Wellington, Fla.—March 23
Ansgar Holtgers Jr. isn’t even old enough to drink, but he’s already headlining against the veterans at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Last year he won a three-star grand prix during the WEF circuit, but this season the 20-year-old upped the ante when he rode Pixel-K Van’t Kattenheye to the top of the $200,000 Kask CSI4* Grand Prix.
Holtgers described himself as “over the moon” about the biggest win so far in his career.
“This is definitely the icing on the cake to come out here [and win],” he said. “This is one of the hardest show circuits in the world, most competitive, best course designers, best horses. So just to be able to come out here and be competitive [is amazing], and to win is spectacular, and we couldn’t be couldn’t be happier.”
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Twelve combinations jumped fault-free in Andy Christiansen’s first round course. Holtgers went seventh in the jump-off.
“Honestly I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” said Holtgers, Wellington, Florida. “I mean, I knew I was going to ride fast. My horse is a little bit green at this level. It’s only his third 1.60-meter so I figured I might as well [go for it], what’s there to lose. And it all worked out, thankfully. I knew there were fast riders behind me and I just figured I’d take a shot the best I can and we were going to be happy at the end of the day either way.”
Holtgers started riding the 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood (I Am Moerhoeve’s Star—Florence V/D Donkhoeve, Chin Chin) owned by Gut Einhaus LLC two years ago, having bought the gelding through Paul Schockemöhle and Andreas Kreuzer. In addition to the horse’s heart and scope, Holtgers was drawn to “Pixel” because of the horse’s large size as Holtgers is on the tall side.
“He’s developed a crazy amount in the short time we’ve had him,” said Holgers, who spent a lot of time jumping 1.45-meter tracks with the horse in an effort not to rush his development. “We always knew that he’s special and we figured that he’ll be able to jump big and we were excited for that, but never to come out here in his third 1.60 and be able to win. That’s just a testament to how good of a brain his has and how big his heart is.
“I can put him as deep as I want and he’ll get over it,” he continued. “If I go long, he’ll be able to jump it. He’s so easy. I just have to do my job and he’ll jump quick.”
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At home in Wellington caretaker Miguel Perez and barn manager Fernanda Casalino aim to keep Pixel happy with lots of turnout and time on the water treadmill to balance out riding. World Championships veteran René Tebbel came over from Germany for the WEF circuit to train Holtgers; they’ve been working together for three years and in the summertime Holtgers goes to Europe to train and show under his coaching. Holtgers also credited his parents, Ansgar Holtgers Sr. and Ellen Holtgers, with providing the support for his first four-star win.
Ansgar Jr. holds dual U.S. and German citizenship, and he rides for the U.S. flag. He’s been attracting attention since 2021, when he won junior team gold and individual silver at Gotham North FEI North American Youth Championships. That earned him a ticket to represent the U.S. at the FEI Youth Nations Cup Final (the Netherlands), which the U.S. won. Since then he’s competed on several three-star senior Nations Cup teams in Europe.
Next up for Angar Jr. and Pixel? Some time off. They’ll take April off to recover after a busy three months of showing.
“We’ll give the horse some downtime and then we’ll head over to Europe and see what the future holds,” he said. “Hopefully we have much more success like this.”
Follow along with the Chronicle on Instagram and Facebook, and check out more from the last two weeks of competition at the Winter Equestrian Festival in the April edition of the magazine.
