Celebrating a Journey of a Life Time

Phillip Steiner and Cassina Dior at the FEI Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier for Team Jumping – Group G. Topps International Arena. Valkenswaard. Netherlands. Monday 17 July 2023. Copyright Photo: Libby Law Photography

Phillip Steiner heads back to New Zealand happy to be reuniting with family and comfortable in the knowledge his beloved Cassina Dior has gone to the best possible new home . . . but it wasn’t an easy goodbye. “I knew it would be tough,” says Phillip. “I think it is something that gets worse as you get older. You seem to get softer with age.”

Dolly is now with Mathijs van Asten, a Dutch rider known for producing young horses who has long been interested in the rising 12-year-old mare. “Mathijs has kept in touch over the past year and followed her. We have walked courses together and he has helped me at the practice fence. We became friends and he always said don’t worry about selling her. As it turned out, it was to him. He needed another horse after Aachen. I told him I was selling her and he was there.” Mathijs’ property had everything – an indoor, outdoor, track with a little rise and more. “It is the dream set up and beautifully kept,” says Phillip. “I don’t think she could have gone to a better place.” The mare will continue to compete at top level with her new rider, which takes Phillip on a new journey with the horse he produced.

Dolly, who is by Diarado out of Prinzess VI (by San Patrignano) was bred by Pip McCarroll. She’s been with Phillip since she was just three years old. Her talent was always clear to see and her sharp brain meant she only ever needed to be taught things once. “She would just have it after that,” says Phillip. “It was like she had been a horse before.” Her mare-ish behaviour has settled in recent times but it was pretty challenging early on. She didn’t like back on back stables where she could see other horses and would break walls at her leisure. “She just liked to be alone.”

Phillip has always believed in her. “It’s not often you get a horse who really does have everything. She is beautiful to look at, moves like a dressage horse, is scopey and brave and more. Every time I rode her she gave me everything. She never looked like standing in a corner,” he says. “When I walked a course the only thing to worry about was how well I would ride her. It was more about that because I knew she would jump everything.”

Phillip and Dolly were New Zealand’s first representatives at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final when in 2023 they headed to Omaha, Nebraska. It wasn’t quite the fairytale finish Phillip had hoped for but a top 30 is nothing to be scoffed at in the most prestigious of company.

Phillip Steiner with Cassina Dior has this afternoon placed 30th in the final round of the prestigious Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Nebraska. Photo by Cornege Photography

“She became my best friend, so selling her was hard but I had to be realistic.” Bringing her home would have cost around $50,000. “And then what? She may have gone backwards so I think it would have been a lot of pressure. This way she stays at top level. We got there together and I can leave her there.”

Phillip had watched the Olympic showjumping with interest. “It was what a championships should be,” he says. “It was as big and wide as it could be and spooky too. I think the builder did a really good job.” Although Phillip says he’s not a fan of the three dimensional picture jumps that caught more than a few out at Paris and at other events he had been to. “At Rabat they had a plank that was a sunrise and sky and a couple of horses just went straight through it. Perfectly good rounds turned into a demolished fence and it just ruined the Nations Cup.”

Phillip Steiner rides Cassina Dior during the second round of the FEI Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier for Team Jumping – Group G. Topps International Arena. Valkenswaard. Netherlands. Tuesday 18 July 2023. Copyright Photo: Libby Law Photography

Phillip said his family had been amazing. “A big thank you to Sally and all the others who helped her while he was away.” He also paid tribute to his trucking manager Marcus Rose who sat in Phillip’s seat in his absence. “We communicated most days. I really knew what was going on the whole time but he had to make the calls.” His sisters Margaret and Anne had also been hugely supportive.

Eighteen months away from his family had been challenging. “The distance, the time zones, missing Christmas and birthdays, and just being there for the kids when they were having a tough time,” said Phillip. Things that are simple to do in New Zealand – like buying a car and transferring ownership – are not so straight forward in The Netherlands. “Simple things become ‘what now’ moments.”

He has no regrets. “I could have spent another two years cantering around my arena at home but instead I was competing in Morocco, the United States, and all through Europe. These are places I would never have competed at if not for Dolly . . . I just regret the loss of family time. It would have been great to be able to go home and have breaks for a few weeks but between visas, money and Dolly, it just couldn’t happen.”He has met the “most incredible” people and now calls many of the world’s top riders his friends.

“Now it is time to reset, relax, have lots of family time and just evaluate everything,” says Phillip. “Thanks to EquiBreed and Lee Morris I have three Dolly foals who are coming up five in February.” Sally had already earmarked the colt but Phillip said all looked “pretty good”. “I don’t see myself as being famous but I may be in ring three before Christmas!”

By Diana Dobson – HP Media Liaison