Germans Lars Ligus & Frederic Wandres TAKE WELLINGTON DRESSAGE SCENE QUIETLY

By Equestrian Editor, Shereen Fuqua

Our 10 years for my daughter Kat to compete at the Winter Equestrian Festival, this year is different. Global Equestrian Group led by Danish Olympian Andreas Helgstrand, operator of a successful horse sales business and Ludger Beerbaum, 4 time Olympic Gold Medalist German Show Jumper are new owners of WEF & Global Dressage, now Wellington International. The American industry can rejoice for best in class competition bringing in more top international judges, olympians and riders. These power house equestrians con- tinue to import the European horses for the HOT American market, making it easier then ever to try the horses on our own soil.

Not to miss a beat, the popular German KASSELMAN Family purchased their own sales/ training yard here. The world famous horse auction house, Performance Sales International was founded in1980 in the USA in partnership with Germans expert dressage Grand Prix Trainer Ullrich Kasselmann & Olympic Show Jumper Paul Schockemohle. The plan was to bring the Americans to the largest breeding areas in Europe to sell dressage and jumper prospects. And their vision excels now 40 years. Today there may be a bigger market for trained horses. CEO Francois Kasselman, son of retired Ulli, now leads the family business and auction.

Back to Kat, we quietly were seeking top trained Dressage Grand Prix horses with little luck. With high expectations, and 20 years of contacts, we didn’t expect difficulty. We know

Helgstrand’s Dr. Ulf Moller for years. We purchased several Kasselman horses over 17years. Months of looking we found a top horse by another international trainer, whom we also purchased from in 2006. But his steep price, $1.2 million, scared us that Kat would not be able to learn the Grand Prix Dressage at a very competitive level. I reached out to Francois. Luckily he coordinated a trial with his managing Trainer & Rider Frederic Wandres who leads Kasselman USA. Not only is his fine horse Rigoletto a match for Kat, the price was fair. How fortunate that 10 yo Rigoletto can stay in training with Freddie’s partner Lars Ligus, another top German Kasselman rider/trainer. A perfect scenario to train Kat as well.

“Freddie” Wandres 3rd season at Global Dressage, he markets, shows and wins. He’s ranked 10th in the world. He led the German Team to win three straight years for the Nation’s Cup. When you meet him, he is just a regular guy very nice and at times funny. He never talks about winning, is quite humble with his experience and life in horses, and is polite and respectful. Yet there is so much seriousness in his eye. You know that he will be an Olympian one day. I am impressed seeing him sweep and doing farm chores like everyone at their barn.

There is a young lady there, alert and working the horses, bathing or lunging or feeding or whatever it takes to care for the loved show horses. Kat walks in and offers to please let her do the grooming of her new horse. With the always quick response “are you sure?” she says to Kat. Turns out she is German champion Anna-Christina Abbelen, winning the Nation’s cup with teammate Freddie, and the Champion of the Palm Beach Derby. Lars Ligus, the most American-like of the German super stars is full of spunk & spirit, eager to see the world and explore America. He is funny, kind and hard working. He is proud to train Rigoletto and now train the girl who got him. The demeanor of all is special and honest feeling.

I caught up with Francois asking … “Why do you want to be in the US, Wellington?”

“We want to develop good relations and build up good communication with new people and with our existing clients. We want to speak honestly with our customers to make trust. It is very important to be honest in the ring. We train like we train in Europe …come on, not everything is nice. We try to make it better in a friendly but hard way. If you want to have success in any sport, there has to be a push or kick in the pants…if you know what I mean. We come only for the winter. We will like to make new friendships. We have 280 trained horses in Germany. So it is easy to match a suitable horse, if we know how the customer rides. We have 5 of the top 50 riders in the world! We have relationships of over 40 years. But we don’t just sell horses, we help and train. Your daughter is going to be a top talent. It is nice to see she does hunters, equitation and jumpers…this is important for the balance!”

Graciously Kat responds , “I’m obsessed training with the Germans. The opportunity is a dream. Lars & Freddie are regular guys but push me so I can be my best!”