland took the home win in St. Gallen, Germany took the gold in Poland, and the Netherlands secured their home win in Rotterdam.
Meanwhile, Janne-Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann raised the alarm with the FEI after she lost half of her ranking points due to cutting short her obligatory six-month baby break. Also the EEF announced the launch of a new competition format with the EEF Evolution League, and at the first in-person FEI Board Meeting of the year in Lausanne (SUI), amongst others, the sanction system for the non-fulfilment of the Horse Health Requirements was updated.
Switzerland's Christina Liebherr made the decision this month to retire from the top level show jumping sport. Furthermore, due to an injury sustained while competing at the Spruce Meadows 'national' tournament, Eric Lamaze's 16-year-old Chacco Kid was sent to an early retirement. In June, we were further delighted with the news that Portugal's Rodrigo Almeida and partner Karlijn van Dinther had become parents to their beautiful son Raff Giesteira de Almeida.
On a more sad note, we had to say goodbye to Dutch breeder Frans van der Linden, who passed away at the age of 84. The breeding world also lost stallion Couleur Rubin (age 26) following multiple age-related ailments.
Source: Equnews