Con Quidam bids farewell to the sport

While most of the attention in the show jumping world was focused on ‘s-Hertogenbosch yesterday, a truly special horse was sent on his last lap of honor at the Sunshine Tour in Vejer de la Frontera: Sanne Thijssens Con Quidam. And as befits a horse of his caliber, he retired from the sport with a bang.

As if he knew it was his last big performance, Con Quidam gave his all once again in the Grand Prix of the CSI4* in Vejer de la Frontera and finished second behind Stephan de Freitas Barcha and Dinozo with one of only three clear rounds in the six-rider jump-off.

Homage to a fighter’s heart

Sanne Thijssen pays tribute to her Con Quidam, “Connie”, in a video. Thijssen may only be 27 years old, but she will probably still refer to this Holsteiner stallion as her “life horse” even at the end of her career.

Con Quidam, a son of Quinar out of a Cardino-Capitol dam bred by ZG Irmelin and Rüdiger Bröcking in Borken, is 20 years old. He joined the Thijssen family stables as a seven-year-old, and after his father Leon presented him himself in the youngster tour in his first season, it was Sanne Thijssen who has ridden the stallion on the show jumping course since 2014.

She competed in two U21 European Championships with him and won silver with the team. He not only carried her through her first five-star Grand Prix in front of her home crowd in Rotterdam, but also straight to victory. In the same year, they were part of the winning Dutch team at the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona. In 2022, they won the Global Champions Tour show jumping competition in Madrid. In 2023, they were unbeatable in Valkenswaard.

Connie proved yesterday in the 1.55 meter Grand Prix in Vejer de la Frontera that he can still easily compete with all his colleagues at the age of 20. Nevertheless, it is now time for him to enjoy his retirement, says Sanne Thijssen: “He is still super fit. But he is getting older now and we want to see him out of the sport in good health.”

Character horse

To mark the occasion, the Sunshine Tour crew asked Thijssen’s colleagues to pay tribute to Con Quidam. “He is a horse with an incredible amount of character, both on the course and in the stable. He loves Sanne more than anything, he only does it for her. It’s just great to see that,” they say. Or: “This is a horse that every rider dreams of riding.” Or: “It was an honor to compete against him.”