"I can't believe it" - Anne-Mette Strandby Hansen claimed gold with Foco Loco at the European Championships for U25, but she finds it difficult to understand, that she actually can use that title!

The freestyle program and music only came into place shortly before, Anne-Mette and Foco Loco headed south to Budapest, Hungary, to participate at the U25 European Championships. They only had time to practice the program quite a few times before entering the big arena. But Anne-Mette didn't show any nervousness at all despite the high pressure. She knew they could. Foco Loco, a 15-year-old Belgian Warmblood, has many years of experience with the difficult exercises. Foco Loco, who had lacked a bit of energy in the individual and qualifying Grand Prix, showed top form after the resting day and danced through the difficult exercises where not one hoof was put wrong. The pair scored 79.025% and placed superbly in the lead.

"I wear the medal and it reminds me that it's actually true. I'm so proud of our result at the European Championships. It will be an experience that I will never forget", says Anne-Mette. 

Anne-Mette won team bronze together with the Danish team and placed 4th in the Grand Prix, only 0.4% winning bronze.

The Danish team was represented by:

Maja Andreasen and Kano
Josefine Hoffmann and Hønnerups Driver
Victoria E. Vallentin and Brooklyn
Anne Mette Strandby Hansen and Foco Loco

Enjoy Anne-Mette and Foco Loco's impressive and very technical freestyle:

Valuable by Valverde/Sezuan (bred by Lena and Rasmus Dalsgaard) - auction price highlight and sold for 79,000 euro to Canada.

Earlier this year, Helgstrand and Schockemöhle launched an auction concept only with foals sired by Helgstrand and Schockemöhle’s stallions. Stallions that represents the world elite of dressage and showjumping stallions. Tonight, the last fall of the hammer was set after three very successful auctions and even with a record-high average price of impressive 22,267 euros.

- We are extremely pleased with the result of the three auctions. There is no doubt that we had very high expectations for the last one because of the high number of quality-foals at the inspections and achieving such a high average price is beyond our expectations. Being able to put together a new concept with such an amazing result makes us very proud and we are extremely thankful to both breeders and buyers, says auction manager Esben Møller.

Due to a large number of selected dressage and show jumping foals for the last auction, the auction committee chose to divide it in two and thus auctioning 15 top pedigree dressage foals at tonight’s online auction. Until today, it seemed to be the black beauty, the colt by Totilas/Sir Donnerhall I with a very interesting dam line that would be the auction's price highlight, but it became the extremely successful Valverde/Sezuan colt, number 12 Valuable, who stole the spotlight and ran with the title as the auction's most expensive foal sold for no less than 79,000 euro. Valuable, who is by the three times Westphalia Champion, Valverde, is bred in Denmark by Lena and Rasmus Dalsgaard and has been sold to Canada. The Totilas colt, Take Me Forward, was sold to Germany for 51,000 euro and thus became the auction's second most expensive. Take Me Forward is bred by Bernd Lampe from Germany. *

Third most expensive was a magnificent offspring by the World Champion Jovian, number 6 Jules Mumm with Fürstenball as damsire. Jules Mumm is bred by Enrico Messelis from Germany and the new owners are located in Mozambique.

Congratulations to both breeders and the new owners!

The result of the 3rd and final auction:

1. Take Me Forward by Totilas/Sir Donnerhall – 51,000 euro
2. HP Vancouver by Vitalis/Apache – 18,000 euro
3. Sweet Surprice by Sezuan’s Donnerhall/Surprice – 22,500 euro
4. Dark Romance by Donier/Fürst Romancier – 11,500 euro
5. Touch of Royalty by Total Hope/Danciano – 22,000 euro
6. Jules Mumm by Jovian/Fürstenball – 25,000 euro
7. Future Nightshadow by Franklin/Sir Donnerhall I – 10,000 euro
8. Treasure of Hope by Total Hope/Sungold – 24,000 euro
9. Titanium by Totilas/De Niro – 20,500 euro
10. Grand Cru FF by Grand Galaxy Win/Don Schufro – 10,000 euro
11. True Hope by Total Hope/Fürstenball – 9,500 euro
12. Valuable by Valverde/Sezuan – 79,000 euro
13. Do the Deal by Donier/Daily Deal – 10,000 euro
14. Fine Lady by Fürst Toto/Don Romantic – 11,500 euro
15. Dancing Belle by Donier/Sandro Hit – 9,500 euro

Read more about the foals of the 3rd auction here

Anne-Mette Strandby Hansen and Fofo-Loco from national show in Hjallerup, Denmark

The European Championships is taking place at the moment in the capital of Hungary and no less than 10 horses, which have been trained at Helgstrand, are competing these days. All the way from pony to junior, young rider and U25 including Alexander Helgstrand and Greven’s Sa’Va’ and Anne-Mette Strandby Hansen and Foco-Loco from Team Helgstrand.

