Van Gogh heads for horse heaven
The Swiss showjumping team has lost one of its most successful four-legged servants with former top mount Van Gogh dying at the age of 28.
One hundred and eleven years after the death of his artistic namesake, the Dutch gelding passed away at the German farm where he had spent the past three years.
Though never quite attaining the worldwide fame of the original Van Gogh, the equine version will be remembered as one of the most successful horses ever to compete for Switzerland.
Van Gogh was one of only two Swiss horses to have won a full set of European Championship medals (the second being Willi Melliger’s Calvaro).
In 1981 Bruno Candrian rode Van Gogh to a bronze in the individual competition in Munich before adding a silver in the team event. Two years later Melliger was in the saddle as Van Gogh won a team gold in Hickstead and the individual title at the Grand Prix in Aachen.
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