Dirk and King Artus at Badminton 2013
The sad news from Wiesbaden 3 Day Event in Germany is that Dirk Schrade’s Olympic horse King Artus has died on completion of the cross country course.
The press release advises that the 16 year old gelding, which represented Germany as a part of the gold medal winning team at London 2012, had presented well at the trot up and had completed an error free cross country course before collapsing. Dirk and King Artus were in second place after the dressage behind the eventual winner, Ingrid Klimke and FRH Escada. It is believed that King Artus suffered an aortic rupture
The attending FEI veterinarian Dr. Gerit Mattheson said “This can happen to any horse in any situation in dressage as well as jumping or even riding out in the fields. What is the exact cause of an aortic rupture is, to date, unknown”
On his website Dirk has commented
“We all are deeply shocked and speechless about the tragic loss of King today. At this stage it seems impossible to describe the pain that we all feel about having him no longer with us. Right now there are no words but a detailed afterthought will come up within the next few days”
King Artus, a Holsteiner gelding by King Milford came to Dirk in 2008 and in 2009 they won the 4* at Les Etoiles de Pau on their 4* debut. In 2012 they were a vital part of the German gold medal winning team at the London Olympics
Dirk said “It seems like the moment he got off the lorry he knew exactly where he was and what was going on”
The combination did a personal best of 39.8 in the dressage at Greenwich Park, jumped clear cross country with only 10.8 time penalties and jumped clear in the show jumping.
RIP King Artus and our sympathies to Dirk and King’s owner, Ellen Voss
Here are some of our favourite memories of this lovely horse
CHIO Aachen 2012
London 2012 (above and below)
