Yesterday evening it was time for the emotional goodbye show for Valegro during the KWPN Stallion Show in The Netherlands. The time of a magical area came to a end for Charlotte Dujardin and her beautiful, sweet and most talented friend.
The show started with the story trough the live of both Charlotte and Valegro. Valegro's mother Maifleur (by Gershwin) was showed by Valegro's breeders Joop and Maartje Hanse in the arena. Proudly they showed their mare who gave birth to this wonderful horse. The horse that we will put on our list of golden horses throughout the years.
In several show elements with a lot of drama involved the show went on. This time we saw the young riders and their little ponies who showed the love for horses Charlotte had as a young child. We saw little kids show off on their ponies, standing on their backs, or showing their own dressage skills. But also kids who were brushing their horse, or simply walked them to the arena with a lot of affection. It turned out to be a very cute part of the show which in the end was completed by young rider Carlijn Vaessen and her horse Fossbury (by Ampere) who showed their talents in a beautiful Kür of their own.
Soon after this element we heard the thunder of galopping horses. A true herd of fifteen horses came galloping into the arena, following one little white pony. The dark horses went on galloping when the white horse dissapeared. They were later ushered out of the arena by putting the white horse in front of them again.
After this show it was time for all Negro sons and daughters who remain in the Netherlands to show off their abilities. We saw the Dutch talents Maxime van der Vlist on her Bailey, but also Tommie Visser show off their horses. From very stong piaffes to pirouettes, this show had it all. The public enjoyed this show with so much talent from both riders and the beautiful talents. We cant wait to see if one of them will turn out to be such a talent as Valegro.
It was then Carl Hester who took to the microphone to give his credits toward the magical combination of Charlotte and Valegro. Nothing but loving words came from Hester for this pair. He had to turn the evening short however, and announced it was time for the golden London Kür for the last time from this beautiful pair. For one more time the audiance could enjoy the sensible and very powerfull movements of this horse. It was time to enjoy all the glory for the very last time.
And enjoying was what the public did. In this Kür everyone learned why this combination has been so succesfull over the last couple years. The fairytale really ended here, showing a beautiful Kür for the very last time. A Kür that was once more perfectly brought. The most diffucult elements were performed without any problems and the public was really loving this horse for one last time. Then the magic ended with a beautiful turnout arranged by the KWPN. They made a blanket for Valegro with his name and everything. The breeders came in the arena for one last goodbye and then it was time for the round of honor. People were standing up for this magical pair, clapping, waving and making a lot of noise. A very big smiling Charlotte waved back to the audiance, making sure everyone could see this wonderful horse before leaving the arena.
It turned out to be a beautiful show in which we found it a bit sad that we only had about fifteen minutes of Valegro. During the day the it was cram-full in the stands with people showing up from all over the country to see this amazing show. Everywhere you went the people were talking about Valegro and the show that evening. We enjoyed the entire day at the Stallion Show with beautiful horses, shows and ofcourse the Select Sale. But most of all we enjoyed seeing this phenomal combination for one more time. The combination that has stolen so many hearts (and medailles) all over the world!
