Carina Scholz Retires Former National Team Horse Tarantino "Tobi"

At age 19, Carina Scholz and her husband Fabian announced that their longtime star in the stable, the Hanoverian gelding Tarantino (“Tobi”), now 19 years old, would not be returning to competition. Last year, he had competed in only two tournaments: the World Cup event in Basel in January and then a Grand Prix in Ankum in October. But they didn’t want to let Tobi go just like that, without a word, so they announced his retirement on their stable’s Instagram page.

“He was never just a competition horse. He was a mentor, a teammate, a fighter, and a member of the family. Together, we journeyed from our first Grand Prix, through 5* placings and multiple Nations Cup victories, all the way to the Olympic squad for Tokyo.”

“A journey we will never forget.”

This is how the Scholz family describes their bond with Tobi.

He is now set to move to a pasture near their barn, where he will enjoy his retirement with plenty of space to roam and regular visits from the Scholz family.

World-Class Thanks to Tarantino

Tarantino was a reliable horse. Wherever the Hanoverian gelding competed, you could be sure he’d give it his all. Given his pedigree—his Dutch sire, Toronto, was a son of New Or Never M, and his dam was a daughter of Carbid-Varus—Tobi would likely have cut a fine figure on the show jumping course as well. But his true calling was the dressage arena. The dark bay, bred by Hans-Günther Böhl, possessed considerable talent for the high collection exercises. He and his rider, Carina Scholz, were particularly admired as a pair for their lightness and apparent ease.

This allowed them to establish themselves among the world’s best quite quickly. In 2019, the then-10-year-old gelding competed in his first international Grand Prix. Two years later, the pair were named alternates for the Tokyo Olympics. Riding Tarantino, Scholz secured a spot among the top 50 in the world rankings. In addition to being named to the national team and selected as a reserve for the Olympics, the pair’s outstanding results included a second-place finish at the World Cup tournament in Madrid, victory with the German team at the 2024 Nations Cup in Falsterbo, and a third-place finish in Rotterdam that same year.

The Scholz family’s fondest memories, however, are quite different. Carina Scholz: “My biggest highlight was the quarantine in Aachen before the Tokyo Olympics. I’d never ridden in Aachen before then—it was my first time—and then, of course, being able to train every day in that stadium with people like Isabell (Werth) and Jesse (Jessica von Bredow-Werndl)—those were truly extraordinary experiences.”

Carina’s husband didn’t even have to be selected for the Olympic team for that. Every day at home was a highlight for him. “My highlight was basically every day with him. Even if I wasn’t having such a good day and walked into the arena and saw that horse, it put me in a good mood.”

Career

Carina Scholz took over training Tarantino after he had already completed the S-level. Up through Class M, Jessica Süß had provided him with a thorough basic training program, marked by numerous tournament successes. In 2015–2016, he was trained by Martin Stamkötter and Lisa Marie Koch before Scholz took the reins.

She rode him at the S level in 2017, but then quickly moved on to S***-level classes featuring piaffe and passage. They quickly established themselves in this category and, as mentioned, competed in their first international tournament in 2019—albeit still on German soil. People began talking about the pair. The buzz grew even more when their scores consistently rose to 70 percent and above in 2020. But it was the year of the pandemic, and competitions were few and far between.

In October of that same year, Tarantino tested positive at a World Cup tournament in Poland for acepromazine, a sedative classified as a “controlled substance.” At the time, Scholz accepted the FEI’s administrative penalty. That settled the matter. Carina Scholz told the FN at the time:

“Neither I personally nor my staff administered the drug acepromazine to Tarantino. I have reviewed my entire stable management and tried to find an explanation for the origin of this substance, but I have not found an answer. This is an absolutely unsatisfactory situation. However, since I am the person responsible for my horse, I accept the FEI’s penalty.”

The following year, the two were selected for the Olympic team and went on to compete for three more full seasons. Now Tobi is no longer a competition horse, but a pasture horse. Bye, Tobi—take care!