Tuesday, Alexander and the rest of the Danish team won silver at the 2020 European Junior Championships. An accomplishment many would wish for coming true. Before taking over the reins of Sa’Va’, he rode Adriano B. to several championships medals and now Adriano B. is successful with his new rider, Danish Sophia Obel. At the moment, the Danish U25 riders are on the way to Budapest to compete at the championships, which will take place next week. Including Helgstrand rider Anne-Mette Strandby Hansen and Foco-Loco.

The following combination competing at the European Championships are coming from Helgstrand:

Pony

Adriano B. (De Angelo B/Flying Dream) and Sophia Obel – Denmark

Junior

Bonjour Majlund (Bøgegården’s Boney M/De Noir) and Lilla Felvinczi – Hungary
Dolcetto (Don Frederico/Wolkentanz) and Natalia Plata – Polen
Stasia Eg (Stedinger/Akinos) and Emilie Maja Leth – Denmark
Grevens Sa’Va (Blue Horse Soprano/Blue Hors Romancier) and Alexander Yde Helgstrand – Denmark
Diamo Dream (Diamo Gold/Fürst Heinrich) and Aurelia von Mauberg - Polen

Young Rider

Antango Du Feuillard (Ampére/Jazz) and Maria Mejlgaard Jensen - Denmark 

U25
Foco-Loco (Sierappel/Wendekreis) and Anne-Mette Strandby Hansen – Denmark
Hønnerup’s Driver (Blue Hors Romanov/Blue Hors Don Schufro) and Josefine Hoffmann – Denmark
Sir Lancelot M and Ellen McCarthy - Great Britain

These days, the European Junior Championships are being held in Budapest, Hungary. Yesterday, the first half of the Danish team entered the arena and the possibility of winning a medal turned out to be very positive as Maja Leth and Stasia Eg placed 5th scoring 70.091%, while Kristian Würtz Green and Bovbjerg’s Zhivago achieved 70.637% and placed 4th in the first division. The last two riders, Frederikke and Alexander did everything they possibly could but unfortunately, the German team was a little stronger, and therefore the fight for the silver was between Denmark and Holland. Luckily it turned into a silver medal after a couple of great tests for the last riders. Frederikke Gram Jacobsen achieved the team's highest individual score earning 72.333%, while Alexander scored 71.848%.

Maja Leth and Stasia Eg – 70.091%
Kristian Würtz Green and Bovbjergs Zhivago – 70.637%
Frederikke Gram Jacobsen and Ryvangs Zafina – 72.333%
Alexander and Grevens Sa'Va – 71.848%

1. Germany – 222,212%
2. Denmark – 214,818%
3. Holland - 213,515%

Wednesday is rest day for the Danish team and on Thursday the Danish riders will compete for the individual medals. The 18 best combinations will move on to the freestyle on Friday.

Expressive, impressive and incredible well-moving 3-year-old mare by Revolution/Belissimo M awarded Champion mare at the prestigious Herwart von der Decken Schau in Verden, Germany!  

Congratulations to breeder Gestüt Greim, Germany.

Feminine, well-marked, expressive and supple mover in both trot and walk showing a remarkable talent for future top sport!

Picture: Future Nightshadow by Franklin/Sir Donnerhall I, bred by Camilla Daugberg. Recently awarded best dressage filly in Danish Warmblood, region 6.

In mid-July, the inspections took place for the third and last Helgstrand-Schockemöhle online auction in Germany and Denmark, and due to the large number of quality foals, we have chosen to divide the auction and thus having an auction for the dressage and jumpers separately.

32 foals have been selected at the inspections and among the sires of the foals we see the three-times Westphalia Champion, Valverde by Vitalis/Ampere, the KWPN Champion Stallion Franklin by Ampére/Ferro, who is the father of several auction highlights and has won Prix St. Georg under Betina Jæger. In addition, the winner of the Nürnberger Burg-Pokal, Vitalis by Vivaldi/DDay, Total Hope, who unites some of the strongest performance bloodlines with Weihegold as mother and Totilas as father as well as the 2019 World Champion for 5-year-old, Jovian by Apache/Tango.

The 15 dressage foals will be online at helgstrand.horse24.com from August 12th to August 16th, and it will be possible to bid for your favourite from August 14th until the auction ends on August 16th at 7:30 pm.

To bid, create a free profile on horse24.com. Find more info and create your profile here: https://horse24.com/en/how-to-bid

The total of 17 jumpers will be online at Schockemöhle's own auction site, and the auction will run from 6-11. August.

Schockemöhle's online auction you find here: https://www.ps-online.auction/de/auktionen

Questions

If you have any questions, please contact Esben Møller by phone +45 52 24 85 15 or by e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Second online auction a roaring success The first Helgstrand-Schockemöhle online auction was held with great success and after some very promising foal inspections in both Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, the expectations for the second auction were obviously very high.

Actually, the auction foals were to come online on July 10th at 9:00 am, but due to some technical challenges, people had to be patient. And judging by the visitor history on horse24.com, people had been waiting in excitement, because when the foals finally came online later that day, the visitor numbers increased drastically in no time.

The collection contained 25 foals deriving from the strongest performance lines in the world, including 7 jumpers and 18 dressage foals. The new auction concept was adjusted a bit as the bids were first allowed on Friday, July 17th at 9:00 am, and already from the start, people began to bid. Quickly, some favourites were found among the many buyers who nearly represented the entire world. 24 hours before the end of the auction, Netstutteriet's Fascination by Franklin/Zack (bred by Bo Brink) was at the top, followed by Hesselbjerg’s Zenzation Spring by Springbank II VH/Zack (bred by Majbritt Junker) and with Skovdal’s Jake by Janeiro Platinum/Romanov (bred by Bjarne Skovdal) coming 3rd.

Danish bred foals in the lead – offspring by Franklin price highlight

There was no doubt about the auction's favourite - the expressive and extremely well-moving filly by Franklin, who with Zack as damsire testifies to an extremely strong performance line. The Danish-bred foal, Netstutteriet’s Fascination, was sold for no less than 60,000 euro to Germany. Franklin has at several auctions delivered the most expensive sold foal and his offspring turn out to be promising riding horses just as he himself achieving numerous victories at small tour level with Betina Jæger. The dam Netstutteriet's Nafea Fa Ipoipo is the full sister of Straight Horse Ascenzione, which participated in the prestigious World Breeding Championships for Young Horses with Helen Langehanenberg.

The second most expensive was Hesselbjerg's Zenzation Spring by the Swedish championship winner and Champion Stallion in Danish Warmblood, Springbank II VH with Zack as damsire. The hammer price was as much as 42,000 euros and the expressive and exceptionally well-moving colt remained in Danish hands.

Third most expensive was Danse De La Vie by the two-times World Champion D’avie and with Bretton Woods as damsire. With three impressive gaits and a superb expression, here is perhaps a possible future stallion or at least a promising dressage horse with a top pedigree. Danse De La Vie is bred by De Kempenhoeve Bvba in Belgium and was sold to Denmark for 30,000 euro.

Find the result of the auction here 

- I am very pleased with the result of the second auction and especially the high average price of 18.300 euro. In addition, I am pleased with the fact that the news about the auction has reached a wide number of people and that we saw buyers from all over the world. Thus, we reach a much wider audience with the online auction than if it was a physical auction, says auction manager Esben Møller.

Buy your future top horse online

Soon, Helgstrand and Schockemöhle's 3rd and last online foal auction will take place, and like the previous ones, it will contain 20-25 foals of exceptional quality. It is a unique opportunity to acquire a foal with a top pedigree. The auction is organized by some of the most experienced in hosting foal auctions, and you thus have the opportunity to be advised throughout the process. All you have to do is contact auction manager Esben Møller at +45 52 24 85 15 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The 3rd Helgstrand-Schockemöhle foal auction is online from the 7-16 August at helgstrand.horse24.com.

Revolution and Andreas winning Prix St. George with 77.561%

There was no doubt that the show break caused by the COVID19 has done well for Revolution, who has developed quite exceptionally in recent months. He was for sure ready for his national competition debut, which was in Prix St. George at the national show in Hjallerup, Denmark. The only 7-year-old stallion, who already has achieved much success, did a test which was rewarded with several 9's and he ended up winning his debut scoring 77.561%. One of the judges, Leif Törnblad, was even so convinced of the stallion's qualities and precision of the test that he rewarded it with 80%.

