Tributes have been paid to Sunlit Uplands, the British grand prix gelding who was put down in late 2022, aged 14.
Sunlit Uplands, aka “Jasper” was a son of Don Henrico, and competed internationally at grand prix for Dylan Deutrom. The pair had been chosen for the under-25 European Dressage Championships in the summertime of 2022.
“We discovered he had a small tendon damage simply earlier than the championships, so Dylan rode San Marco, who had additionally certified, as a substitute,” defined Matt Hicks, Dylan’s coach. “We rested Jasper for 2 months, however he required minor surgical procedure. Sadly he acquired a really uncommon an infection and was so poorly that we needed to let him go. It was no person’s fault.
“It was an enormous shock – he was a tremendous horse,” added Matt.
Jasper belonged to Sarah Warry, who purchased him as a younger horse from Klaus Munkedahl in Denmark, by Henriette Andersen and Ulrik Molgaard. He joined Matt’s yard in 2015, and Dylan took over the reins the next yr, when he was 18.
Collectively, Dylan and Jasper labored their method as much as high degree, making their grand prix debut in 2021, and competing on the nationwide championships. In 2022, they had been profitable on the worldwide under-25 circuit, with plan to step as much as senior worldwide degree in 2023.
Jasper’s final competitors was a grand prix at Hunters Equestrian in July 2022, the place he scored 67.39% for second.
“Dylan learnt so much from using him, as did I from coaching them,” mentioned Matt. “He was not a horse who wanted many reveals, so that they by no means did masses but it surely was wonderful to have him chosen for the Europeans.
“He was all the time a form, easy horse with no unhealthy bone in his physique and he all the time tried arduous, although he was a delicate soul, too. He’s been a really influential horse for our yard and he has left an enormous gap.”
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