It was a real fairytale, the farewell show for Valegro. The crowd in the packed Brabanthallen saw a wonderful show that went back in time representing Valegro’s life.

His dam and several of his half-sisters and brothers took part. The grand final was when the Master Himself came in and was ridden in a kür to music by Charlotte Dujardin. In the show, the speaker told the story of a little girl that spend most of her time grooming and platting her pony. She first lost her heart to ponies, to meet Valegro later in life. The result was that they were able to get the best out of each other, and came to the highest achievable in dressage sport. A total of no less than 10 medals, European Champion, World Champion and Olympic Champion, were won. Of course there was no Valegro without his sire Negro. A large group of his offspring came in the arena, in different ages, with or without rider. Such a sire deserves a special title and therefore he was proclaimed KWPN Stallion of the Year.  In the last part of the show, the main characters in the fairytale came into the arena. They showed not to have lost anything of their magical charme. The crowd awarded Valegro and Dujardin with a standing ovation and cheered them on. Carl Hester came in the ring as well. He said thanks to the public, the KWPN for organizing such a tribute, and the Dutch breeders for breeding such good horses.  

GJ/YBF for KWPN