Which means that our eight-year-old mare “Affäre” had her first international event and was in top shape. Two clear rounds and one fault, incurred in the final, is a great result for an international debut. I am very proud of this mare Affäre is a descendant of Kashmir van´t Schuttershof on her father´s side and on her mother´s of Chin Chin. Before Affäre got into sports, she had already given birth to two foals.

Alcantara´s career thus far has been similar. The Canturo daughter is also eight years of age, also has given birth to two foals and won the youngster final in Ommen with Gert-Jan. Connelly was also in top shape, clear in the 1.4m event and third in the ranking.

And initially we had considered not going! Some horses had a break, for others it just wasn´t the right time, and we finally went with a group of youngsters. And it certainly has been worth our while! Great!

Not quite so great is our covering situation this year. We have now suspended the covering season, without getting all our mares pregnant.