“He’s probably a horse of a lifetime,” Olympian Laura Kraut said of her Tokyo Olympic partner Baloutinue after their recent performance at the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Mexico. “That’s a big statement, because I’ve had some incredible horses.”
Baloutinue, a 13-year-old Hanoverian (Balou Du Rouet—Utika, Landor S) gelding owned by St. Bride’s Farm, has been partnered with Kraut since 2021, and the pair started winning almost as soon as they teamed up. A month after joining forces, they finished second in the Rolex Grand Prix of Rome CSIO5*, and four months after their first show together, they were selected for the Tokyo Olympics, where they helped the U.S. team win silver. From there, it was on to Aachen, Germany, where the U.S. team turned the tables on reigning champions Sweden—who had just beaten them in a Tokyo jump-off to take gold—to win the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup CSIO5* with a clutch double-clear delivered by Kraut and Baloutinue in the second round.
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Most recently, the pair found themselves in the anchor position yet again on April 28 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where again they delivered, posting the only faultless two rounds of the Nations Cup competition to lift the U.S. to a win.
Get to know “The Story of Baloutinue” and his partnership with Kraut through this exclusive video. The full version is available at ClipMyHorse.tv:
