Farewell to the “soul horse” Alice
Blessed Fire Dragon rides to Mango Wonderland
06/30/2023, 11:08 am
Emotional farewell in Aachen: Simone Blum said goodbye to her successful horse Alice from the sport at the CHIO. After her last lap of honor, the 16-year-old super and soul horse receives an extra mango. From now on she doesn’t have to do anything anymore.
The fire dragon was on fire. Alice didn’t want to stop, she kept running in circles and was very restless. She probably would have preferred to run through the course that was set up around her in Aachen’s packed jumping stadium.
Instead, the miracle mare went on a last, well-deserved lap of honor. Alice gave her favorite audience a fitting farewell at the Aachen Soers with standing ovations. For Simone Blum, the sporting path officially ended with her “soul horse”.
In Aachen, the show jumper officially said goodbye to her “Elsi”, which once enabled her meteoric rise to the world elite. “Alice shaped me like no other horse, both as a rider and as a person. She showed me what friendship means,” said the 34-year-old with tears in her eyes.
Unforgettable triumphs thanks to mango magic
It was a super farewell for a super horse. Unforgotten is the couple’s improbable and furious World Championship triumph in Tryon in 2018, when Blum swept through the show jumping course five times without fault on the “fire dragon”, as the 16-year-old chestnut mare is called because of her extraordinary temperament – and then gave her her favorite sweet reward spoiled: a mango.
Since then, every equestrian sport fan has known that the yellow fruit makes a mare’s heart beat faster. She used to get treats with apple and mango flavor, at some point a nurse offered real fruit if Alice won. She did, the ritual was born. “If she goes zero, she gets a mango,” “Mutti” Blum revealed her bribery tactics at the time. Alice was showered with fruit after the historic performance in North Carolina.
The horse of her life
Alice’s career wasn’t extremely long, but it was very steep. In 2014, Blum’s husband, Hans-Günter, brought the horse to their stud at the age of seven. His wife was blown away, Blum repeatedly emphasized the “love at first sight” between the two, “wild, cheeky and limitless” was Alice.
The love was mutual – and showed in results. In 2016, Blum was crowned German champion for the first time with and thanks to Alice, a year later she repeated the feat, followed by the really big jump at the 2018 World Cup.
With her “Once-in-a-Lifetime-Horse” she rode into the titular wonderland, now Alice can enjoy her retirement. Finally, she no longer has to work for her mangoes. Alice, Simone Blum is certain, “will definitely be an active pensioner, even if it’s no longer enough for big sport”.