Dressage-News

Dec. 6, 2022

Salinero, ridden by Anky van Grunsven to two Olympic individual gold medals as well as team silver and bronzes and four World Cup titles, has died at home in the Netherlands at the age of 28.

“My 💔 is broken,” Anky wrote on Instagram. “Salinero, my hero, left us in tears behind. Memories will never fade away ♥️♥️♥️”

Salinero, bred in Germany of jumping bloodlines (Salieri x Lungau), was first sold to an American and competed at lower levels before being bought back Anky and her husband, Sjef Janssen.

World championship success for Salinero and Anky first came in 2004 with the World Cup title followed by individual gold at the Athens Olympics a few months later.

Before the introduction of rankings by combinations, Anky was world No. 1 from September 2004 though end of 2005. When horse and rider pertnership rankings began in January 2006, Anky and Salinero were at the top of the rankings for 29 months until December 2008.

The years long tussles with Isabell Werth on Satchmo have been credited by some organizers of premier events as saviors of dressage sport competition until the arrival of Totilas ridden by Edward Gal at the end of 2009.

In addition to individual golds at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Hong Kong Games, Anky and Salinero earned team silver in 2008 and team bronze in London at the Games that was the last competition for the partnership before the horse retired.

At the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany Anky and Salinero took individual gold and team silver.