DressageDaily: Goldstern and Fidermark Passed Away

Tuesday August 12, 2003

Goldstern and Fidermark Passed Away

Two renowned dressage horses have unfortunately passed away this month; German Dressage team horse Goldstern and Westfalian breeding stallion Fidermark.

Klaus Balkenhol's Champion horse Goldstern died at the age of 22. The Westfalian gelding suffered a severe colic attack and had to be humanly put down.

Golstern (by Weinberg) was bred by Willi Altemeier from Delbruck, Germany, and was purchased by the Police Garde of Dusseldorf for 3,500 €. Goldstern became the steady partner of Balkenhol in the police force, succeeding Balkenhol's Rabauke.

Balkenhol and Goldstern won team gold at the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996 and individual Bronze at the 1992 Olympics of Barcelona. At the 1994 World Equestrian Games in The Hague, the pair claimed team gold and individual silver in the kur. Furthermore, they went on to win team gold at the 1993 and 1995 European Championships, and five times the German national dressage title. Goldstern was retired in 1997.

The Westfalian licensed stallion Fidermark died unexpectedly in his stall at the Johann Hinnemann's stallion station in Voerde, Germany. The cause of death is not yet known, but an autopsy will be conducted at the Veterinary College of Hannover. Fidermark was an 11-year old offspring by Florestan out of Watonga (Werther x Einblick) dam. He was the reserve champion at the 1994 Westfalian Stallion Licensing in Munster and later on won the Stallion Performance Test with 141.74 points. In 1996, Fidermark won the Bundeschampionate in the 4-year old stallion division under Michael Farwick. The liver chestnut horse was trained and shown at Grand Prix level by Dutch Marlies van Baalen.

Fidermark had 21 licensed son, amongst which Furst Piccolo, Feinsinn, Fiderwind, and Fiano are most known. Son Furst Fabio was the first get to win the Bundeschampionate in the 3-year old class.

Text by Astrid Appels of Eurodressage.com
Image copyrighted: Arnd Bronkhorst