The American jumping rider Laura Kraut, winner of Olympic Team Gold in Beijing, and her English partner Nick Skelton, winner of many Grand Prix and team medals, bought the horses Zidane (Indcotro x Corland x Epilot) and Zancara (Pierrot x Joost x Garant) during the 2008 Auction.

Laura Kraut: ‘That year, I was at the Hendrix place in the Summer and saw them working with the horses that were going to be in the auction. I watched the whole process of the auction horses. I was in love with probably more horses then I needed too, so in 2008 I made it a point and went back to try to buy some. There’s a funny story about one of the best ones I’ve got, called Zidane.  I watched him be tried and every rider who rode him was someone different, you know, someone tall, someone small, professional, amateur, but he just seemed to tolerate everything. I kept saying this horse is so good, so sweet, you don’t know what kind of horse he’ll turn out to be but he had a wonderful temperament.

Nick Skelton: ‘Exactly, that particular year Laura was going to buy Zancara but my sponsor and I were going with her and  we watched Zancara as well. My owners decided they wanted to have her so we bought Zancara. She’s just won the 7-year-olds final in England. She is so very careful and brave, Zancara is a winner already!’

Laura continues: ‘But ..We were sitting in the auction and Zidane came in and I was watching the bidding and I was thinking to myself I love this horse, and the price wasn’t going as high as I thought and I put in a bid and I had to go higher twice and I got him! It was like faith… I’d watched him the whole summer long and I ended up with him. He really is a wonderful horse; In Florida he won the 5-year-olds Final that year. I think he has the scope and the mentality to do whatever you want, so I mean he can be a Grand Prix horse but at the very least he will be a very good second horse, he is so brave. Zidane is a very big horse and he needs a little bit more time to get to know this.

Laura Kraut: ‘There are between five or ten horses that I wouldn’t mind having. I think they do a great job, they really take care to put the best young horses they come up with in the auction. I buy nearly all my horses from the auction because I like what they give, I feel comfortable, it’s a safe way to buy.

Nick Skelton: ‘We couldn’t come last year because of the World Equestrian Games, but Laura  bought Amidam (Guidam x Burggraaf x Nimmerdor) by phone for one of her clients.

Laura Kraut: ‘I will bring some riders which I train because I like to buy nice young horses for the kids so they can learn how to develop. I watched the DVD (because it’s fun to watch with the good music) and pick out a few but mainly Emile and Paul tell me this is your type and then I try the horses they advise me. We definitely will come back this year, we enjoy it and everything we got, worked out. What you see is what you get !