Dressage Sensation Blue Hors Matine Is Dead

by Fran Jurga | 25 January 2010 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Blue Hors Matine

A Fairy Tale Dressage Star

Tragic news rocketed through the horse world this morning from Denmark, where the sensational dressage mare Blue Hors Matine was euthanized following a freak paddock accident at Blue Hors Stud. I spoke with Karsten Petersen this afternoon, but he was hesitant to give many details, although he assured me that she really was dead.

According to an announcement from the stud, Matine was turned out with another former Danish dressage superstar, the gelded Blue Hors Cavan. A passerby noticed that something was wrong with the mare and notified stud staff in the riding hall.

Stud director Esben Moller said that the vet reported that Matine’s leg was broken below the knee and that she could not be saved, so she was euthanized.

At age 13, Matine was either about to give birth to a foal or to be bred; the translation of the press release is tricky.

This video of the late Blue Hors Matine’s world-beating debut at the 2006 World Equestrian Games has been viewed (as of January 25, 2010) 9,357,873 times on YouTube. Let’s see if we can get it to a nice round 10 million as we say good-bye to this incredible horse.

Matine’s fairy tale is synonymous with the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. She seemed to appear out of nowhere and, under rider Andreas Helgstrand, won the Grand Prix for Denmark, along with silver in the Freestyle (kur), although 9 million YouTube viewers would probably have placed her first.

Matine’s performance in the USA for the 2007 FEI Dressage World Cup was highly anticipated but a mishap occurred during transport or on arrival, causing injury, and she did not compete. The mare apparently never completely regained her full athletic soundness and was retired from training in 2009.

For some reason, it has always been difficult to get clear information about the mare’s status, so I have perhaps written less about her over the years than I would have otherwise, in order to avoid making errors. That is also why I called the stud as soon as I heard the news.

The first time I saw that YouTube video I thought that she was just too good to be true. The thought of one of those legs breaking is incomprehensible. This mare will dance on for eternity on YouTube and I’ll never forget the utter disbelief I felt the first time I watched her. What a gift she had, and what a gift she gave all of us.

Follow @FranJurga on Twitter.com for more horse health news!

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