The multi-medalist Desperados FRH dies suddenly

He had done the best hours of Kristina Bröring Sprehe and the Mannschaft. Desperados FRH, the beautiful black stallion, is no more. De Niro’s son, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Team Games, had more than 30 international victories and as many sons approved for breeding.

Desperados was not far from being a dressage legend in Germany. European Champion in 2013, World Champion in 2014, and Olympic Team Champion in 2016, the De Niro son with a Wolkstein II dam passed away on Friday 14 February after being ridden in the morning.

Owned by the Bröring Sprehe family, and under Kristina’s saddle since 2011, the beautiful Hanoverian stallion had been trained by Falk Rosenbauer in his early years. Since their first appearance in the big championship at the London Olympics in 2012, the pair had become a real mainstay of the Mannschaft.

But more than the many charms they gleaned alongside the other German trainers, Desperados has made a name for himself as an individual. Eighth at the London Olympic Games in 2012, fifth at the Longines European Championships in Herning in 2013, fourth in the Special and Freestyle Grand Prix the following year at the World Equestrian Games in Caen, then double European vice champion in the legendary Entre d’Aix-la-Chapelle in 2015, the powerful stallion finished his championship career in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, taking the bronze medal in the individual event, just behind queens Charlotte Dujardin, unbeatable with her incomparable Valegro, and Isabell Werth, associated with Weihegold. Through his class, and the harmony he exuded with his faithful rider, Desperados had profoundly marked the greatest dressage enthusiasts.

In addition to his sporting performances and thirty-six victories on the international scene, the black stallion had begun to leave his mark on the breeding industry. Approved since he was three years old, Desperados had achieved the best average in his approval session, receiving an incredible score of 9.5 for his canter.

With more than 30 approved sons, Desperados was top of the WBFSH (World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses) World Dressage Stallion Ranking in 2016. In the same year, two years before his retirement from international sport, the son of the world-famous De Niro received the Hanoverian Stallion of the Year Award. Among his most famous sons: Destiny Old, with whom Kristina Bröring Sprehe won the Neumünster Grand Prix last week-end.