A husband and wife have celebrated an “extraordinary day” when they each picked up championship wins on horses that were originally meant for the other.
Yesterday (10 November) on the opening day of the 2022 US Dressage Finals at Kentucky Horse Park, Anartz Chanca won the intermediate II adult amateur class on his 10-year-old gelding Dazzle, on 66.76%. Anartz’s wife Marta Renilla won the third-level open championship with her family’s Zalando MR, on 73.25%.
Texas-based Anartz, who rode endurance horses in his home country Spain, then showjumped, took up dressage in 2013 and “has never looked back”.
“I’m feeling very proud of Dazzle. He felt great in the arena. It’s his first year at inter II and grand prix, so I’m very happy with him,” he said.
Anartz Chanca and Dazzle
“This year he qualified for the Developing Grand Prix Horse at Lamplight, but he developed crazy hives which got out of control in a matter of hours, and we had to scratch [from it]. I was really worried about him. Just the fact that he qualified for this and that he’s here and healthy and going strong, I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Dazzle was originally bought for Marta but was then sold to a junior rider as he “wasn’t her cup of tea”. A few years later when Anartz had the opportunity to buy Dazzle back, he “jumped at the chance”.
“I always thought he was a heck of a horse, and now he’s not going anywhere. I made that mistake once already,” said Anartz, who will also contest the AA grand prix and grand prix freestyle finals this week.
The show is only the third competition for Marta and Zalando as a combination, as the gelding had to undergo major surgery.
“My husband bought him in Germany as a project, but then he had to have surgery that took him out of business for a year. He had a cyst that we didn’t spot in Germany, so we had to [operate on] his hock. I started riding him as a seven-year-old at the beginning of the year, but he felt more like a four-year-old,” said Marta.
“I slowly developed him on the basics and when he got strong, the movements came effortlessly. I waited until just before the regionals to qualify, then my second show with him was the regionals and now here we are and we’re champions.”
Zalando is by Blue Hors Zack out of a Rubinstein dam, and Marta has high hopes for his future.
“He combines his dad’s power and hotness with the rideability of the Rubinstein line,” she said.
“He’s a horse that gives you 300% – almost too much sometimes. I was so impressed how he stayed with me through the whole test despite his inexperience. That shows our relationship, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have this guy in my life. He’s really a special horse. Even though he was bought mainly for my husband, I stole the ride on him after the surgery, and now he’s saying he might steal him back, but I say, ‘No!’.”
Anartz works full time as president of a truck parts manufacturing business and said being at the US Dressage Finals was “a pleasure and a gift”.
“We have such busy lives, with kids, the horses, and my job. We love this show; ever since we became US citizens in 2018, we haven’t missed it,” he said.
You might also be interested in:
‘We are so lucky to do this together’: meet the husband and wife competing against each other every week
‘The hot tub chat was quite quiet!’: husband and wife farriers go head to head for national title
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