In mid-May, Robin Naeve had to retire his "once-in-a-lifetime horse" from sport prematurely. Casalia R paved the young man's way from Schleswig-Holstein into international sport. Now she sustained an injury. "Even though I didn't imagine the end of our journey to be like this, I am infinitely grateful for every moment we shared because she had the unconditional readiness to achieve more and more—Aachen, Stockholm, Dubai, Gothenburg, Hamburg," Robin Naeve wrote on the Instagram page.

Casalia by Casall-Loran was born in Ahrensbök at the Redderberg family's farm—the suffix R in her name also stands for them. Her grandam, the Contender mare Iorella, produced the internationally successful Rosalia la Silla when paired with Cassini I. She competed under the Mexican flag at the Olympic Games in London.
Casalia contested her first shows under the saddle of Linda Geistert before she came to Robin Naeve. Successes quickly followed, and the Golden Rider's Badge was a milestone for the pair. They regularly competed in the U25 Show Jumping Cup—and collected numerous ribbons. "Small horse, big heart" was frequently the headline accompanying her successes. With a height at the withers of just 1.63 metres, this representative of stem 1907 is not among the largest horses. However, that did not detract from her exceptional qualities as a show jumper: her FN success record shows 25 victories in advanced show jumping classes up to 1.50 metres.

Now a new chapter of life begins for Casalia R. In Ehlersdorf she will retire as a broodmare on spacious pastures—with the hope of many healthy foals that may one day follow in her impressive hoofprints. "Casalia changed my life. She will forever remain the first legend in my personal Hall of Fame ," Robin Naeve writes to his four-legged friend on her farewell from sport.

Photo: Stefan Lafrentz