 - I am so happy and proud of Revolution's performance today. The training in recent months has exceeded all expectations and he has gained so much strength as he also showed in the test today. And it makes me so proud that an international judge like Leif Törnblad rewards us with 80%. It shows that we are on the right track. He is so easy to ride at competitions and doesn't care about what is happening outside the arena. He is fully focused on the task, and this character is given to his offspring as well, Andreas says, adding that the plan is to prepare him for the World Championships for Young Horses in Verden, Germany in December.

Revolution is by Rocky Lee/Rouletto. He has impressed by winning the Danish Dressage Championships three times in a row and in addition winning silver and gold at the World Championships for Young Horses in Ermelo. Furthermore, he was awarded the Champion Stallion at the 2017 Danish Warmblood Stallion Licensing and won the Danish Warmblood's 35-day performance test, which also testifies his unique qualities as a breeding stallion.

Revolution and Andreas winning Prix St. George with 77.561%

PRESS RELEASE

Anders Bjørnstrup Bech comes from a position as director and partner in the brand bureau Clienti A/S and is now stepping in as commercial director at Helgstrand the 1/8-2020.

Anders has throughout his career worked in communication with a special focus on business development, branding and sales – at the latest as one of the founders of Northern Jutland’s largest brand bureau Clienti A/S. His knowledge and experience shall now be used to develop the commercial activities at Helgstrand Dressage ApS.

Through a good dialogue with Andreas and Marianne Helgstrand and Waterland Private Equity who today co-owns Helgstrand Dressage, a new position as a commercial director is established at Helgstrand in which Anders Bjørnstrup Bech will be responsible.

Global activities

”Both Waterland and I are looking very much forward to Anders being a part of the team and we are very pleased that it went through successfully. Both in terms of chemistry and competence we are sure that we have found the right match, Andreas Helgstrand tells, who in 2008 founded Helgstrand Dressage together with his wife Marianne Helgstrand and in 2018 they sold a part of the company to Waterland Private Equity.

Andreas Helgstrand continues; ”We are working on several new options in terms of acquisition and cooperation that can strengthen our position worldwide and that include other activities around the horse. In order to develop these activities, we were in need of a qualified profile, in which we have now found and this is a part of reaching our ambitions.”

Anders Bjørnstrup Bech finishes: ”After having worked with varies types of companies on an advising level through the years, I look very much forward to use my knowledge and experience in this new position and become a part of Helgstrand. New and exciting challenges await now that the whole world is our market. Andreas and Marianne have created something unique in the equestrian world and the potential that lies here for further business expansion is something I look forward to being a part of turning in to reality”.

Anders Bjørnstrup Bech will still keep his board positions in Aalborg Boldspilklub A/S (AaB), PAVA Produkter A/S, and in Clienti A/S.

Do you have several years of experience with breaking in young horses and do you want to be a part of our fantastic team that works with young horses? Then read along here.

Helgstrand Dressage is one of the worlds leading sales and training stables with approximately 500 horses and 100 employees located in both Denmark, Germany and Wellington, USA.

We have over the years invested in foals with a pedigree that unites some of the finest bloodlines in Europe and we therefore now have a large number of young horses ready for starting their riding career.

We expect that you have several years of experience with the training and riding of young horses because this is the primary function of the job, to break in the horses and make them ready for licensing.

As a person, we expect that you are motivated and positive, take responsibility and have a great and smiling attitude and that you really strive for the good results in your work. We have sky-high ambitions in both wanting the best results regarding competitions and also the best personal development.

You will become a part of a motivated team with skilled colleagues with the opportunity for getting lots of experience, inspiration and also gets to ride some of the most talented young horses. You will be responsible for 12-15 horses and will together with the team at Ny Ravnstrup have the responsibility for all the horses located at this premises. We offer modern facilities and lots of exciting experiences such as partition in licensing for both mares and stallions in Denmark and abroad and we offer here at Helgstrand a great lunch scheme.

The preparation of the young horses until the horses are ready to be broken in is done in collaboration with the manager at Ny Ravnstrup, Christian Springborg, while you will have a close dialogue with Mette Sejbjerg Jensen and Thomas Sigtenbjerggaard regarding the training of the young horses and the selection and evaluation of their future and the riders always help each other.

As a rider, you will get a groom that will help you with all the practical things such as preparing the horses etc.

If this has caught your interest, you are welcome to send an application to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and if you have any questions please call Thomas Sigtenbjerggaard; +45 21291382.

Find more information concerning Helgstrand Dressage at our website; www.helgstranddressage.com.

We will call candidates for a job interview in an ongoing process, as we get in the applications.

We look forward to hearing from you.