Winner on Friday, dead on Saturday: Dressage horse Rebroff’s sad ending
A horse who won his first Big Tour dressage event at Florida’s Global Dressage Festival in Wellington on Friday died in his stable the following day, with a cardiac event suspected to be the cause.
Rebroff, a 12-year-old Rehinlander gelding, had won the FEI Grand Prix CDI3* Freestyle with German rider Frederic Wandares on Friday with 69.761%. It was their first competition together, and Wandares’s first time competing in the US.
Rebroff was found to be in need of care in his stable at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center at 11:30am. The FEI official veterinarian for the festival, as well as the treating veterinarian, were on-site immediately.
His cause of death is as yet unknown, but it was suspected to be a cardiac event. Rebroff’s body has been sent to the Kissimmee, Florida, pathology laboratory for a necropsy.
Rebroff was bred in Germany by Yves and Verena Gielen-Burger. He was Robespierrot and from Nimfa, by the thoroughbred stallion Oula Owl.
Rebroff was previously ridden by Insa Hansen, and was bought by Hof Kasselmann in April 2020, according to FEI records.
