FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014 43
Ontario. They also competed
successfully in Florida and at
Dressage at Devon. Diane said
that Hallmark reminds Louise
Leatherdale of His Highness, a
horse that was very dear to her
heart.
“It would make me feel very
special to give something to
Louise and bring him out at the
grand prix level,” she noted. “His
Highness never had a chance to
do it. He died from a fractured
right hind hock way too early, and
he could have been fabulous. If I
can get Hallmark out there, that
would be special for me and for
Louise.”
Chrevis Christo, a 10-year-
old Danish gelding, is one of the
bays, and he competed in 2013
at the small tour level. His season
included an impressive first place
finish with a score of 72.456%
in the Intermediaire I at May’s
Angelstone Spring Tournament
CDI3* in Rockwood, Ontario.
“He’s also going to be quite
spectacular,” Diane said. ”He’s a
super talented horse; the piaffe/
passage are so easy for him.
He’s very willing.”
She said that the gelding is
also Mr. Personality. “He’s an
exuberant guy. He’s very lovable.
He will stick his nose on your
neck and kiss and nudge you.
Then, when you take him out into
the arena, he’s as flamboyant as
Robbie W demonstrates his strong gaits with Diane at
the International Horse Sport Champions Cup show at
Equestrian Estates in Florida.
Photo by Susan J. Stickle
can be.”
The youngest crewmember and the other bay is Diana C, a
six-year-old mare by Damsey, the Leatherdales’ top Hanoverian
stallion. Diana won the dressage division as an Elite Hanoverian
Mare at the Herwart von der Decken show in Germany as a three-
year-old because of her brilliant type and outstanding movement.
“She is a queen,“ Diane said. “A very girly girl, but a strong girly
girl. She’s also very talented and always willing. She’s like her
dad: spectacular and expressive.”
Diane plans to take Diana into third level competition in
Wellington. Her eventual goal for the mare is the Pan American
Games.
Diane trains with Lars Petersen, a Danish Olympic rider now
based in Loxahatchee, Florida. “Lars is incredible with all the
horses at all the levels,” she explained. “From young horses to
grand prix horses, he has a really good eye and such a big love for
them. He knows when to stop, when to keep going, when to push
and when to back off.”
“Nobody can do it on her own,” she continued. “What is a rider
without a horse? What is a rider/horse team without the owner?
Without a trainer? It’s really teamwork, and I’m so fortunate to be
part of the partnership between Doug and Louise and Lars and
myself. It just makes all the difference. We all want to be on the
World Equestrian Games team and the Olympic team, and we all
want to do our best, but we all still love the horses. The horses
always come first. It’s a great partnership between all of us.”
