The career of Baronez is over, as it was decided this week to allow the internationally-successful mare to move on to a well deserved retirement.
Fifteen-year-old Baronez, a Belgian Warmblood (Skippy II x Heartbreaker) that is owned in partnership between Ilan Ferder, Tal Milstein, Lovsta Stuteri and Alberto Michan was best known for her long, winning career under USA’s Kirsten Coe, who piloted the mare to two, FEI World Cup Final appearances (Las Vegas, 2015 and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, 2012) and placed 3rd in the 2014 AIG $1 Million Grand Prix at HITS Thermal.
Baronez was most recently campaigned by Mexico’s Alberto Michan, who helped bring the mare back to CSI5* competition after injury sidelined her for much of the last year.
However, Baronez campaigned injury-free for the majority of her career, jumping to consistent finishes at the world’s top show jumping venues.
“She’s a human – she’s a really special horse for us, for sure,” Ilan Ferder commented. “When you open the trailer to go to the show, she runs in. She’s got a really good personality, and for a big mare she was really light, and we never had any soundness problems with her. She deserves her retirement.”
Baronez competed with Michan during the 2016 Spruce Meadows Summer Series, and was entered to compete at the 2016 Dublin Horse Show with Michan. But when the opening day didn’t go as planned, Ferder and his team made the call to retire the striking chestnut mare. She will live out her retirement in Holland, where her team hopes that she will be just as successful in a second career as a broodmare.